If you struggle with the pressures of everyday life or you are constantly asking 'why me?' you will find something in this book that will help you realign yourself. If you are open-minded towards the simple truths that the author explains, and you lose any preconceived ideas you might have beforehand, you will definitely gain something from reading 'The Ten Rules for Being Human'.
If you are anything like me then once you have read this book, you will find yourself refreshed and wanting to pass it on to others so that they can benefit from its simple wisdom.
The book is laid out in an extremely easy to read format and divided into Ten Chapters, or Rules, if you will. In these 133 pages, are such eye opening revelations, such as: Chapter # 3 There Are No Mistakes Only Lessons and Chapter # 4 A Lesson is Repeated Until Learned. These two chapters alone are worth the price of admission! Time and again, you may have witnessed a friend, or even yourself repeating a situation in life, over and over. Whether it's always going out with the same type of people, trusting the wrong people, or simply making the most difficult choices, these are symptoms of not understanding that life will always present you with the same type of situations, until you have learned to master them. It's not bad luck, but probably unwise decision making that gives us the same outcome. Until a person makes a 'conscious' decision to adjust their cycle of thinking, and break out of the pattern, life will always seem to dole out the same rewards.
Another great chapter is #9: "All Your Answers Lie Inside of You". Sometimes we know what's best for us and we still decide to go against it. What you need, what you seek and who you are is embedded within you. This book is not about games, it's about living life to the fullest and achieving the next level of consciousness. An excellent gift for the soul searcher!
In this latter effort, Carter-Scott makes the rules come alive by
relating them to stories drawn from her own encounters, along
with examples from her family, close friends and workshop
participants . . . you almost feel as if she is talking with you
personally.
I found this short book to be most thought-provoking and
one that I will want to revisit--often.
There were several memorable passages . . . however, methinks
that you'll most enjoy just thinking about the various rules
that follow:
Rule One:
You will receive a body.
You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration
of your life on Earth.
Rule Two:
You will be presented with 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 hate them, but
you have designed them as part of your curriculum.
Rule Three:
There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors,
and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much a
part of the process as the experiments that work.
Rule Four:
A lesson is repeated until learned.
Lessons will repeated to you in various forms until you have
learned them. When you have learned them, you can then go on
to the next lesson.
Rule Five:
Learning does not end.
There is no part of life that does not contain lessons. If you are
alive, there are lessons to be learned.
Rule Six:
"There" is no better than "here."
When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain
a "there" that will look better to you than your present "here."
Rule Seven:
Others are only mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless
it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.
Rule Eight:
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.
Rule Nine:
Your answers lie inside of you.
All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
Rule Ten:
You will forget all of this at birth.
You can remember it if you want by unraveling the double helix
of inner knowing.
In addition, I liked the inspirational quotes that were utilized
to help drive home some of the author's many points . . . among them:
No one can make you feel inferior without your
consent.--Eleanor Roosevelt
Life doesn't require that we be the best-only that we try
our best.--H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to
succeed is always to try just one more time.--Thomas Edison
I had previously read Carter-Scott's excellent IF SUCCESS IS A GAME,
THESE ARE THE RULES . . . you can now count me as a fan
of her work, so that means I'll be looking forward to her next
effort--and will now go back and find some of her previous works.