Illogical Rules are cultural rules that are promoted as appropriate, important or valuable but, in fact, following them degrades you. These are rules you are following that don’t even exist but you follow them anyway. These rules have been passed down for generations and seem real because everyone around you appears to be following them too.
Spotting the Illogical Rules you are following is easy. Their descriptions include have to, need to, must, should, and shouldn’t.
Here’s a basic list of Illogical Rules that don’t exist. Notice as you read them, they sound like truth and doctrine.
- You have to get a job
- You have to be a productive member of society
- You have to support your family
- You have to get married
- If you are a woman, then you are nothing without a man
- Forget about how you feel for the good of the family
- You must have kids
- Put your kid’s needs before your own
- You must sacrifice for your family
- You have to take care of your own
- You should give back
This is a tiny fraction of the rules you unconsciously follow that degrade you. Meaning, they diminish your full expression and block you from doing the things you are inspired to do with your life.
When you examine these rules closely, you realize that they are just made up and don’t have any truth to them at all. Most of them were created as a way of getting lower conscious humans, in the past, to cooperate, participate and be constructive members of society.
If you are interested in what I teach and talk about, then you are not low conscious, you are high conscious. No one needs to encourage you to participate and make a difference. You naturally do positive things in the world.
Unfortunately, blindly following Illogical Rules robs you of your peace of mind and capacity to follow your inspiration.
Once you see where you are following Illogical Rules, you don’t have permission to suddenly stop without consequence. I am not talking about being irresponsible. Instead, take the time to unwind the grip society has on you and start making intelligent decisions based on your inspiration.
Work to complete the past effectively and not just remove yourself from situations where it will do harm to others because you “changed your mind” about how you want to live your life.
Discovering that you’ve been following Illogical Rules can be confronting, agitating and scary. In time, you will begin to have compassion for yourself and others as you decide to let go of the things that don’t really work in your life, that you’ve been doing out of guilt and obligation.
As you stop following Illogical Rules it will be very disruptive to the people around you. Be gentle and take care of the people who take care of you in the process of releasing Illogical Rules.
Practices to Release Illogical Rules:
- Accept that the people around you are following rules that don’t exist. Don’t make them wrong.
- Do not spend time pointing out how the rules that people follow don’t exist. In other words don’t be an arrogant jerk. Let people be.
- Make peace with the natural destruction that will occur as you release Illogical Rules and embrace your inspirations.
4 Comments
Liked the comments on conventional rules…out of the box useful thoughts. May help us in daily life.
Thanks! This is just what works for me and my clients. I’m stoked I get to share it with you.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you Matthew. Big fan of your work and now reading your book. I have an amazing daughter who doesn’t think she wants children and these illogical rules were away for me to share with her About people telling her all the time she’s going to change her mind, she can choose not to have children. I have several of these to address myself of course with my drunk monkey mind but thank you, it often helps to hear from others