Acknowledge that life is suffering. Your goal is to make progress to avoid suffering.

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12 Rules for Life Jordan Peterson

argues that modern secularism and reliance on science has left a void in answers to important existential questions: What is the point of living? Why do bad things happen to good people? What am I supposed to do to make myself happier? Why does life have so much suffering? Without a clear guiding structure, you might feel directionless. You may be prone to nihilism (“there’s no point to anything

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Stand up straight with your shoulders back. There is a part of your brain that is constantly monitoring signals to figure out your position in society. Fix your posture to get others to treat you better, which will make you feel better and stand tall, thus kicking off a virtuous cycle.

Jordan Peterson

Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping. Many people are better at filling prescriptions for their dogs than themselves. Similarly, you may self-sabotage yourself daily – by not taking care of your health, not keeping promises you make to yourself.

Nietzsche: “He whose life has a why can

Make friends with people who want the best for you. Surround yourself with people who support you and genuinely want to see you succeed. You will push each other to greater heights; each person’s life improves as the others’ improve. They won’t tolerate your cynicism, they will punish you when you mistreat yourself

David Heath

Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today. With mass media, it’s easy to think of yourself as miserably outclassed. Drill deeply into your discontent and understand what you want, and why. Define your goals. Transform your goals into something achievable today.

David Heath

Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them. Children test boundaries of behavior to learn the rules. As a parent, your purpose is to serve as a proxy for society. You must teach the child what is acceptable, and what isn’t. Children who receive no/incorrect feedback don't learn boundaries

David Heath

Put your house in order. It’s easy to blame the outside world, a group of people, or a specific person for your misfortunes. But before you do this, question – have you taken full advantage of every opportunity available to you? Are you doing anything you know is wrong? Stop it today.

David Heath

Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient. Doing good (preventing evil from happening, alleviating unnecessary suffering) provides your life with meaning. Meaning defeats existential angst; it gratifies your short-term impulses to achieve long-term goals; it makes your life worth living.

David Heath

Tell the truth. You may lie to others to get what you want; you may lie to yourself to feel better. But deep down you know it’s inconsistent with your beliefs, and you feel unsettled. You must develop your personal truth, and then act only in ways that are consistent with your personal truth.

David Heath

Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t. As a listener, you are helping the other person think. The most effective listening technique: summarize the person’s message. This forces you to genuinely understand what is being said; it distills the moral of the story, perhaps clarifying

David Heath

Be precise with your speech. Anxiety usually comes from the unknown. You don’t know what the problem is, or something vague seems really scary. Specificity turns chaos into a thing you can deal with.Why don’t you treat every other problem in your life with the same clarity? Be precise. What is wrong, exactly?

David Heath

Leave children alone when they are skateboarding. Modern parenting has gotten overprotective. Let kids alone when they push against authority, toughen up, and do seemingly dangerous things. They need it to grow.

David Heath

Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street. Life is tough. Good people get hurt. Suffering is pervasive. Notice little bits of everyday goodness that make existence tolerable, even justifiable. Watch the girl splash into a puddle. Enjoy a good coffee. Pet a cat when you run into it

David Heath

“He whose life has a why can bear almost any how.”

Nietzsche

Transform your goals into something achievable today. If it’s not within your control, look somewhere else. Let every day end a little better than it started. If you do this correctly, you’ll be unconcerned with other people, because you have plenty to do yourself.

David Heath

Act only in ways that your internal voice does not object to. Like a drop of sewage in a lake of champagne, a lie spoils all the truth it touches.

David Heath

But there is no scientific code of ethics to inherit the stabilizing role of religion. In the absence of clear rules and a moral compass, people are prone to nihilism, existential angst, misery, and indulging their instincts.

David Heath

Take responsibility for your own life.

David Heath

Walk the line between order and chaos, where life is stable enough but also unpredictable enough to provoke growth.

David Heath

The classic hero must give up something to be reborn and meet a great challenge.

David Heath

Typical overprotective adults avoid discussing suffering with their children, with the hope that it will protect them from it.

David Heath

If we lived properly, we would be resistant to the pains of existence and to the enticing lures of empty ideologies promising safety.

David Heath

The neurotransmitter serotonin is thought to be the internal mediator of social status. If you feel (or are) dominant in status, more serotonin circulates in your bloodstream. [Frat leaders have higher serotonin levels than members] Serotonin also seems to improve pro-social behavior and reduces aggression.

David Heath

The ability to respond with aggression and violence decreases the probability that actual aggression will become necessary.

David Heath

Peterson notes that PTSD in war comes not from horrific things happening to them, but as a result of witnessing their own violent behavior. This never saw their capacity for oppression and bullying, and now see history’s terrible perpetrators

David Heath

Fear is I believe a most effective tool in destroying the soul of an individual and the soul of a people.

Anwar Sadat

In my own writing, I tend to be very honest, and my goal is to identify something people think but are afraid to say. That's not the general cultural expectation of women.

Meghan Daum

Tennis is mostly mental. You win or lose the match before you even go out there.

Venus Williams

Imitation is obviously a great form of flattery.

Peyton Manning

Dare to visualize a world in which your most treasured dreams have become true.

Ralph Marston

I still have nightmares about taking tests.

Bruce Jenner

I actually struggled through teaching myself to cook because I'm completely ignorant in the kitchen. So I did really macho things like trying to make my own curry. Really hardcore stuff.

Simon Helberg

In my life, it's always been about who I'm going to collaborate with. Less important to me is what the subject is.

Winnie Holzman

Death is frightening, and so is Eternal Life.

Mason Cooley

Just as infinite access to free music ultimately leads to no one making a living at music anymore, free journalism just doesn't pay for itself - particularly not when a search engine is serving all the ads.

Douglas Rushkoff

I'm so thankful for my family and friends - they're really supportive. Everyone I work with on 'Austin & Ally;' the cast and crew are like my family now. We have so much fun, and I'm so happy they're in my life!

Laura Marano

I don't apologize.

Todd Akin

Fear warps our understanding of reality and even our ability to see reality clearly.

Victor LaValle

I'm looking for conversations that will be meaningful with people that want to have meaningful connections with an audience.

George Stroumboulopoulos

There is no "next" after you are dead and gone from your own world.

Rabindranath Tagore

Congress has a legitimate interest in making sure that a practice that appears to reduce disease and healthcare costs remains available to parents. And, nothing in my bill prohibits statewide law ensuring that male circumcision occurs in a hygienic manner.

Brad Sherman

I wanted to prove the sustaining power of music.

David Bowie

I am the blood of the dragon. I must be strong. I must have fire in my eyes when I face them not tears.

Jorah Mormont

OS X is sweet: it's simple and intuitive, and I think GNOME shares a lot of values with it.

Nat Friedman

What I have learned over the years is to try to stay in the moment. I want to feel it all because I've realized nothing lasts.

Tracy Morgan

He's 85 and he's met another woman. Still, at 85, why ever not?

Christine Keeler

This person they make me out to be irritates the hell out of me as well.

Victoria Beckham

I don't need someone with a hot body. He can be fat or overweight and have a belly. It's very much about style and substance and humor, interest, curiosity and really being smart.

Kate Walsh

The worst thing that ever happened to me on stage is someone ran forward to tell me they loved me and projectile vomited all over the stage. It was horrible.

Joan Rivers