Hello! (and five rules for life)

I'm so excited to see new people coming to visit my blog! Some of you are coming from Julie's blog, Moments of Perfect Clarity, which was made blog of note this week! (Congratulations, Julie, you truly deserve it!) or I've found you through her blog. So thank you all for stopping by and thank you, Julie!

Among my new readers, I found Lynette, and through her blog My creative fling, I found the Five rules for life blog. I love this idea: people sharing "what they believe are the most important rules to follow for a happy, successful, and fulfilling life. "

So I was inspired to think about my five rules for life. And of course, I'm sharing them with you!

Learn, learn, learn
I’ve said it before. I love learning. Doing new things and discovering new skills really stimulates me. I love the feeling of going back to school, taking notes, thinking about what has been said... I’m interested in lots of random stuff, from languages, to knitting (some friends and I are going to start a knitting group) to literature, cinema, development and human rights issues… almost anything!

Spend time on your own
I think it's important to be comfortable with ourselves, and to not rely on others to define who we are. We're not only someone's partner, or someone's friend, or someone's mum/daughter. We have our own personality and it's important to keep some parts of your life to yourself: do a course on your own, take solitary walks and take photos of what you see, enjoy your own company.
I also think it's important to get to know yourself, what you like, and what you enjoy. When we spend all our time with others, we don't have time or space to listen to what we want and we end up believing that we want what others want. I’ve recently started a journal to record all the things I like, from my favourites movies or books to how I like to spend my weekends. I really think this will help me finding out more about myself.

Change your surroundings
Travel is such an important thing in my life. I love discovering new places, new cultures, and new languages. But I don’t have to go very far, just a change of surroundings, a day in the countryside or a visit to a museum you’ve never been to will help me to open me mind in lots of different way. It’s about leaving your comfort zone, and discovering new ways of doing things.

Don't take anything personally
I’ve unashamedly copied this from Lynette’s list because it really resonated with me. I do take things personally, but this was a real eye opener: People are simply too busy with their own problems! They’re not judging me, they are not talking about me, they are not thinking of how I’d react to their words… at least not most of the time.

Have fun!
Ah, yes! We tend to forget this one! I certainly do! Have fun, make the most of any situation, laugh at yourself! Be silly, jump up and down, sing in the middle street, laugh out loud!

What are yours?