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If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules: Ten Rules for Being Human as Introduced in Chicken Soup for the Soul
Learn the rules of life to conquer any challenge, manage unpredictable ups and downs, and become a satisfied and well-adjusted person.We all know the In the game of life, why am I the only one who doesn't know how to play? But now, help is at hand, because this wonderful little book will teach you the rules so that you can conquer life's challenges and manage its unpredictable ups and downs.For one of her workshops several years ago, Chérie Carter-Scott, a corporate trainer and consultant, composed a list of basic truths about life, which she named "The Ten Rules for Being Human." Right away, the Rules resonated with her clients, who photocopied and passed the list to friends and relatives. Within months, Chérie's Rules were in thousands of homes all over the country, and eventually, they were published in Chicken Soup for the Soul and have also appeared in Ann Landers' column. Although there's no formula to help you win the game of life, Chérie's Rules convey a universal wisdom that, once understood and embraced, can contribute to meaningful relationships with ourselves and others, at work and in the home.In If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules, Chérie shares that there are no mistakes in life, only lessons that are repeated. In thoughtful, inspirational essays illustrated with encouraging personal anecdotes, she includes the lessons that can be learned from each of the Rules and offers insights on self-esteem, respect, acceptance, forgiveness, ethics, compassion, humility, gratitude, and courage. Best of all, Chérie shows that wisdom lies inside each one of us and that by putting the Ten Rules for Being Human into action we can create a more fulfilling life.
139 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1998
239 people are currently reading
2307 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews
September 16, 2017
It's not an excellent book, but it contents some useful ideas. I personally find the story about the girl who underwent many hardships inspiring. It reminds me that every step counts, it's just whether I can realize it or not. Instead of moaning and whining about the situation, just take a step back and ask: What can I learn from this experience, what lessons life is trying to teach me? In the end, there is no failure, there are only successes and lessons.
July 25, 2012
Well...if it was all that easy, all we had to do was to read this book, live by the rules of life and all end up completely feeling zen and hopping around full of happiness. Something tells me it doesn't work that way. She definitely got some points in her writing, but she just makes it sound like a walk in the park; like a button you can switch on after reading the "golden manual" and if it's not successful, then you don't have the right attitude or didn't quite understand "the rules of life". Not my kind of book.
December 4, 2017
A great little reminder of all the things we know, but may have forgotten, and may or may not have ever been told. A quick book, full of wisdom much more easily read than applied. I often find these sorts of books to be either trite or disheartening, leaving you feeling either un-helped or hopeless. This one was different, though. While acknowledging that the work of human/spiritual development is a huge, important, and endless task, the approach and style work to remind you of why you have undertaken this path, and how far you have already come. In addition, there are examples that remind you to check your perspective and tips to help you move forward on your journey. It was refreshing to be reminded that while we may have a million miles to go before we sleep, most of us have already covered a few hundred thousand. All in all, a fun, productive read.
Read
October 6, 2013I found this book very useful, it is tremendously filled with helpful information, and from its name we can tell that it provides some kind of guidance and instruction.
It actually helps people or its readers to understand themselves, and others and the life around them, and it talks about human development and behavior, it is somewhat psychological but a bit more interesting, because it does not go deep into psychology, yet it gives absolute meaningful examples that are true stories to specify and explain each and every situation and topic.
It teaches its readers how to be human beings, how to act, how to react, and how to challenge themselves and their lives, by giving full demonstrations on the lessons that life throws at human beings without any pre-announcements or a heads-up.
I learned how to connect to my inner self, when I am trapped or confused about life, how to increase my self-confidence, and to never stop believing in myself, and I believe that the author, Dr. Cherie carter-scott, P.H.D, is a gifted women and a well experienced consultant, and I think she did a really good job writing this book which is like a guide book to all humans everywhere.
It actually helps people or its readers to understand themselves, and others and the life around them, and it talks about human development and behavior, it is somewhat psychological but a bit more interesting, because it does not go deep into psychology, yet it gives absolute meaningful examples that are true stories to specify and explain each and every situation and topic.
It teaches its readers how to be human beings, how to act, how to react, and how to challenge themselves and their lives, by giving full demonstrations on the lessons that life throws at human beings without any pre-announcements or a heads-up.
I learned how to connect to my inner self, when I am trapped or confused about life, how to increase my self-confidence, and to never stop believing in myself, and I believe that the author, Dr. Cherie carter-scott, P.H.D, is a gifted women and a well experienced consultant, and I think she did a really good job writing this book which is like a guide book to all humans everywhere.
July 23, 2008
I love this book. This is a small easy to read book with very profound truths that make you really think. The rules also make you more aware of how you are living your life.
I highly recommend it to others
I highly recommend it to others
July 10, 2017
I read this book years ago, and there was something so familiar to me. It was a game changer for me... I have a few of them. It's a quick read, and one I always have extra copies of, to give away.
I do my best to remember and live by the principles, daily.
I do my best to remember and live by the principles, daily.
September 13, 2009
New-age mumbo jumbo (and pretty boring on top of that). This book was a waste of my time and money.
November 5, 2010
Great rules....way too "wordy."
March 29, 2021
I don't read many self-help books, but this was an enjoyable book. It's a great book for when you only have a short time to read. It included some good advice, and I did pause to internalize some ideas! However, I don't believe that they apply to everyone, especially those suffering from mental health issues. If that is the case, I don't discourage you from reading the book, but obtaining further assistance would be best.
I didn't personally relate to terms like "the universe" having some power over our lives, but this might help the book be more relatable to a larger audience. To clarify some of the explanations, I would suggest people consider her ideas through the lens of their belief system.
I didn't personally relate to terms like "the universe" having some power over our lives, but this might help the book be more relatable to a larger audience. To clarify some of the explanations, I would suggest people consider her ideas through the lens of their belief system.
September 10, 2021
This is a guru you need but in a book form 🧎🏻♀️
August 20, 2021
This book is a gentle, kind reminder to trust yourself and connect to the inner love and power within you. It has many inspiring chapters, even though it feels a bit repetitive at times. Even so, I feel that everyone can learn something from it and get inspired to live a better, more nurturing life.
May 17, 2018
We never graduate from the School of Life, as it presents us lessons upon lessons until we have learnt them and demonstrated our mastery through tests and challenges in life.
Ten rules, seemingly easy, but it’s never easy to love ourselves, trust our inner voices and act according to our instincts. From time to time, we just need gentle yet firm reminders as listed in this book.
Life is interesting and exciting, isn’t it?
Ten rules, seemingly easy, but it’s never easy to love ourselves, trust our inner voices and act according to our instincts. From time to time, we just need gentle yet firm reminders as listed in this book.
Life is interesting and exciting, isn’t it?
December 2, 2012
I came across this as I wandered through a book store at lunch. I think I've chosen badly, as I've just started this book, and it really seems to be beyond simplistic and lacking any insightful information. time will tell. (that line alone is more insightful than anything I've read in the book so far.)Really didn't read any more--nothing compelling in the initial pages to keep me interested.
November 10, 2021
Perfectly fabulous book for it's time: pithy, bumper sticker platitudes, a hint of blame, and a lot of useless anecdotes.
Truly this was a gem in 1999.
It hasn't aged well and doesn't hold up with the current and robust research on ACEs (Adverse childhood Experiences), cPTSD/PTSD, developmental trauma, polyvagal theory, and recovery.
Truly this was a gem in 1999.
