An article from The Open Mind popped up on my Facebook feed the other day, listing the Dalai Lama's 18 Rules of Living. These are all rules meant to help us be more mindful in your lives, not to mention find our true happiness. All 18 rules are great, but here are the ones that really stood out to me:

Rule 2: When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

I've posted many times about how failure and mistakes are the best thing that can happen to us. The Dalai Lama says the same thing in far fewer words. "Losing" is EXCELLENT provided you take something away from the experience and it makes you a better person.

Rule 4: Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

I can't remember what movie or TV show it was, but it involved how winning the lottery or gaining ultimate power was the worst thing that could have happened to a person. Once you get what you want, you realize that it's not as awesome as you thought it would be. Just like they say "Never meet your heroes", it's usually better to NOT get what you want. You'll definitely have to work harder for it if things aren't just handed to you!

Rule 16: Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

This is one that my beautiful wife has helped me to learn a lot more in recent years. I'm the kind of guy who LOVES comfort and routine, but in the last couple of years I have done a whole lot of new things and visited many new places thanks to her. In fact, I'm planning a summer trip to the Grand Canyon with my whole family, which--for anyone who knows me--is absolutely out of character for me. But I'm looking forward to it!

Rule 18: Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

The harder you have to work for something, the better it feels when you actually achieve it. I am giving up A LOT to write, so once I do achieve some modicum of success, it will feel just that much better!