Rule 1 Defined So..... More on rule 1. Rule 1 is actually this: "it's not how a message is sent that is important, it is how it is received" You as an individual have no control on what the world shows you, nor what the others in the world do or say. Neither should you. They have as much free will as you, and such is how it should be. Most people spend their time trying to control or manipulate others into doing / being what they want them to be, yet this is a pointless exercise, which will always end in sadness. Usually for all involved. In sadness for the person being asked / made to be who or what they are not, as they can never live up to that in the long term, and sadness for the manipulator as they will either feel let down when the other fails in being what they want them to be or will experience someone else making giving them the same treatment. (what goes around comes around) Even if there is a little short term "gain" in terms of the other doing / being what you want them to be, this cannot last. The least of this is that everything is changing anyhow, but someone can only be what they are not for a short period of time, before their nature takes over. Better is to realise that the world and everything in it is a happening inside you. We exist in a world of labels and symbols. Your labels and symbols. Nothing exists in the outside world that you are not making. Then it's only a matter of deciding what the correct symbol is and more importantly what it means. Everything is relative. For example. On a summers day, 12 degrees is said to be cold, yet on a winters day, the same 12 degrees would be considered warm. Knowing that you have a choice to label the same thing in more than one way, helps you to choose again. Don't like what someone has said or done, then shoes to see it differently. This i grant you takes a little practice. But it is well worth the effort. True peace comes from allowing others to walk their path. Not letting their words or actions wound you. That is a choice. Blessings JD