It hasn't aged well and doesn't hold up with the current and robust research on ACEs (Adverse childhood Experiences), cPTSD/PTSD, developmental trauma, polyvagal theory, and recovery.
Currently reading
November 5, 2011اقرأ الان كتاب " إذا كانت الحياه لعبه ... فتلك هي قوانينها " ... عباره عن قصص إنسانيه حقيقيه مؤثره ... بعدالإنتهاء من قراءه كل قصه تجد ان نفسك قداكتسبت روح إنسانيه جديده ... و الجميل ان القصص لأناس من اديان مختلفه .. ما يجمعهم هو أنهم جميعاً " إنــــسان "
September 18, 2015
I really liked this book and the lessons it has to teach. It had a lot of similar concepts that pull from spirituality and religions like Buddhism that I could relate to and it was described in ways that was easy to grasp and understand.
November 30, 2008
Very powerful read, very short - read it in a day and it was very inspiring.
October 28, 2009
Nice easy read with simple reminders
June 16, 2015
While I understand that life has a lot of contradictions, the contradictions in the examples given by the author were annoying and defeated some of her rules.
March 4, 2019
Re-Read, it's always next to my bed on my nightstand. Very wise book!
July 12, 2019
I was impressed by this book. Quite wonderful, easy to read with examples and I have read this book over and over again innumerable times.
December 19, 2014
If Life is a Game, These are the Rules (1998) by Chérie Carter-Scott was first introduced as “Ten Rules for Being Human” in Chicken Soup for the Soul and has since spread its wisdom across the globe. The sage-like advice at times is simple and filled with common sense while at other times it penetrates deep into the soul of the human being capable of mindless mistakes or proactive change.
“While reading this book,” writes Chérie, “you will begin to see your life from a whole new perspective. If you embrace the principles in this book, I promise you that your life will magically transform, and that you will learn the secrets to manifesting your heart’s desire” (p xiii-xiv).
Chérie continues to explain that these “rules” are more advice than mandates and are in no way a cure-all or an anodyne for life.
“The Ten Rules for Being Human are not magic,” explains Chérie, “nor do they promise ten easy steps to serenity. They offer no quick fix for emotional or spiritual ailments, and they are not fast-track secrets to enlightenment. Their only purpose is to give you a road map to follow as you travel your path of spiritual growth” (p 6).
And a road map they do provide for those dark nights and rainy days where the universe has turned your world upside down and seems to laugh at you for your mistakes. Sometimes we seek answers where none can be found, and sometimes we find answers without ever having to seek them.
Below is a quick overview of the first three rules for being human. Let’s begin.
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” (p 7).
“The moment you arrived here on this Earth,” writes Chérie, “you were given a body in which to house your spiritual essence. The real ‘you’ is stored inside this body—all hopes, dreams, fears, thoughts, expectations, and beliefs that make you the unique human that you are. Though you will travel through your entire lifetime together, you and your body will always remain two separate and distinct entities” (p 7).
This first rule surprised me to say the least because in fact most people do forget that the body is but a bridge from the seen world to the unseen. Inside our bodies we hold all the power of the universe. If God is in fact “love,” and our bodies in fact can create “love,” then are we not creators of God? Or if not creators, then we are at the very least responsible for sharing God/Love with the rest of the world. Just as our bodies are capable of terrific evil, so our bodies are filled with the possibilities of wonderful good.
“Respect carries reciprocal energy,” explains Chérie. “Your body will honor you when you honor it. Treat your body as a structure worthy of respect and it will respond in kind” (p 18).
This can be taken in many ways, but for the most part it stands true. Exercise and good health are the cornerstone to a happy, successful life. Far too often we fail to honor our bodies, the very thing that houses the soul, a spirit capable of great compassion, integrity, sincerity, kindness, joy, and above all, love.
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” (p 24).
What is fascinating about this rule is that it reminds us to remember that with the good times and the bad times there are lessons to be learned. This actually reminds me of a story about Ryan.
Once there was a young man named Ryan who fell deeply and madly in love with a young woman named Sharon. For three months they had a tremendous time getting to know each other until Ryan grew distant and ended up accidentally hurting Sharon by sending an all-too honest, yet hurtful, email. Sharon interpreted the email incorrectly and Ryan suffered the cruel hand of fate when Sharon pulled away and both forever lost contact. Ryan, in essence, had to learn a lesson in life, about himself, about commitment, about the opposite sex, and about how to deal with his own emotions. As Ryan found out, some lessons are like being branded with a hot iron. But for him it was necessary.
“Every person has his or her own purpose and distinct path,” explains Chérie, “unique and separate from anyone else’s. As you travel your life path, you will be presented with numerous lessons that you will need to learn in order to fulfill that purpose. The lessons you are presented with are specific to you; learning these lessons is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and relevance of your own life.
“Once you have learned the basic lessons taught to you by your own body, you are ready for a more advanced teacher: the universe” (p 24-25).
Long ago I walked away from an ordinary life working ten hours a day in Capital One Bank to travel and explore the world and find my destiny. In truth, I walked away just two years before the American economy collapsed, and everyone at the bank knew it was going to happen. From then on I began listening to the Universe and trusting myself in ways I never thought possible, and it led me down some amazing roads of self-discovery and fulfilment. Most of my dreams have come true, but there are a few more still waiting. But, alas, I follow the Universe and trust these dreams will one day come true as well.
“In the state of grace,” writes Chérie, “you trust in yourself and the universe. You can celebrate other people’s blessings, knowing that their gifts are right and appropriate for them and that the universe has your gift right around the corner” (p 36).
Celebrate life by celebrating each other, and then perhaps positive emotions can spread through the world and overpower those negative emotions like greed, jealousy and anger.
And yes, I do hope that one special gift is waiting “around the corner,” as do we all.
Rule Three: “There are no Mistakes, Only Lessons: Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials and errors, and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work” (p 37).
We must remember that no one is perfect, and that we are all a work in progress. We have our good days and we have our bad days. The people we surround ourselves with should know that we are not perfect, that we can be less than perfect, that some days are better than others, that sometimes we need to vent and get angry at ourselves and the world, and that other days we celebrate life in all its wonderment. No. We are not perfect creatures. We make mistakes. We can only hope that our loved ones can understand this. And if they cannot, we too must remember that they are not perfect and forgive them just as much as we are in need of forgiveness. Such is the truth of our own imperfections.
“Rather than viewing your own mistakes as failures and others’ mistakes as slights,” explains Chérie, “you can view them as opportunities to learn. As Emerson said, ‘Every calamity is a spur and a valuable hint.’ Every situation which you do not live up to your own expectations is an opportunity to learn something important about your own thoughts and behaviors...
“When you consider the hardships of life—the disappointments, hurts, losses, illnesses, all the tragedies you may suffer—and shift your perception to see them as opportunities for learning and growth, you become empowered. You can take charge of your life and rise to its challenge, instead of feeling defeated, victimized, or cast adrift” (p 38).
Take charge of your own mistakes and imperfections and begin to see them as opportunities to grow in ways you never thought possible. God knows I have. And you will, in the end, be the better person for it.
“The secret to learning to open your heart is the willingness to connect to your essence and the essence of the person you are judging. From there, the magic of compassion opens limitless doors to human connection” (p 43).
Far too often I come across people who would rather hold on to resentments, hate and scorn, rather than trying to hear the other person out without judgment and try and reconcile differences based on truth rather than assumptions and false pretenses and lies. Compassion means to open ourselves up so that we might be able to forgive and understand what is going on in the people and world around us. But some people enjoy holding on to resentment and remain silent as if it holds some sort of power over others.
