Rule of Life
/The word "rule" comes from Latin regula which leads to our words regulate, regular, regulation. Regula means "straight stick or piece of wood" which could be used as a measuring device or structure for support. This is where our concept of a wooden ruler to measure inches and centimeters comes from.
A Rule of Life is a structure for living and a way of aligning with what we value. Creating a Rule of Life was first modeled by monks and is a useful tool for us today to help us be intentional about our lives.
The Rule of Saint Benedict is over 1,500 years old and still followed today by those of the Benedictine Monastic Tradition. It consists of 73 chapters of teachings on how to live with humility, obedience, concern for others, connection to God, and disciplined daily life. These rules provide order and guidance for the daily expectations of a monk.
I admire the dedication and devotion of the monastic tradition, however I think the harder task is living in the chaos of society, managing a family, maintaining a career, and reading the headlines of the day while sustaining a sense of faith and hope. It seems easy to spend the day in quiet and isolation, it is hard to walk out the door in the morning and face the world while staying true to who you are.
Creating a Rule of Life is an exercise which helps you to be intentional about giving your daily life a sense of structure and support.
Rule of Life
Creating a Rule of Life is an exercise of setting intention and support so that you thrive physically, spiritually, and mentally in your daily life. It is not meant to be a punishing structure, instead it is a tool to remind yourself what feeds your soul and fosters living as your best self.
Here are some things to consider as you create your own Rule of Life:
What helps me each day to feel well physically?
What helps me to lessen my stress levels?
On my best days, what is present in my day?
Which spiritual practice makes me feel most connected to God?
Where do I feel most peaceful?
What kind of balance do I need in my life?
What opportunities am I grateful for?
When do I most love helping others?
What feeds my soul?
When do I notice joy?
What calms my racing mind?
When do I feel inspired?
What spurs my creativity?
Your Rule of Life becomes a guide to remind you of what you must do each day to stay aligned, connected, and centered in who you are and what you believe.
When you feel out of sorts or like you have fallen off-track, return to your Rule of Life as a reminder of what needs to happen to reset your being.
A photographer created a collage to remember what is most important in her life. A man wrote his Rule of Life on a baseball and kept it in his office to have a visual reminder of how to live. A woman used word art to capture the things she wanted to do each day to live fully into her potential. You can be creative with how you capture your Rule of Life. The important this is to create a visual reminder of what helps you thrive and be the best version of yourself.
When I am thriving, I am following a Rule of Life of eating high nutrition, meditating, walking in nature, connecting with friends, helping people, reading things that stretch my thinking, creating new projects, and sleeping at least eight hours a night. If any one of these things is missing for a period of time, I notice feeling more stress, angst, anxiety, self-doubt, and my relationships start to suffer.
A Rule of Life can become our non-negotiable, must-do, cannot-survive-without-it, necessary daily practices. For the Benedictine monks, it might be 73 chapters of daily structure. For us, a list of a few things is all we need to sustain our minds and hearts in a chaotic world.
At a minimum, write a few things on a piece of paper and stick it in your wallet, make it your phone background image, or place it where you will see it each day as a reminder of what is most important to you. This provides a guide and structure for how you want to live your days.
Have fun with this creative project and send me a picture of what you create!
