Dalai Lama’s Instructions For Life

Well these instructions from the Dalai Lama are floating around the email world again. This time they come with the command to forward them to all of your friends so that your life improves. There is even a scale to let you know how much your life will improve depending on how many people you forward this to. I guess you’re destined to live a life of mediocrity if you don’t have many friends!

A quick investigation at Snopes.com confirmed my suspicion that these are not from the Dalai Lama, but are, in fact, a subset of the list in the book Life’s Little Instruction Book: 511 Suggestions, Observations, and Reminders on How to Live a Happy and Rewarding Life by Jackson Brown and H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

But even though these don’t come from His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, I think these instructions are worthy of passing along anyway. So with thanks to the Brown’s, here they are.

  1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
  2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
  3. Follow the three Rs:
    • Respect for self
    • Respect for others and
    • Responsibility for all your actions.
  4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
  5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
  6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
  7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
  8. Spend some time alone every day.
  9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
  10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
  11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
  12. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
  13. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
  14. Be gentle with the earth.
  15. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
  16. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
  17. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
  18. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Posted by Edward Mills | Filed Under Personal Growth