In true sadness, silence is only silence. There is no power there. Many people I have met in this world enjoy playing “power games,” and these games I simply walk away from. I have no desire to play games with the hearts and minds of the people of this world. I am not perfect. I understand this. But when I am imperfect and I make a mistake, I admit as much and seek reconcilement, to seek forgiveness and understanding, to seek love. I watch people, especially those of family and friends and lovers who once confess their great love and honor to you, only to turn into a complete stranger…and it’s all because of those “power games” of the spirit, of the heart and mind men and women like to play. There is no power in these games because in the end everyone gets hurt. I don’t know. I just could never play these kinds of games very well, nor do I wish ever to do so.
“If you choose compassion, you need to move the judgment from its position in your mind down into the emotional realm of your heart. It is there that you can try on what it would feel like to be that person you are judging and imagine putting yourself in her reality. This will connect you to her essence and evaporate the judgment encrusted around your heart” (44).
Chérie goes on to tell a story of how Nicki was molested as a child by a much older man and fifteen years later while Nicki was working as social worker, she came across the same sex offender who was still in need of rehabilitation. One can only imagine her horror and pain to have to relive such horrific memories when faced with the past and the very man still abusing children. But the fact remained: Nicki knew that this man was “deeply troubled and needed to be helped,” so she forgave him and felt compassion in order to try and help this dreadful soul and stop the cycle of abuse he inflicted on small children (p 44-45).
“By connecting to her essence, she allowed herself to imagine the pain this man must have been in that caused him to behave the way he did; it was by imagining herself in his reality that she was able to release her judgments and move into compassion” (45).
Compassion. Now isn’t that the word for today.
“When your external actions reflect your internal code,” writes Chérie, “you are in alignment with your morality. This is how an individual gains integrity” (52).
And as far as I’m concerned, integrity is missing in many parts of the world and in many dark places that fill the hearts, the minds and spirits of men and women and children. Integrity is a valuable gift to yourself and should never be taken lightly, and from there character is born. Now that’s a lasting gift, to yourself and to the world.
If Life is a Game, These are the Rules by Chérie Carter-Scott is a strong recommend. Go out and pick up a copy today, for you and for a friend.
Keep reading and smiling…
“While reading this book,” writes Chérie, “you will begin to see your life from a whole new perspective. If you embrace the principles in this book, I promise you that your life will magically transform, and that you will learn the secrets to manifesting your heart’s desire” (p xiii-xiv).
Chérie continues to explain that these “rules” are more advice than mandates and are in no way a cure-all or an anodyne for life.
“The Ten Rules for Being Human are not magic,” explains Chérie, “nor do they promise ten easy steps to serenity. They offer no quick fix for emotional or spiritual ailments, and they are not fast-track secrets to enlightenment. Their only purpose is to give you a road map to follow as you travel your path of spiritual growth” (p 6).
And a road map they do provide for those dark nights and rainy days where the universe has turned your world upside down and seems to laugh at you for your mistakes. Sometimes we seek answers where none can be found, and sometimes we find answers without ever having to seek them.
Below is a quick overview of the first three rules for being human. Let’s begin.
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” (p 7).
“The moment you arrived here on this Earth,” writes Chérie, “you were given a body in which to house your spiritual essence. The real ‘you’ is stored inside this body—all hopes, dreams, fears, thoughts, expectations, and beliefs that make you the unique human that you are. Though you will travel through your entire lifetime together, you and your body will always remain two separate and distinct entities” (p 7).
This first rule surprised me to say the least because in fact most people do forget that the body is but a bridge from the seen world to the unseen. Inside our bodies we hold all the power of the universe. If God is in fact “love,” and our bodies in fact can create “love,” then are we not creators of God? Or if not creators, then we are at the very least responsible for sharing God/Love with the rest of the world. Just as our bodies are capable of terrific evil, so our bodies are filled with the possibilities of wonderful good.
“Respect carries reciprocal energy,” explains Chérie. “Your body will honor you when you honor it. Treat your body as a structure worthy of respect and it will respond in kind” (p 18).
This can be taken in many ways, but for the most part it stands true. Exercise and good health are the cornerstone to a happy, successful life. Far too often we fail to honor our bodies, the very thing that houses the soul, a spirit capable of great compassion, integrity, sincerity, kindness, joy, and above all, love.
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” (p 24).
What is fascinating about this rule is that it reminds us to remember that with the good times and the bad times there are lessons to be learned. This actually reminds me of a story about Ryan.
Once there was a young man named Ryan who fell deeply and madly in love with a young woman named Sharon. For three months they had a tremendous time getting to know each other until Ryan grew distant and ended up accidentally hurting Sharon by sending an all-too honest, yet hurtful, email. Sharon interpreted the email incorrectly and Ryan suffered the cruel hand of fate when Sharon pulled away and both forever lost contact. Ryan, in essence, had to learn a lesson in life, about himself, about commitment, about the opposite sex, and about how to deal with his own emotions. As Ryan found out, some lessons are like being branded with a hot iron. But for him it was necessary.
“Every person has his or her own purpose and distinct path,” explains Chérie, “unique and separate from anyone else’s. As you travel your life path, you will be presented with numerous lessons that you will need to learn in order to fulfill that purpose. The lessons you are presented with are specific to you; learning these lessons is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and relevance of your own life.
“Once you have learned the basic lessons taught to you by your own body, you are ready for a more advanced teacher: the universe” (p 24-25).
Long ago I walked away from an ordinary life working ten hours a day in Capital One Bank to travel and explore the world and find my destiny. In truth, I walked away just two years before the American economy collapsed, and everyone at the bank knew it was going to happen. From then on I began listening to the Universe and trusting myself in ways I never thought possible, and it led me down some amazing roads of self-discovery and fulfilment. Most of my dreams have come true, but there are a few more still waiting. But, alas, I follow the Universe and trust these dreams will one day come true as well.
“In the state of grace,” writes Chérie, “you trust in yourself and the universe. You can celebrate other people’s blessings, knowing that their gifts are right and appropriate for them and that the universe has your gift right around the corner” (p 36).
Celebrate life by celebrating each other, and then perhaps positive emotions can spread through the world and overpower those negative emotions like greed, jealousy and anger.
And yes, I do hope that one special gift is waiting “around the corner,” as do we all.
Rule Three: “There are no Mistakes, Only Lessons: Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials and errors, and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work” (p 37).
We must remember that no one is perfect, and that we are all a work in progress. We have our good days and we have our bad days. The people we surround ourselves with should know that we are not perfect, that we can be less than perfect, that some days are better than others, that sometimes we need to vent and get angry at ourselves and the world, and that other days we celebrate life in all its wonderment. No. We are not perfect creatures. We make mistakes. We can only hope that our loved ones can understand this. And if they cannot, we too must remember that they are not perfect and forgive them just as much as we are in need of forgiveness. Such is the truth of our own imperfections.
“Rather than viewing your own mistakes as failures and others’ mistakes as slights,” explains Chérie, “you can view them as opportunities to learn. As Emerson said, ‘Every calamity is a spur and a valuable hint.’ Every situation which you do not live up to your own expectations is an opportunity to learn something important about your own thoughts and behaviors...
“When you consider the hardships of life—the disappointments, hurts, losses, illnesses, all the tragedies you may suffer—and shift your perception to see them as opportunities for learning and growth, you become empowered. You can take charge of your life and rise to its challenge, instead of feeling defeated, victimized, or cast adrift” (p 38).
