10 Rules for Being Human
“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood”
In lieu of my own writing this moth, I bring you these 10 Rules of Being Human adapted from Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott's book If Life Is A Game, These Are The Rules. I came across these recently and they resonated with me so I’m sharing here.
#1 - You will receive a body. Whether you love it or hate it, it's yours for life, so accept it. What counts is what's inside.
#2 - You will be presented with lessons. The lessons at planet earth school are specific to you. Learning them is how you will discover the relevance of your life.
#3 - There are no mistakes. Growth is a process of experimentation, trial and error. The so-called failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."
#4 - A lesson is repeated until learned. It will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. Once you've learned it, you will go on to the next lesson. If you don't learn the lessons, they become harder. You will know you've learned a lesson when your actions (and/or thinking/beliefs) change.
(Note from KB: Fundamental to this rule is taking full ownership for your life, in whatever form it happens to take. In other words, you assume responsibility for how you react/respond to the circumstances of your life. Your life is a product you create. There are no victims here. Victimhood = suffering.)
#5 - Learning does not end. As long as you are alive, there will be lessons to be learned. Be flexible enough to adapt from what you may be accustomed to; rigidity and addiction to the tried and true will deny you the freedom of new possibilities—aka new ways of thinking and being—which will deny you happiness and fulfillment.
#6 - "There" is no better than "here.” It may sometimes seem greener over "there," but being there is never the answer you may think it is. Eventually, your "there" becomes a "here" and you will simply obtain another "there" that you think looks better than your "here." Be grateful for, and enjoy, what you have and where you are NOW on your journey, while you go about creating new experiences, adventures, and life situations.
#7 - Others are mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate in yourself. (KB: I struggle with this idea sometimes; maybe it’s not always true, but often enough to have a lot of truth to it.)
#8 - What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is your choice. There are three kinds of people: those who make things happen, those who watch what happens, and those who wonder what happened. Take charge of your life or someone else will.
#9 - Your answers lie inside of you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
#10 - You will forget all of this at birth. We are, each of us, born with these capabilities. Our early experiences lead us into a physical world, away from our authentic selves and innate sense of well being, which often cause us to become doubtful, cynical, and to forget who we really are. Life is a journey of remembrance, back to yourself, back to what you always knew was true.
May the force be with you,
KB
* Summary adapted from Cherie Carter-Scott's book 'If Life Is A Game, These Are The Rules'. Content in parentheses, bulleted notes, plus a bit of the extra fluff are my added thoughts.
