1. You will receive a body
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time round.

2. You will learn lessons
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called life. Each day you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant or 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 th eprocess as the experiment that ultimately 'works'.

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

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

6. 'There' is no better than 'here'
When your 'there' has become 'here', you will simply obtain another 'there' that will again look better from '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 of this.

11. You can remember it whenever you want



I recently came across this and it's been thought-provoking to me. I think I can understand and agree with all of the points but I'm having a difficult time with 6 and, to a lesser extent, 8.

From my perspective they make sense, but I can't help feeling that someone who has not had the priviledged life that most of us here have had would not agree.

Any thoughts?

I want to be a rubberband girl.

oh oh?

6. 'There' is no better than 'here'
When your 'there' has become 'here', you will simply obtain another 'there' that will again look better from 'here'.


Sounds like something from a recent P song don't it?

MartyMcFly said:

I love this, thanks for posting it.

Raspberry said:

What others achieve is interesting, but its not the standard by which you must measure yourself. Everyone's game is different. If anything, someone who is further along a path that is relevant to your game is a potential source of knowledge that you can use.

So take care of it, nourish it, feed it in a healthy manner.


Every moment, every experience, is a beautiful opportunity to learn more about yourself, more about life. Never have regret about anything...ever.


The 'failures' have/hold their purposes within your life as well... ...the only "mistake" would be to not value and appreciate those purposes.


So true...


True...


Then again...you can't move forward, unless there is a "there" to move forward to..."here" and "there", along with how you view them relative to each other, serve their purposes as well.


In other words...don't judge; understand.


Nothing controls who you are, how you act/react, what you feel, or who you become...except you. Spending time manipulating things outside of yourself is a mistake...


Most importantly, trust yourself to be strong enough to handle every decision you make...fear of "failing" can be paralyzing...and can lead you in a direction of seeking safety, instead of seeking life.


Still in the process of remembering as we speak...

Adding this page to my favorites. Byron, I love your responses.

It says, "there are no mistakes, only lessons." Just wondering, but what if you purposely killed someone? Is that a mistake or a lesson?

VinaBlue said:

thanks for that idea hun...
i think this is wonderful
thanks for reminding us what life is really about

12.Daned is special
You must let him feel you up

13.Daned is thirsty
You really ought to buy him a nice 4 pack. Guiness, Hoegarden or Budvar.

daned said:

ha, ha

Slave2daGroove said:

Thank you Slave2daGroove

teller said:

Thanks Teller ... I'm still not sure I understand though

Byron ... thank you - as always very interesting and insightful

This is good, but true. Who knows what or who I will be in my next life.

Byron said:

Byron, you never cease to amaze.

P.S. I love your avvie!

everyone's free to wear sunscren

rdhull said:

I loved that "song", I wanna hear it!!

Cloudbuster said:

One out of two isn't bad.

Thanks, Raspberry. I appreciate your sharing this, so please don't take what I'm about to say as any criticism of you whatsoever. What I want to say is more about my personal beliefs and our society than anything else.
~~~
Well, these rules are a nice, sweet, compact list--and even true, more or less. But I really dislike this modern day habit humankind has developed, of compartmentalizing life for ALL people into "the way you should think/live" types of rules and lists like this. Life can not be reduced to a pop-psychology top-10 list...

In my opinion, there are many ways of living and viewing the world that can bring satisfaction. Not all of these ways are full of metaphoric light and sunshine. Recognizing negative world views--acknowledging the pain and suffering people go through, for example--is not a bad thing or something we need to stop doing. In fact, admitting such things is the path to healing (again, just my opinion, I'm no Dalai Lama ).

For example, some of my clients are from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and Somalia: war-torn countries where people personally experienced or witnessed amazing atrocities, the like of which most of us could never comprehend. They lived in refugee camps for years until they were allowed to come to the US or Western Europe. If I busted out a list like this with, for example, the Iraqi client of mine and her husband who were tortured by the military on a daily basis and still suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to the point where they hide under tables when they hear certain noises...well...telling them that "here" (the U.S.) is no better than "there" (Iraq) might seem insulting. Telling someone who watched their parents be shot that their suffering "is up to them" might be a bit insensitive.

I probably sound very cynical and negative with all of this--but truly, at heart I am not. I am a very loving, giving human being. But what I want to say most of all here is that acknowledging and respecting someone's pain and the healing process is a big part of life, and not to be swept under the rug with euphemisms about being in control of our feelings and life lessons. There is always something good that can come of even the most evil conditions--but we can't pretend the bad is so easily dismissed.

AnotherLoverToo said:

Thanks AnotherLover ... you and I are of the same mind on this.

This year I have been attending Healing workshops on a quest to learn more about spirituality and to try to put something positive back into the world. At the last workshop I was given these rules and I do understand and accept most of them but am having problems with 6 and 8.

Your post has helped me to clarify in my mind exactly why I am having difficulty with them. I'm glad I'm not the only one

I didn't know when I created this thread whether anyone would be able to put a different perspective on them so that I could understand the message I seem to be missing. I think Byron has found the true intention of the Rules, but your post expresses the doubts I have very eloquently.

Thanks AnotherLover

It's Catch 22. No matter what you do, it all comes back to yourself.
[This message was edited Sat Oct 18 2:09:38 PDT 2003 by scififilmnerd]