Take charge of your own mistakes and imperfections and begin to see them as opportunities to grow in ways you never thought possible. God knows I have. And you will, in the end, be the better person for it.
“The secret to learning to open your heart is the willingness to connect to your essence and the essence of the person you are judging. From there, the magic of compassion opens limitless doors to human connection” (p 43).
Far too often I come across people who would rather hold on to resentments, hate and scorn, rather than trying to hear the other person out without judgment and try and reconcile differences based on truth rather than assumptions and false pretenses and lies. Compassion means to open ourselves up so that we might be able to forgive and understand what is going on in the people and world around us. But some people enjoy holding on to resentment and remain silent as if it holds some sort of power over others.
In true sadness, silence is only silence. There is no power there. Many people I have met in this world enjoy playing “power games,” and these games I simply walk away from. I have no desire to play games with the hearts and minds of the people of this world. I am not perfect. I understand this. But when I am imperfect and I make a mistake, I admit as much and seek reconcilement, to seek forgiveness and understanding, to seek love. I watch people, especially those of family and friends and lovers who once confess their great love and honor to you, only to turn into a complete stranger…and it’s all because of those “power games” of the spirit, of the heart and mind men and women like to play. There is no power in these games because in the end everyone gets hurt. I don’t know. I just could never play these kinds of games very well, nor do I wish ever to do so.
“If you choose compassion, you need to move the judgment from its position in your mind down into the emotional realm of your heart. It is there that you can try on what it would feel like to be that person you are judging and imagine putting yourself in her reality. This will connect you to her essence and evaporate the judgment encrusted around your heart” (44).
Chérie goes on to tell a story of how Nicki was molested as a child by a much older man and fifteen years later while Nicki was working as social worker, she came across the same sex offender who was still in need of rehabilitation. One can only imagine her horror and pain to have to relive such horrific memories when faced with the past and the very man still abusing children. But the fact remained: Nicki knew that this man was “deeply troubled and needed to be helped,” so she forgave him and felt compassion in order to try and help this dreadful soul and stop the cycle of abuse he inflicted on small children (p 44-45).
“By connecting to her essence, she allowed herself to imagine the pain this man must have been in that caused him to behave the way he did; it was by imagining herself in his reality that she was able to release her judgments and move into compassion” (45).
Compassion. Now isn’t that the word for today.
“When your external actions reflect your internal code,” writes Chérie, “you are in alignment with your morality. This is how an individual gains integrity” (52).
And as far as I’m concerned, integrity is missing in many parts of the world and in many dark places that fill the hearts, the minds and spirits of men and women and children. Integrity is a valuable gift to yourself and should never be taken lightly, and from there character is born. Now that’s a lasting gift, to yourself and to the world.
If Life is a Game, These are the Rules by Chérie Carter-Scott is a strong recommend. Go out and pick up a copy today, for you and for a friend.
Keep reading and smiling…
January 14, 2022
From 2016:
Lovely reminders about the lessons in life which make life worth living. I am on board with this book and its teachings/reminders. I choose to live my life with similar guidelines as this book shares.
"If self-esteem is a lesson that you need to learn, you will be tested over and over until you feel confident about who you are and understand and believe in your intrinsic value. Your body may provide you with enough opportunities to work on this lesson throughout your entire lifetime." pg. 14
"When you respect your body, you are in partnership with it. You become grounded in your physical body and able to benefit from all it has to offer you. Respect carries reciprocal energy. Your body will honor you when you honor it. Treat your body as a structure worthy of respect and it will respond in kind. Abuse or ignore it and it will break down in various ways until you learn the lesson of respect." pg. 17
"When you consider the hardships of life--the disappointments, hurts, losses, illnesses, all the tragedies you may suffer--and shift your perception to see them as opportunities for learning and growth, you become empowered. You can take charge of your life and rise to its challenges, instead of feeling defeated, victimized, or cast adrift." pg. 34
"In order to rise to the challenge of embracing your role as perpetual student, you need to learn the lessons of surrender, commitment, humility, and flexibility. Without these important lessons, you will never be able to open your mind, heart, and spirit wide enough to allow yourself to take in all that life has to teach you." pg. 63
The Ten Rules for Being Human
1. You will receive a body.
2. You will be presented with lessons.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
4. Lessons are repeated until learned.
5. Learning does not end.
6. "There" is no better than "here."
7. Others are only mirrors of you.
8. What you make of your life is up to you.
9. All the answers lie inside of you.
10. You will forget all of this at birth.
From 2022:
I loved reading this book again and hearing the powerful reminders. Too many good passages to share!
“The body you are given will be yours for the duration of your time here. Love it or hate it, accept it or reject it, it is the only one you will receive in this lifetime. It will be with you from the moment you draw your first breath to the last beat of your heart. Since there is a no-refund, no-exchange policy on this body of yours, it is essential that you learn to transform your body from a mere vessel into a beloved partner and lifelong ally, as the relationship between you and your body is the most fundamental and important relationship of your lifetime. It is the blueprint from which all your other relationships will be built.” pg. 8
“For many people, their body is the target for their harshest judgments and the barometer by which they measure their self-worth. They hold themselves up to an unattainable standard and berate themselves for coming up short of perfection. Since your physical shape is the form in which you show up in the world, it is very often the way you define yourself, and often the way others define you. The way you view your body is directly related to how close you are to learning the lesson of acceptance.
Imposing harsh judgments on your body limits the range of experience your allow yourself to enjoy.” pg. 10
“To respect your body means to hold it in high regard and honor it. Respect is treating your body with the same care you would give any other valuable and irreplaceable object. Learning to respect your body is vital.
When you respect your body, you are in partnership with it. You become grounded in your physical body and able to benefit from all it has to offer you. Respect carries reciprocal energy. Your body will honor you when you honor it. Treat your body as a structure worthy of respect and it will respond in kind. Abuse or ignore it and it will break down in various ways until you learn the lesson of respect.” pg. 17
“Why are you here? What is your purpose? Humans have sought to discover the meaning of life for a very long time. What we and our ancestors have overlooked, however, in the course of this endless search, is that there is no one answer. The meaning of life is different for every individual.
Each person has his or her own purpose and distinct path, unique and separate from anyone else’s. As you travel your life path, you will be presented with numerous lessons that you will need to learn in order to fulfill that purpose. The lessons you are presented with are specific to you; learning these lessons is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and relevance of your own life.
Once you have learned the basic lessons taught to you by your own body, you are ready for a more advanced teacher: the universe.” pg. 22-23
“The only thing you can count on for certain is that you will be presented with all the lessons that you specifically need to learn; whether you choose to learn them or not is entirely up to you.” pg. 23
“The challenge of Rule Two, therefore, is to align yourself with your own unique path by learning your individual lessons. This is one of the most difficult challenges you will be faced with in your lifetime, as sometimes your path will lead you into a life that is radically different from others’. Don’t compare your path to those of the people around you and focus on the disparity between their lessons and yours. You need to remember that you will only be faced with lessons that you are capable of learning and are specific to your own growth.” pg. 23-24
“I have watched hundreds of people in my workshops experience the profound transformation that comes when they understand that every event in their lives occurs to teach them something about themselves. When you accept the lessons that life brings you, no matter how unpleasant or challenging they may be, you take the crucial first step toward finding your true self and your purpose. You begin to cultivate the essential attitude of openness.” pg. 25
“While the less attractive lessons may not be fun, they can actually be the biggest gifts you receive.” pg. 26
“How can we move from resistance to openness? By first recognizing the feeling or resistance. Resistance usually manifests itself physically in a clenched jaw, a tightness in the chest, or sighing. Mentally, it shows up in thoughts like, ‘Why do I have to deal with this issue? I don’t want this, I don’t need it, I don’t like it!’ Once you discover where in your mind or body resistance anchors itself, you can more easily identify it in the future. . .
