Ten Minutes

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 no 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 you. The answers to Life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

--Cherie Carter-Scott (Chicken Soup for the Soul)

THOUGHTS on "The Rules for Being Human"

There was an ancient saying, "Live a full life no matter how old you grow. Keep on learning no matter how old you become.

Lao Tze, an ancient sage in China, said, "In the pursuit of knowledge, we accumulate daily." He encouraged people to learn everyday to increase the knowledge to handle all things smoothly.

But Lao Tze also said, "In the pursuit of Tao, we discard daily. More and more we discard, until non-action is arrived. With non-action or effortless action, nothing is left undone." He warned people not to attach to the knowledge so it wouldn't become a burden in their mind. Free of any burden or pressure, the "failed" lessons in life are as much a part of the process as the lesson that ultimately "works." We will then have a peaceful mind and keep on experimenting with our life until it works.

Please E-mail your thoughts or comments to ninelotus10@yahoo.com.