The Golden Rule is one of the few rules I try to live my life by and fail every day trying. I love the simplicity of the Golden Rule, it has a tendency of making me interact happier with others and it makes me feel better about myself as well. It’s true: the rule of treating others as you would want to be treated in their place will ultimately lead to your own happiness.
Let’s say that you apply the Golden Rule in all of your daily interactions with other people, and you help your neighbors, you treat your family with kindness, you go the extra mile for your co-workers, you help a stranger in need.
Now, those actions will without a doubt be good for the people you help and are kind to … but you’ll also notice a strange thing. People will treat you better too, certainly. Beyond that, though, you will find a growing fulfillment in yourself, a belief in yourself, knowledge that you are a good person and a trust in yourself.
I personally can admit that there are strong arguments against the Golden Rule, that there are exceptions and logic arguments that the Golden Rule is taken to the point of extreme and falls apart. But I’m not worried about that stuff. The truth is, living by the Golden Rule on a day-to-day basis, will make you a better person, will make those interact with happier, and will make the community you live in a better place.
Let’s take a look at some everyday tips for living the Golden Rule in your daily life:
Practice understanding. Try to place yourself in the shoes of another person. Any person. Loved ones, co-workers, and people you meet on the street. Really try to understand, to the extent that you can, what it is like to be them, what they are going through, and why they do what they do.
Practice sympathy. Once you can understand another person, and feel what they’re going through, learn to want to end their suffering. When you can, take even a small action to somehow ease their pain in some way.
How would you want to be treated? There a is little twist to the Golden Rule which I believe is overlooked by most people - the Golden Rule doesn’t really mean that you should treat someone else exactly as you’d want them to treat you … it means that you should try to imagine how they want to be treated, and do that. So when you put yourself in their shoes, ask yourself how you think they want to be treated.
Be friendly. When you’re in doubt, follow this tip. It’s usually safe to be friendly towards others. Of course, there are times when others just don’t want someone acting friendly towards them, and you should be sensitive to that. You should also be friendly within the boundaries – it’s not about being friend to some because maybe they fit a certain criteria… Anyone! Who doesn’t like to feel welcome and wanted?
Listen to others. Another weakness: a lot of us want to talk, but very few of us want to listen. And yet, we all want to be listened to. So take the time to actually listen to another person, rather than just wait your turn to talk. It’ll also go a long way to helping you understand others.
——- Personal Note ——-
These everyday tips are not just ordinary tips, they are huge scarifies to a lot of people - living the Golden Rule. And for that reason — not even considering that our island will be a better place if more people live by this rule. I urge you make the Golden Rule a focus of your actions – even if it’s one day at a time and try to live by it to the extent that you can.