Remember, if you want to truly live from your authentic self, you must be open to learning all the lessons you are given so that you may grow into the person you want to become.
What lessons are you resisting?” pg. 26-27
“To live in a state of grace means to be fully in tune with your spiritual nature and a higher power that sustains you. Grace comes when you are able to move from your lower self, where your ego dictates the path that ‘should be’ rightfully yours, to your higher self, where you are able to transcend your ego and expand into your greater good. It comes when you shift from a ‘me’-centered reality to an understanding of the bigger picture. Grace comes when you understand and accept that the universe always creates circumstances that lead every person to his or her own true path, and that everything happens for a reason as part of a divine plan.” pg. 31
“When you consider the hardships of life—the disappointments, hurts, losses, illnesses, all the tragedies you may suffer—and shift your perception to see them as opportunities for learning and growth, you become empowered. You can take charge of your life and rise to its challenges, instead of feeling defeated, victimized, or cast adrift.” pg. 34
“The key to learning the lesson of compassion is realizing that you are in control of the erection or destruction of those barriers that create distance between you and others. You can choose to dissolve those barriers when you want to connect with the heart of another human being. You can also choose to limit others’ access to your heart when you need to, by forming judgments that separate you from that which you are judging.” pg. 38
“The secret to learning to open your heart is the willingness to connect to your essence and the essence of the person you are judging. From there, the magic of compassion opens limitless doors to human connection.” pg. 39
“You may resist learning this lesson [of forgiveness] because sometimes it feels good to blame people for their mistakes. It makes you feel superior and righteous when you can look down your nose and hold a grudge toward someone who has wronged you. However, harboring resentments consumes a lot of energy. Why waste valuable energy on prolonged anger and guilt, when you could use that energy for far greater things? When you let go of resentment, guilt, and anger, you become revitalized and create space in your soul for growth.” pg. 42-43
“When your external actions reflect your internal code, you are in alignment with your morality. This is how an individual gains integrity. Integrity is important because without it you are living with a sense of division within yourself; you feel incomplete and conflicted.” pg. 46
“You will continually attract the same lesson into your life. You will also draw to you teachers to teach you that lesson until you get it right. The only way you can free yourself of difficult patterns and issues you tend to repeat is by shifting your perspective so that you can recognize the patterns and learn the lessons that they offer. You may try to avoid the situations, but they will eventually catch up with you.
To face these challenges means you need to accept the fact that something within you keeps drawing you to the same kind of person or issue, painful though that situation or relationship may be. In the words of Carl Jung, ‘There is no coming to consciousness without pain.’ And come to consciousness you must if you are ever to stop repeating the same lessons and be able to move on to new ones.” pg. 52-53
“In my seminars, I teach that there are six basic steps to executing any change in your life. They are:
1. awareness - becoming conscious of the pattern or issue
2. acknowledgement - admitting that you need to release the pattern
3. choice - actively selecting to release the pattern
4. strategy - creating a realistic plan
5. commitment - taking action, aided by external accountability
6. celebration - rewarding yourself for succeeding
No lasting change can be made, nor any pattern released permanently, without going through each one of these steps.” pg. 53-54
“The opportunity to learn the lesson of awareness is presented each time you feel a sense of discontent in your life. With every desire for a shift in your path, or vision of something different, comes the chance to look within and ask yourself, ‘What is the truth of what I want? What change do I want to make?’ The answer that arises to those questions will provide you with the awareness you need to move forward in your process of change.” pg. 55
“Remember:
WANT leads to CHOICE, which leads to COMMITMENT.
SHOULD leads to DECISION, which leads to SACRIFICE.” pg. 57
“So the next time you are struggling to make a change in your life, ask yourself, ‘How willing am I, really, to make this change?’ If you are not succeeding, there’s a good chance that you may be relying on your belief that you should change, rather than on your intrinsic desire to do so.” pg. 58
“Causality is the acknowledgment that you are the source of your manifestations. In other words, everything that you attract into your life is coming to you because of something you are projecting out into the world, and you are therefore responsible for drawing to you all of your circumstances. It’s difficult to give up the idea that circumstances just happen to you, as opposed to because of you or your behavior. By remaining an innocent victim of fate, you do not have to acknowledge that you are in any way responsible for what befalls you, and you can continue to hide deep within the vortex of your patterns.” pg. 59
“You never actually finish all your lessons, for as long as you are alive, there are lessons to learn. Regardless of your age, or station in life, or success level, you will never be exempt from the lessons you need to learn in order to continue growing. Your journey on Earth is constantly unfolding, and while your wisdom grows and your capacity to deal with challenges expands, new lessons will present themselves. In fact, as the depth of your wisdom increases, your capacities expand proportionately, allowing you to take on and solve with greater ease more advanced challenges.” pg. 62-63
“The key to coming to peace with your role as a perpetual student lies in surrendering to what is, rather than trying to create what you envision should be. If resistance has been a theme throughout your life, then surrender will appear in your curriculum. If you are one of those people who always have to do things his way or who possess a strong, willful ego, then surrender will seem like defeat to you. But surrender only signifies defeat in war. In life it signifies transcendence.” pg. 64
“If you surrender to the fact that the universe will always present you with lessons, over and over again, you can stop trying to second-guess the divine plan. You will be amazed how much easier life gets when you stop resisting and controlling it, and ride the waves toward the fulfillment of your destiny.” pg. 65
“Commitment means devoting yourself to something or someone and staying with it—no matter what.” pg. 65
“Humility is the lesson that stings, for along with it usually comes some kind of loss or downfall. The universe likes to keep things in balance, so when an inflated ego ignores civility and patience, it introduces humility as a way to bring the ego back down to Earth. Though the sting feels like a wound at the time, it really is just a poke from the higher power to keep you balanced.” pg. 67
“Flexibility is defined as being adaptable to change. In the course of your lifetime, you will be tempted to try to hold on to what is, when in fact, what is is only a temporary phase that evolves almost immediately into what was. It is essential that you learn to bend and flex around every new circumstance, as rigidity robs you of the opportunity to see the freedom of new possibilities.” pg. 69
“Many people believe that they will be happy once they arrive at some specific goal they set for themselves. . . Whatever your ‘there’ is, you may be convinced that once you arrive you will finally find the peace you have always dreamed of. You will finally become fulfilled, happy, generous, loving, and content.
