Here’s a creeping disease you’ve got to watch out for. It’s called Inner Peace, and if we’re not careful, it could reach epidemic proportions. Signs and symptoms of Inner Peace include the following:

1. An increased tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
2. Frequent attacks of smiling.
3. Feelings of being connected with others and nature.
4. Frequent overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
5. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experience.
6. An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
7. A loss of ability to worry.
8. A loss of interest in conflict.
9. A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
10. A loss of interest in judging others.
11. A loss of interest in judging self.
12. Gaining the ability to love without expecting anything in return.

If you have most of these symptoms, it may be too late to turn back. If you know someone with these symptoms, remain exposed at your own risk since Inner Peace may be well into its infectious stage.

Saskia Davis, 1983

http://www.tibet.com/DL/

There are wide posted around the internet…. and very nice words they are too.

Dalai Lama’s Instructions for Life on the Occasion of the Millennium
1.Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs: Respect for self, Respect for other and Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you’ve make a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving foundation in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share you knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

These have also often been posted as the Dalai Lama’s 18 (or 19 !) Rules for Living.

However, please note that these “19 rules for living” were not authored by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. They were taken from a book by Brown and Brown called “Life’s Little Instruction Book” and spread around the Internet mis-attributed to His Holiness. (See http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/dalai.asp .)