Rules……just hearing that word makes me bristle a bit.  
It brings up feeling of being controlled, and constrained.

Rules often make me want to rebel!

Growing up I could not stand someone else telling me what I
could and could not do.

Why do I need to go to bed at 8 if I am not tired?

Why can’t I eat a cupcake before dinner?

Why do I have to go to school when I don’t want to?

Rules seemed to be a big infringement on my personal freedom.
After all, I know what is best for me and I wanted the freedom to
choose for myself.

Are rules necessary?

You bet.

Rules are necessary to set up structure.

Rules keep things in order, especially when there are lots of
different kinds of people living in the same space.  
It would be chaos without them. Each society creates its own
rules around how to live and interact with others.  
We create laws in order to keep everyone safe. We all“AGREE”to them
for the most part and abiding by them is part of choosing to live in
the good ol’ USA. (Although, I do feel that some laws are crap and have
nothing to do with our safety but that is another topic .)

And then we have the unwritten rules that govern how we each are
supposed to behave and interact with each other.

These are the tricky one’s.

I am not sure who agreed to them and when they were discussed.
No one asked me, but I on some level, I am expected to abide by them.

Do we need these “unwritten and implied” rules?

I feel that these rules are meant to be questioned so that we
each can determine which ones work for us and which ones don’t.

An example of this might be  “ Be polite to strangers”.

In lots of cases this is a good rule to live by, but what if a stranger
gropes on the subway?  Are you supposed to be polite then?  

Then you can have your own rules about how YOU live your life.
These rules are all about what you allow and the structure that you
have set up for yourself in order to ensure that you are happy,
nurtured, and successful. These are the rules that I am most curious about.

Do you think you need them?