Ten Rules for Being Human

by Cherie Carter-Scott (with commentary from PrettyNerd)

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.”

            And I hear the tuition is outrageous.

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.”

            Yeah, no. Sometimes there are screwups. Big, big “uh ohs” – and some people never learn from them. They don’t want to learn from them. Silly people.

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.

              Agreed.

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.

               She must have finished listened to Carrie Underwood’s “Lessons Learned.” Here’s my problem. The title says “Ten RULES for being human.” Cherry hasn’t told us how to learn these lessons. Ugh. I hate unclear directions.

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.”

             Lies. The problem here is our lack of satisfaction (for anything; not just “heres” or “theres”). If you learn to be satisfied with where the hell you are (see number 4), you can just go ahead and push this conundrum from your mind. Learn the lesson of satisfaction and this rule goes out the window.  

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.

          This was so difficult for me to accept when it would happen to me.. It took me a long time to realize that I wasn’t especially fond of whoever because of the qualities s/he had that I just.. didn’t possess. Overcoming jealousy, I think, is a lifelong battle. I also have a theory that those who don’t struggle with it aren’t passionate enough about what (or who :) they love.

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.

          Yay for Cherie for making such an awesome list. Here’s my problem: tell “you have all the tools and resources you need” to a kid whose parent has only enough money (their tools and resources) to buy a meal at McDonald’s.  I disagree with Miss Cherry Scott on one piece of this wisdom. You work for and earn the tools and resources with which you eventually end. Once there, then yes, do whatever you want to do with those resources.

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.

         Some people are brilliant at ignoring what they truly want. I think I’ve been a victim of this. Let me explain… Coming from a traditional, conservative family, I’ve been raised in an incredibly sheltered life. I didn’t really know up until a couple years ago that how I was living wasn’t what I wanted (or needed). Rather than sit inside with pearls and a spotless dress, I learned I want to embrace the spontaneous adventurer in me. I have just begun, and I am so glad I listened to that relentless whisper in me. I’m a pretty nerd who likes to be on the water, play hockey, trek through a  rain forest, thinking about applying to live in the Museum of Science and Industry for a month  and save money for a wedding that won’t happen for at least another half-decade. I embrace spontaneity, and I could have never truly known that had I just listened… and let go.

10. You will forget all this.

                  Yes, probably. But somebody else might not. To somebody else, at least one idea has stuck with them for the rest of their lives. Woohoo!