However, more often than not, once you arrive ‘there’ you will still feel dissatisfied, and move your ‘there’ vision to yet another point in the future. By always chasing after another ‘there,’ you are never really appreciating what you already have right ‘here.’” pg. 71-72
“To be grateful means you are thankful for and appreciative of what you have and where you are on your path right now. Gratitude fills your heart with the joyful feeling of being blessed with many gifts and allows you to fully appreciate everything that arises on your path. As you strive to keep your focus on the present moment, you can experience the full wonder of ‘here.’” pg. 73
“Unattachment is the release of need or expectation associated with a specific outcome. For most people, this is one of the most difficult lessons to learn. We become attached to the way we envision something working out, and struggle to make circumstances bend to our desires. Life, however, often has its own agenda, and we are destined to suffer unless we give up our attachment to things working out exactly as we would like. We learn unattachment when we are able to release our belief that ‘there’ is any better than ‘here’.” pg. 75-76
“Being unattached does not mean being disinterested or removed; rather, it means remaining neutral in your judgments of circumstances and in your desire for a specific outcome. In other words, if your goal is to amass a million dollars, it is natural and right for you to pursue that goal. The key to serenity, however, lies in your ability to hold lightly to the image of yourself reaching that goal. In doing so you will feel peaceful in your situation regardless of the outcome. Unattachment means you are not bound by your expectations of how things should turn out, and that you are willing to let go.” pg. 76
“6. Visualize releasing the image and all of your attachments to it. Know that the universe will provide you with whatever you need for growth in terms of realizing this desire.” pg. 79
“Pay attention to the motivations behind your attachments. You may be attached to getting married or rich because you think it will bring about security. The fact is being rich or married in no way guarantees a secure life free of worries. It may actually make you less secure. A sense of security comes from within, not from attachment to any person, thing, or idea.” pg. 79
“Abundance means that all things are possible and that there is more than enough of everything for everyone, right here and now. As you shift your focus from some point in the future to the present, you are able to fully see the riches and gifts you already have, and thus learn the lesson of abundance.” pg. 80
“Scarcity consciousness arises as a result of what I call the ‘hole-in-the-soul syndrome.’ This is when we attempt to fill the gaps in our inner lives with things from the outside world. But like puzzle pieces, you can’t fit something in where it does not naturally belong. No amount of external objects, affection, love, or attention can ever fill an inner void. The void can only be filled by looking within. You already have and are enough; revel in your own interior abundance and you will never need to look elsewhere.” pg. 82
“Conversely, you can view the people you judge negatively as gifts, presented to show you what you are not accepting about yourself. Imagine that every time you are angered, hurt, or irritated by another, you are actually being given the opportunity to heal past incidents of anger, hurt, or irritation. Perhaps viewing weakness in others is an opportunity to extend the loving arm of compassion to them; or it could be the perfect moment to heal the unconscious judgment you have secretly harbored against yourself.” pg. 85
Book: borrowed from SSF Main Library.
Lovely reminders about the lessons in life which make life worth living. I am on board with this book and its teachings/reminders. I choose to live my life with similar guidelines as this book shares.
"If self-esteem is a lesson that you need to learn, you will be tested over and over until you feel confident about who you are and understand and believe in your intrinsic value. Your body may provide you with enough opportunities to work on this lesson throughout your entire lifetime." pg. 14
"When you respect your body, you are in partnership with it. You become grounded in your physical body and able to benefit from all it has to offer you. Respect carries reciprocal energy. Your body will honor you when you honor it. Treat your body as a structure worthy of respect and it will respond in kind. Abuse or ignore it and it will break down in various ways until you learn the lesson of respect." pg. 17
"When you consider the hardships of life--the disappointments, hurts, losses, illnesses, all the tragedies you may suffer--and shift your perception to see them as opportunities for learning and growth, you become empowered. You can take charge of your life and rise to its challenges, instead of feeling defeated, victimized, or cast adrift." pg. 34
"In order to rise to the challenge of embracing your role as perpetual student, you need to learn the lessons of surrender, commitment, humility, and flexibility. Without these important lessons, you will never be able to open your mind, heart, and spirit wide enough to allow yourself to take in all that life has to teach you." pg. 63
The Ten Rules for Being Human
1. You will receive a body.
2. You will be presented with lessons.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
4. Lessons are repeated until learned.
5. Learning does not end.
6. "There" is no better than "here."
7. Others are only mirrors of you.
8. What you make of your life is up to you.
9. All the answers lie inside of you.
10. You will forget all of this at birth.
From 2022:
I loved reading this book again and hearing the powerful reminders. Too many good passages to share!
“The body you are given will be yours for the duration of your time here. Love it or hate it, accept it or reject it, it is the only one you will receive in this lifetime. It will be with you from the moment you draw your first breath to the last beat of your heart. Since there is a no-refund, no-exchange policy on this body of yours, it is essential that you learn to transform your body from a mere vessel into a beloved partner and lifelong ally, as the relationship between you and your body is the most fundamental and important relationship of your lifetime. It is the blueprint from which all your other relationships will be built.” pg. 8
“For many people, their body is the target for their harshest judgments and the barometer by which they measure their self-worth. They hold themselves up to an unattainable standard and berate themselves for coming up short of perfection. Since your physical shape is the form in which you show up in the world, it is very often the way you define yourself, and often the way others define you. The way you view your body is directly related to how close you are to learning the lesson of acceptance.
Imposing harsh judgments on your body limits the range of experience your allow yourself to enjoy.” pg. 10
“To respect your body means to hold it in high regard and honor it. Respect is treating your body with the same care you would give any other valuable and irreplaceable object. Learning to respect your body is vital.
When you respect your body, you are in partnership with it. You become grounded in your physical body and able to benefit from all it has to offer you. Respect carries reciprocal energy. Your body will honor you when you honor it. Treat your body as a structure worthy of respect and it will respond in kind. Abuse or ignore it and it will break down in various ways until you learn the lesson of respect.” pg. 17
“Why are you here? What is your purpose? Humans have sought to discover the meaning of life for a very long time. What we and our ancestors have overlooked, however, in the course of this endless search, is that there is no one answer. The meaning of life is different for every individual.
Each person has his or her own purpose and distinct path, unique and separate from anyone else’s. As you travel your life path, you will be presented with numerous lessons that you will need to learn in order to fulfill that purpose. The lessons you are presented with are specific to you; learning these lessons is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and relevance of your own life.
Once you have learned the basic lessons taught to you by your own body, you are ready for a more advanced teacher: the universe.” pg. 22-23
“The only thing you can count on for certain is that you will be presented with all the lessons that you specifically need to learn; whether you choose to learn them or not is entirely up to you.” pg. 23
“The challenge of Rule Two, therefore, is to align yourself with your own unique path by learning your individual lessons. This is one of the most difficult challenges you will be faced with in your lifetime, as sometimes your path will lead you into a life that is radically different from others’. Don’t compare your path to those of the people around you and focus on the disparity between their lessons and yours. You need to remember that you will only be faced with lessons that you are capable of learning and are specific to your own growth.” pg. 23-24
“I have watched hundreds of people in my workshops experience the profound transformation that comes when they understand that every event in their lives occurs to teach them something about themselves. When you accept the lessons that life brings you, no matter how unpleasant or challenging they may be, you take the crucial first step toward finding your true self and your purpose. You begin to cultivate the essential attitude of openness.” pg. 25
“While the less attractive lessons may not be fun, they can actually be the biggest gifts you receive.” pg. 26
“How can we move from resistance to openness? By first recognizing the feeling or resistance. Resistance usually manifests itself physically in a clenched jaw, a tightness in the chest, or sighing. Mentally, it shows up in thoughts like, ‘Why do I have to deal with this issue? I don’t want this, I don’t need it, I don’t like it!’ Once you discover where in your mind or body resistance anchors itself, you can more easily identify it in the future. . .
Remember, if you want to truly live from your authentic self, you must be open to learning all the lessons you are given so that you may grow into the person you want to become.
