Here we are in a new month, and I want to choose a new subject to mull. “Sweet Rules to Live By” comes to mind. It helps me to know that rules are made all the time and are also broken all the time. Here’s a first one: SHOW UP.
Phrases posted on Facebook, Sept. 2025
This second sweet rule to live by may seem silly. Eat lots of ripe, golden corn slathered in butter. No regrets. The season is short.
A third sweet rule to live by is to know we are ALREADY held in the love at the heart of the universe so let’s forgive ourselves ahead of time for mistakes we will make being mere humans. Recovery will be much faster.
The Rule of St. Benedict was not meant to be something legal. The meaning of the word was railing . . . something to hold on to that could act as a guide. Here’s sweet rule number four. Even when horribly busy, pause between tasks. Pausing for just a moment is a mini breather. It will help us to carry on longer, and it’s a time to check on the course of things instead of being on automatic pilot.
It’s good to have an occasional checkup to notice whether we are rule-bound or rule-helped. Rules we set up for ourselves (call them habits perhaps) are meant to free and steady us. If they diminish us, it’s time to re-asses. Paying attention is sweet rule umber five.
Sweet rule number six : wallow, splash and soak in gratitude. Say “thank you” ten times a day for big and little things. More than ten good things will show up when you take up this practice.
I’m always amazed how the seventh wave always seems bigger than the ones before it. No wonder Jesus told us to forgive seventy times seven. Let’s make sweet rule number seven the practice of gentle self-forgiveness. We are always secretly hard on ourselves.
“Listen, listen, listen to your heart’s song” . . . an all-the-time rule, but for now let’s make it rule number eight. At least once a day put your hand on your heart, sit quietly for a moment or two and listen to what your heart wants to say. Doing this everyday will slowly illumine how wise our hearts are. If your heart has nothing to say just then, sit in loving appreciation of it’s being. That will be wise in and of itself. It’s a heart-to-heart thing.
It’s the Fall Equinox . . . light and dark in equal measure. It’s not easy to be in balance. The scale will tip of course, and things will not be in equal measure. Is it time to rest more? Is it time to effort more? Time to be strict with ourselves or time to indulge a little more? Perhaps sweet rule number nine could be awareness of what we can bring into balance again.
Sweet Rule number ten. We often have rules we rely on. Remember a rule is not a law but a railing for support. Think of walkers, canes, prescriptions, counseling, a rigid exercise program, etc. The rules were put in place until we could be more sure footed. That can apply to emotional and mental rules we set up for ourselves. In time some of them may need to be left behind. Sweet Rule number ten is to shed what isn’t meaningful or necessary anymore.
I don’t know where the expression “a rule of thumb” comes from, but I think it means “in general or the way it’s done”. Sweet Rule number eleven I think could be “Start with kindness. Continue with kindness. End with kindness.”
In my chair yoga class, we are sometimes asked to come up with an intention for our class. Why not come up with an intention for a day, a week or a month? I believe intentions are not like New Year’s resolutions. They are more like leaning into a direction. Could sweet rule number twelve be to make intentions for ourselves that make sense for a day or a week or a month or a year?
Sweet rule #number thirteen makes it a baker’s dozen. Here it is: “Be sure to hug someone today and know that you matter.”
