10 Rules for Being Human

These past couple weeks have been rather tumultuous for me, trying to juggle school, work and other life issues. Fortunately I am taking a spirituality class that sometimes forces me to step back from the rambunctiousness of life and reflect. I think it is important that every once in a while we take a step back from our physical selves and surroundings and evaluate where we are. It is necessary in order to ensure that we are staying true to ourselves. The phrase may be cliche, but you would be surprised at how many of us are not comfortable in our own space and therefore have spent life trying to occupy someone else's. These people have become externally motivated...motivated by the needs and wants of others. They have been out of touch with their own personal space for so long that they are estranged from it and don't even recognize themselves.

In my studies I came across this phrase... "life is a set of lessons that will be repeated until learned." Ain't that the truth! How many times have we seen our trifling friend do the same thing over and over again and we say "one day he/she is gonna learn" or we make a mistake so bad, that cost us so much that we say .."oh I learned my lesson! I will never do that again." If the lesson is truly learned, then it won't happen again. However, if you were just saying the ever-popular phrase just to be saying it, then you may find yourself right back in that same damn situation. Anyways it all comes back to the rather boring saying ..stay true to yourself, perhaps not so trite after all!

The phrase about life being a set of lessons was adapted from Cherie Carter-Scott's "10 Rules for Being Human." I know we can't all be perfect but here are some things to keep in mind:

"10 Rules for Being Human"

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life".

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work".

4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're "alive", that means there are still lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better a place than "here". When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here".

7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

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 up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10. You will forget all this.