What lessons are you resisting?” pg. 26-27
“To live in a state of grace means to be fully in tune with your spiritual nature and a higher power that sustains you. Grace comes when you are able to move from your lower self, where your ego dictates the path that ‘should be’ rightfully yours, to your higher self, where you are able to transcend your ego and expand into your greater good. It comes when you shift from a ‘me’-centered reality to an understanding of the bigger picture. Grace comes when you understand and accept that the universe always creates circumstances that lead every person to his or her own true path, and that everything happens for a reason as part of a divine plan.” pg. 31
“When you consider the hardships of life—the disappointments, hurts, losses, illnesses, all the tragedies you may suffer—and shift your perception to see them as opportunities for learning and growth, you become empowered. You can take charge of your life and rise to its challenges, instead of feeling defeated, victimized, or cast adrift.” pg. 34
“The key to learning the lesson of compassion is realizing that you are in control of the erection or destruction of those barriers that create distance between you and others. You can choose to dissolve those barriers when you want to connect with the heart of another human being. You can also choose to limit others’ access to your heart when you need to, by forming judgments that separate you from that which you are judging.” pg. 38
“The secret to learning to open your heart is the willingness to connect to your essence and the essence of the person you are judging. From there, the magic of compassion opens limitless doors to human connection.” pg. 39
“You may resist learning this lesson [of forgiveness] because sometimes it feels good to blame people for their mistakes. It makes you feel superior and righteous when you can look down your nose and hold a grudge toward someone who has wronged you. However, harboring resentments consumes a lot of energy. Why waste valuable energy on prolonged anger and guilt, when you could use that energy for far greater things? When you let go of resentment, guilt, and anger, you become revitalized and create space in your soul for growth.” pg. 42-43
“When your external actions reflect your internal code, you are in alignment with your morality. This is how an individual gains integrity. Integrity is important because without it you are living with a sense of division within yourself; you feel incomplete and conflicted.” pg. 46
“You will continually attract the same lesson into your life. You will also draw to you teachers to teach you that lesson until you get it right. The only way you can free yourself of difficult patterns and issues you tend to repeat is by shifting your perspective so that you can recognize the patterns and learn the lessons that they offer. You may try to avoid the situations, but they will eventually catch up with you.
To face these challenges means you need to accept the fact that something within you keeps drawing you to the same kind of person or issue, painful though that situation or relationship may be. In the words of Carl Jung, ‘There is no coming to consciousness without pain.’ And come to consciousness you must if you are ever to stop repeating the same lessons and be able to move on to new ones.” pg. 52-53
“In my seminars, I teach that there are six basic steps to executing any change in your life. They are:
1. awareness - becoming conscious of the pattern or issue
2. acknowledgement - admitting that you need to release the pattern
3. choice - actively selecting to release the pattern
4. strategy - creating a realistic plan
5. commitment - taking action, aided by external accountability
6. celebration - rewarding yourself for succeeding
No lasting change can be made, nor any pattern released permanently, without going through each one of these steps.” pg. 53-54
“The opportunity to learn the lesson of awareness is presented each time you feel a sense of discontent in your life. With every desire for a shift in your path, or vision of something different, comes the chance to look within and ask yourself, ‘What is the truth of what I want? What change do I want to make?’ The answer that arises to those questions will provide you with the awareness you need to move forward in your process of change.” pg. 55
“Remember:
WANT leads to CHOICE, which leads to COMMITMENT.
SHOULD leads to DECISION, which leads to SACRIFICE.” pg. 57
“So the next time you are struggling to make a change in your life, ask yourself, ‘How willing am I, really, to make this change?’ If you are not succeeding, there’s a good chance that you may be relying on your belief that you should change, rather than on your intrinsic desire to do so.” pg. 58
“Causality is the acknowledgment that you are the source of your manifestations. In other words, everything that you attract into your life is coming to you because of something you are projecting out into the world, and you are therefore responsible for drawing to you all of your circumstances. It’s difficult to give up the idea that circumstances just happen to you, as opposed to because of you or your behavior. By remaining an innocent victim of fate, you do not have to acknowledge that you are in any way responsible for what befalls you, and you can continue to hide deep within the vortex of your patterns.” pg. 59
“You never actually finish all your lessons, for as long as you are alive, there are lessons to learn. Regardless of your age, or station in life, or success level, you will never be exempt from the lessons you need to learn in order to continue growing. Your journey on Earth is constantly unfolding, and while your wisdom grows and your capacity to deal with challenges expands, new lessons will present themselves. In fact, as the depth of your wisdom increases, your capacities expand proportionately, allowing you to take on and solve with greater ease more advanced challenges.” pg. 62-63
“The key to coming to peace with your role as a perpetual student lies in surrendering to what is, rather than trying to create what you envision should be. If resistance has been a theme throughout your life, then surrender will appear in your curriculum. If you are one of those people who always have to do things his way or who possess a strong, willful ego, then surrender will seem like defeat to you. But surrender only signifies defeat in war. In life it signifies transcendence.” pg. 64
“If you surrender to the fact that the universe will always present you with lessons, over and over again, you can stop trying to second-guess the divine plan. You will be amazed how much easier life gets when you stop resisting and controlling it, and ride the waves toward the fulfillment of your destiny.” pg. 65
“Commitment means devoting yourself to something or someone and staying with it—no matter what.” pg. 65
“Humility is the lesson that stings, for along with it usually comes some kind of loss or downfall. The universe likes to keep things in balance, so when an inflated ego ignores civility and patience, it introduces humility as a way to bring the ego back down to Earth. Though the sting feels like a wound at the time, it really is just a poke from the higher power to keep you balanced.” pg. 67
“Flexibility is defined as being adaptable to change. In the course of your lifetime, you will be tempted to try to hold on to what is, when in fact, what is is only a temporary phase that evolves almost immediately into what was. It is essential that you learn to bend and flex around every new circumstance, as rigidity robs you of the opportunity to see the freedom of new possibilities.” pg. 69
“Many people believe that they will be happy once they arrive at some specific goal they set for themselves. . . Whatever your ‘there’ is, you may be convinced that once you arrive you will finally find the peace you have always dreamed of. You will finally become fulfilled, happy, generous, loving, and content.
