THE RULES FOR BEING HUMAN

Wisdom for the game of everyday life,

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around. 2. You will learn 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 think them irrelevant and stupid. 3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trail and error, experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works." 4. A lesson is repeated until it is learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. Then you can go on to the next lesson. 5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned. 6. "There" is no better than "here." When your "there" has became a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that again looks better than "here." 7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself. 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. The answers lie inside you. The answers to life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust. I am sorry to report that I do not know the author's name. I no longer remember where I copied this from. Please notify me If you have this information. Thank you.

THINK POSITIVE If you want to get somewhere, you have to know where you want to go and how to get there. Then never, never give up. The secret of life isn't in what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you. Help other people to cope with their problems and your own will be easier to cope with. Never use the word impossible seriously again. Toss it into the verbal wastebucket. Self - trust is the first secret of success. So believe in and trust yourself. Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have. Joy increases as you give it, and diminishes as you try to keep it for yourself. In giving it, you will accumulate a deposit of joy greater than you ever believed possible. How you think about a problem is more important than the problem itself---so always think postively. Go at life with abandon; give it all you've got. And life will give all it has to you. These inspirations are from one of America's greatest motivators ----- Norman Vincent Peale

A STUDENT AT GRADUATION I have just spent the most complicated year of my life. out of that mass of confusion has burst forward a new and more complete person. I am now closer to my creator, my daughter, my friends because I am closer to myself. I have witnessed the birth of a child, and marveled at the miracle of life. With tears of joy, I celebrated the first breath of life. I have witnessed the death of an elderly individual, a woman who had been a wife, a mother, grandmother,poet, and a patient. As the fulfillment of life came to an end, with tears I sorrowed at the last breath of life. I have witnessed a crisis unfold as a young man's life was in grave danger. I experienced both the quiet urgency to sustain life, and the overwhelming relief when I heard the statement, "i have a pulse." Alone with tears of thankfulness, I said a prayer for knowledge, skill and a calm reassuring manner. For the first time in a long time I feel---I feel alive---I feel useful ----I feel needed... I read somewhere that a friend is a gift you give yourself. How beautiful this phrase is. For months I have been holding my instructors as far away from my person as I could with anxiety, fear, and a rigid breathless respect. I would at this time express my gratitude for the faithful guidance I have received. I am a nurse. So now with tears again slowly running down my face,I am celebrating a taste of satisfaction and fullfillness. Thank you, You were always with me. Sometimes leading me, sometimes pushing me, but always near. Dianna Louise Smith, January 6, 1983