Am I imposing a rule on myself right now?

By rule, I mean any edict from your inner critic/slave driver.  Rules are easy to spot, because they contain words like:

Should

Shouldn’t

Have-to

Need-to

Must

A rule might be something like, “I have to get all my emails answered every day.”  Or, “I shouldn’t weigh over X pounds.”  If you look closely, you’ll find little rules running nearly every action you take throughout the day.  These things are like weeds, so you’ll have to do some serious mental pruning to catch them all.  However, it’s worth every moment spent in your mental garden.

Every time you follow one of these unconscious rules, (or more accurately, try to follow one) your body reacts with tension.  Your body knows that the rules are unrealistic and create traps.  They’re usually very rigid and involve a lot of guilt and self-flagellation when broken.  (Which is an excellent way to distract yourself from feeling emotions, by the way!)

Take a rule inventory today.  Ask yourself if this rule is serving you or creating stress.  Then ditch the stress-creating rules and see how light you feel as a result.  Try it out, notice what happens, and then tune in next week for more on how to work your way out of rule prison.