The Often Unsaid Rules to Happiness and Success in Life

1. Apologize for your mistakes before being asked to. The difference of impact of an apology one second before and after being asked is enormous.

2. Know when to give up some of your rights voluntarily before being forced to. It is not possible, nor is it in your best interests, to exercise every single legitimate or legal right everytime. It is usually a long time before you can enjoy most of your legitimate or legal rights in life if at all. Strangely enough, the sooner you learn to happily live without some of your rights, the sooner you are likely to achieve them.

3. Giving up one's legitimate rights to be angry over some issue, sometimes presents an opportunity to get something more valuable in their place - goodwill and love.
Sometimes it is the opposite, failure to get angry or upset and assert your right is a big mistake. Learn to know when to assert your anger and when not to.

4. There are moments to insist on exercising one's rights over a small issue and easily to give up on big ones. This makes it possible to achieve goals that are bigger than the current issue - big or small.

5. The idea of 'big' or 'small' , 'more important' and 'less important'  can vary with people and time. Be aware of that.

6. People judge and classify others instinctively as a matter of habit (there is even a category 'not classifiable yet') and deal differently with different people under identical circumstances. Try and be aware of how you may be classified in the mind of anyone you deal with. It is a waste of time trying to fight this phenomenon as 'right or wrong'.  Sure, speak out against it, on occasion, but nevertheless learn to deal with it.

7. While legal positions are a fall-back for the worst case scenario, try to make relationships work at a positive level beyond that. Else, you are always on the precipice of a negative abyss.

8. The feasible path to a desired goal in human terms is rarely a straight line. You may have to travel in a different direction, even in the opposite direction for a while.

9. It is impossible to get all the above exactly right in practice. Keep trying though.

10. If you are doing your best (make sure it IS the best you can do), then derive some happiness from it every time, every day. The end results may not make you happy, but the journey will.


Copyright  (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2016
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