The purpose of this exercise is to practice formulating your life rules and to gain insight on how strictly you apply these rules in your life.
Setting and applying your life rules is the manner in which you try to protect yourself, control your environment, your thoughts and your feelings. A few examples of such rules: I shouldn't complain; people should come on time; I have to be spontaneous with everyone; my house has to be clean and so on.
What are your rules? How strict are these rules (on a scale of 1 to 10)?
The function of all these rules is control and it conveys a sense of predictability and safety. However, people in your environment often do not adhere to your rules and you are not always able to comply with them yourself. Every time a rule is broken, you feel bad. The mind keeps you in a stranglehold by constantly imposing impossible demands on you and those around you. Moreover, rules are mutually exclusive. The more often you use certain rules, the more there are and the stricter they become.
Do you recognize this in your own life?