However, more often than not, once you arrive ‘there’ you will still feel dissatisfied, and move your ‘there’ vision to yet another point in the future. By always chasing after another ‘there,’ you are never really appreciating what you already have right ‘here.’” pg. 71-72
“To be grateful means you are thankful for and appreciative of what you have and where you are on your path right now. Gratitude fills your heart with the joyful feeling of being blessed with many gifts and allows you to fully appreciate everything that arises on your path. As you strive to keep your focus on the present moment, you can experience the full wonder of ‘here.’” pg. 73
“Unattachment is the release of need or expectation associated with a specific outcome. For most people, this is one of the most difficult lessons to learn. We become attached to the way we envision something working out, and struggle to make circumstances bend to our desires. Life, however, often has its own agenda, and we are destined to suffer unless we give up our attachment to things working out exactly as we would like. We learn unattachment when we are able to release our belief that ‘there’ is any better than ‘here’.” pg. 75-76
“Being unattached does not mean being disinterested or removed; rather, it means remaining neutral in your judgments of circumstances and in your desire for a specific outcome. In other words, if your goal is to amass a million dollars, it is natural and right for you to pursue that goal. The key to serenity, however, lies in your ability to hold lightly to the image of yourself reaching that goal. In doing so you will feel peaceful in your situation regardless of the outcome. Unattachment means you are not bound by your expectations of how things should turn out, and that you are willing to let go.” pg. 76
“6. Visualize releasing the image and all of your attachments to it. Know that the universe will provide you with whatever you need for growth in terms of realizing this desire.” pg. 79
“Pay attention to the motivations behind your attachments. You may be attached to getting married or rich because you think it will bring about security. The fact is being rich or married in no way guarantees a secure life free of worries. It may actually make you less secure. A sense of security comes from within, not from attachment to any person, thing, or idea.” pg. 79
“Abundance means that all things are possible and that there is more than enough of everything for everyone, right here and now. As you shift your focus from some point in the future to the present, you are able to fully see the riches and gifts you already have, and thus learn the lesson of abundance.” pg. 80
“Scarcity consciousness arises as a result of what I call the ‘hole-in-the-soul syndrome.’ This is when we attempt to fill the gaps in our inner lives with things from the outside world. But like puzzle pieces, you can’t fit something in where it does not naturally belong. No amount of external objects, affection, love, or attention can ever fill an inner void. The void can only be filled by looking within. You already have and are enough; revel in your own interior abundance and you will never need to look elsewhere.” pg. 82
“Conversely, you can view the people you judge negatively as gifts, presented to show you what you are not accepting about yourself. Imagine that every time you are angered, hurt, or irritated by another, you are actually being given the opportunity to heal past incidents of anger, hurt, or irritation. Perhaps viewing weakness in others is an opportunity to extend the loving arm of compassion to them; or it could be the perfect moment to heal the unconscious judgment you have secretly harbored against yourself.” pg. 85
Book: borrowed from SSF Main Library.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
January 24, 2023Before talking about the book and its content itself, I want to mention that it’s very meaningful to me since my grandfather, whom I greatly admire and love, lent it to me because he thought it would be of great help for my journey. Although the book’s small in size, I found lots of magical, transforming information within it.
Chérie talks about the universal truths that all of us can learn to live happier lives that are full of self-acceptance, understanding, love, success, and the inner knowing that we're all in this game together, on the same team. We find a set of three to four values within each one of the ten rules, which are essential to mastering each of the lessons.
Over the course of the book, plenty of nice and truthful quotes are mentioned, but the one I related with the most, according to my current situation is: “When you stop comparing what is right here and now with what you wish were, you can begin to enjoy what is.” It’s a simple sentence yet so complicated to experience since we, human beings, spend most of our time thinking about things that happened in the past, or things that will happen in the future, which as result, drag us out of the present and make us feel depressed and/or anxious.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and I undoubtedly feel “more prepared” for life than how I felt before reading it, meaning that I learned many new and important things. Not only that, but it also reminded me of many that I had forgotten sometime during my journey as well. This is why my rating for this book is a 10/10, and I would recommend it to anyone who’s interested in giving a step forward to becoming the best version of themselves and improving their lives overall.
Chérie talks about the universal truths that all of us can learn to live happier lives that are full of self-acceptance, understanding, love, success, and the inner knowing that we're all in this game together, on the same team. We find a set of three to four values within each one of the ten rules, which are essential to mastering each of the lessons.
Over the course of the book, plenty of nice and truthful quotes are mentioned, but the one I related with the most, according to my current situation is: “When you stop comparing what is right here and now with what you wish were, you can begin to enjoy what is.” It’s a simple sentence yet so complicated to experience since we, human beings, spend most of our time thinking about things that happened in the past, or things that will happen in the future, which as result, drag us out of the present and make us feel depressed and/or anxious.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and I undoubtedly feel “more prepared” for life than how I felt before reading it, meaning that I learned many new and important things. Not only that, but it also reminded me of many that I had forgotten sometime during my journey as well. This is why my rating for this book is a 10/10, and I would recommend it to anyone who’s interested in giving a step forward to becoming the best version of themselves and improving their lives overall.
July 4, 2023
I love the rules and how this book made me feel. I was so introspective as I was reading this. I've noticed patterns in my life, analyzed relationships and situations, and started looking inward for answers much more than before.
It's a short book, less than 150 pages, but packed with helpful information. I enjoyed it so much that I bought a used copy on AbeBooks, because I know that I'm going to reread it and use it as a reference. It felt like someone put a mirror in my face and forced me to take a closer look at my life and my behaviors. Always a good thing.
These are the 10 Rules and they go much deeper than they sound. You learn about acceptance, self-esteem, choice, compassion, forgiveness, causality, patience, surrendering, commitment, humility, gratitude, clarity, responsibility, inspiration, and limitlessness, along with many more important topics.
1. You will receive a body.
2. You will be presented with lessons.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
4. A lesson is repeated until learned.
5. Learning does not end.
6. "There" is no better than "here".
7. Others are only mirrors of you.
8. What you make of your life is up to you.
9. All your answers lie inside of you.
10. You will forget all of this at birth.
Highly recommended.
It's a short book, less than 150 pages, but packed with helpful information. I enjoyed it so much that I bought a used copy on AbeBooks, because I know that I'm going to reread it and use it as a reference. It felt like someone put a mirror in my face and forced me to take a closer look at my life and my behaviors. Always a good thing.
These are the 10 Rules and they go much deeper than they sound. You learn about acceptance, self-esteem, choice, compassion, forgiveness, causality, patience, surrendering, commitment, humility, gratitude, clarity, responsibility, inspiration, and limitlessness, along with many more important topics.
1. You will receive a body.
2. You will be presented with lessons.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
4. A lesson is repeated until learned.
5. Learning does not end.
6. "There" is no better than "here".
7. Others are only mirrors of you.
8. What you make of your life is up to you.
9. All your answers lie inside of you.
10. You will forget all of this at birth.
Highly recommended.
June 25, 2021
It had been a while since I finished a book in a single day.
There were many lessons to be learned from the book. I genuinely enjoyed reading it and reflecting on my life. It felt eye opening to see some of my past struggles through a different perspective. However, I felt like life in general was overly simplified when it came to some of the rules. It was as if the struggles that life embarks on you can always be prevented by having a positive attitude. When in reality, sometimes that is not feasible.
There were many lessons to be learned from the book. I genuinely enjoyed reading it and reflecting on my life. It felt eye opening to see some of my past struggles through a different perspective. However, I felt like life in general was overly simplified when it came to some of the rules. It was as if the struggles that life embarks on you can always be prevented by having a positive attitude. When in reality, sometimes that is not feasible.
July 20, 2023
I was introduced to this book 6 years ago as required reading for a university wellness course. It was the first self-help book I read, and it opened my eyes to a lot of ideas that were not on my radar as a 20-year-old. It was an easy read, quick and straightforward. It was helpful that the author used real life examples to illustrate concepts, making it easy to understand. I think about these 10 rules often to this day, even though they are much easier thought about than actually applied to real life.
September 21, 2019
Short, sweet and delightfully powerful. These 10 rules for being a human can seem obvious or simple on the surface, but are in fact a vehicle for presenting the tenets of Buddhism in an easily digestible format. This is the kind of book one can return to over and over again, to regain some perspective when life can seem to get messy or in the way.
February 10, 2019
I see where this book was going but i feel it is not finished. I don't know is it because i am reading translated version but feels too fake.
I did enjoy some examples in book and few chapters were relatable but the rest was just dull.
I did enjoy some examples in book and few chapters were relatable but the rest was just dull.
January 6, 2022
This easy-to-follow guide of life was a quick read. I enjoyed the boiled down life lessons with action steps, even when they may have felt like common-sense. Think The Four Agreements but instead of four, ten!
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