I've been reading "Chicken Soup for the Soul" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Amy Newmark, and it's been such a breeze! Not that the stories are easy but rather the flow of it. It's a book that I've enjoyed immensely. Even the stories which are so beautiful that I couldn't help but weep and my husband would wonder what was wrong with me. Then he realized it was my naturally sappy personality and then he would just shake his head and walk away. But then I would read one of these stories that I was crying over to him and he would get all choked up. Especially the one about the six year old boy who was dying from cancer and wanted to be a fireman when he grew up so this local fire department made him an honorary fireman for a day and were all there the day he died to honor him as one of their fire department. I'm getting verclemt just writing this. It's not to say that you'll be crying through this book, but you definitely need to read it with some tissues.
I'm about half way through it right now and the book has 7 chapters (or types of stories). I'm finishing the section on Parenting, about to start the section on Learning. But this story I've picked to talk about comes out of the "Love Yourself" section, something that I'm trying to learn, and I think many of us have forgotten how to do it. We're much harder on ourselves than we are kind and gentle. And I know it's something I'm choosing to work on this year. But I found this story (which is more of a list than a story) it resonated with alot of thoughts I've been having about life in general.
Over the past few days I've met some very wonderful people who are all part of an energy light team. It's great to be part of a group that is very like minded with my own beliefs and understanding of my spiritual gifts that I have to bring to the world. And this list that I've stated below I read around the same time when we had our first group meeting and it really resonated with me. When you are born as a human you don't really think about the fact of why you are here, but it's later in life that you try to find purposes for your gifts and abilities. This list was a healthy reminder that we are all here for a valuable reason, and that all of these rules pertain to every single human being on this planet. Pretty cool huh?
So below the rules stated in "Chicken Soup for the Soul" are underlined, but everything else is my thoughts and ideas about each one of these rules. And I encourage others to take these ideas and think about how they pertain to your own lives.
Enjoy!
The Rules of Being Human (as stated in Chicken Soup for the Soul)
1.) You will receive a body.
Seems pretty practical to me. But in realizing that this body is a gift and not a curse is something that can be hard at times. Especially with a society that has extreme standards of what is perfect for a physical form, not usually blessing the differences that each form takes. In thinking that my body is a gift given to me in this life to use and experience the world in, it makes it that much more valuable to me. A very practical statement, but it changes my view on my own physical presence in this world.
2.)You will learn lessons.
With the concept of learning often limited to books, or that you only learn about the world in the first five years of your life, it really is refreshing to think that everyday is about learning something new. Something I hope to never forget.
3.)There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Now, in a society where we are taught that we shouldn't make mistakes, if we look at all those mistakes as lessons, we would see how smart we truly are. It would then be a positive notion rather than a negative one. Learning a lesson sounds better to our ears than making a mistake. And if it really is learning a lesson then it's that much easier to not repeat it since we realize we can fix it and move on.
4.)A lesson is repeated until learned.
Ahhh, something I think we all have learned. And if you think you've never had to do this then you don't remember being two and being told over and over again NOT to do something. This is a saying I'll be teaching my own children, probably so much that it will be one of those sayings they will roll their eyes every time it's said. But it does bring some sort of comfort that if you get something wrong the first time, that you'll have the second chance at correcting it. Of the third or fourth or fifth chances. Though remember there are no mistakes.
5.) Learning lessons does not end.
This sentence amazed and frightened me at the same time. You often think that at some point in your life you will be able to say you've learned it all and can sit back and rest for a bit. Of maybe that's what I first thought about. But, after meditating on it for a while, I've begun to realize a life where there is nothing to learn must be a dull place indeed! So, what freaked me out at one point, now seems to be a point of comfort to know that we'll never be bored at any point in our lives.
6.)"There" is no better than "here".
But "There" always seems to be better than "here"! Until it becomes "here"! Then "There" is better than the new "here". I'm reminded of the first book I read by the Dalia Lama and he always insisted that happiness was not about what you will receive but being happy about where you are in the present. If you can't be happy now, you won't be happy in a new place or with new people or a new job or any other new scenario. That's because happiness has nothing to do with those things. It has to do with your reaction to the world around you. People choose to be happy or sad. And it wasn't until this weekend that I realized that. I want to be happy, so I am happy. Whether it's "there" or "here" happiness starts with you.
7.) Others are merely mirrors of you.
Again this something I've read before but never really thought about it. But like attracts like and the people who you choose to be around you, both consciously and unconsciously, really are a reflection of your values and beliefs and ideas. Also your sense of humor, your conversational styles, even physical attributes reflect on the others in your life. So if you only reflect on the negatives in yourself, then it will be easy to see how they will show in the people around you. But the same goes for the positives. So, going along with the need to value your physical body, it's just as important to reflect on yourself with a positive attitude, for that's what the world will show you through the people around you.
8.) What you make of your life is up to you.
With the thought that everything is "out of control" all of the time, isn't it refreshing to hear that you have control over how great or miserable your life is? And obviously we all want it to be great right? Now I know bad things happen. Heck, we've all had those trying times in our lives where nothing seems right. And you have to ask yourself why these things happened. But then, I look at the after effects of these trying times and I realize now how they helped me grown stronger as a person, have my love for my friends and family grow with each trying step, and how it shed away everything that was not supportive and wasn't necessary any more. So a good life doesn't involve nothing bad happening, it's more about how you react to those trying times.
9.) The answers lie inside you.
Usually we're the last person we'll ever ask for advice from. Mainly because we are so conditioned to look for answers outside of ourselves. You ask a parent, ask a teacher, ask your friends, ask your boss, ask your spouse, ask your neighbors, ask society. It's all about asking others for advice. Rarely do you hear "Ask yourself." In a world that allows us to constantly doubt ourselves I think it's a good thing to allow ourselves to sit back, be still and silent for a moment, and ask what we would do in a situation. And to trust our gut when it gives us an answer. As I realized from "Blink", 99.9% of the time, those gut answers are the right ones.
10.) You will forget all of this.
Yep. I think we all do. But luckily for us, some of us remember. And then they spread the word. And then we can remember too.
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