The Rules for Being Human by Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott

1. You will receive a body.
   

You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period of this time around.

2.   You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called LIFE.  Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons.  You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3.   There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error, experimentation.  The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately “works”…

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

5.   Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons.  If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6.    “There” is not better than “Here”
When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here”.

7.    Others are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects 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 inside of you.
The answer to life’s questions lie inside you.  All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10.   You will forget all of this.

11.   You can remember it whenever you want.

Comment by Suzie Doscher:
When I was a teenager, my mother introduced me to these Rules that she had found in a cookery book from New York. My personal understanding of these Rules for Being Human is that “there is a bigger picture.” Life is about something more important than just making our day-to-day existence manageable and enjoyable.

The approach I take is that we are born with our spirit/soul intact -- in a sense, we are born “whole.” Then life and all it encompasses disconnects us from our inner self. While growing up, we learn not to listen to our intuition (inner voice) and instead give our attention to outside sources such as friends, family, society’s beliefs and values, the media, what “they” believe in – whoever “they” are. I believe this is a perfectly normal part of the process of growing up. This is where the Rules for Being Human enter, for we have lessons to learn along the way in order to find the way back to being true to ourselves. This is easier said than done, but having the basic understanding of this concept is a great start.
I take the approach that I can learn something from everything that happens, both positive and negative. When I become confused or feel I am in the middle of a problem, I ask myself,  “If there are no coincidences and I am meant to learn something from everything, what am I not seeing here that could help me right now?”

The same goes for a good thing happening. I ask myself, “What can I continue to do that will allow me to be in this type of situation again?” I live by the rules no matter how hard it is sometimes. Learning and growing never ends. Having “rules” that offer a framework of understanding, I find invaluable.

 Rules for Being Human by Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott / www.drcherie.com

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