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Once you have email, you
are subjected to “email forwards,” those little jokes, pictures and
stories meant to inspire or entertain that are sent from one friend to
another. Often, no one knows really where the email started, and there’s
no telling where or when it will ever end as folks who receive them
continue to “forward” the email to the next friend.
Some of the jokes are
funny, and some inspirational pieces come with fabulous photos or
artwork. Some claim that if you forward it to five friends, you’ll get a
coupon or discount from some big company. Others are just an Internet
version of the Hallmark friendship cards, and some are little cartoons.
Some of them include advice for life and living.
Very few of these “email
forwards” really stick out, and none of them have ever included any of
my personal favorites, which have been thumb tacked to my bulletin board
for years--since even before I had email or Internet service.
This week,
I’d like to share one of the “advice for living” pieces that has guided
my approach to life for more than 14 years. I present the “Rules for
Being Human” by
Jan
Van Doren:
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 fulltime 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 trial
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 learned. A lesson will be presented to
you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned
it, you can then 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 learn.
6.
“There” is no better than “here.” When your “there” has become a
“here,” you will obtain another “there” that will, again, look 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.
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 the above.
Over the
years, I have found all 10 rules to be true and sound, especially number
10. I have come to understand and adhere to rules one through six, but
I’ve needed to remind myself of number seven, and am working to master
eight and nine. I have, over time, been very thankful that I printed the
piece to remind me of each rule for being human.
So, if you want to start
an “email forward” that includes sound advice, and is inspiring, I
believe the rules above will stand out among the millions of forwards
floating around out there. You may even want to clip this piece and post
it on your bulletin board at home. If so, I offer one more piece of
advice. Have it laminated, because 15 years from now, you’ll still find
it useful, but it will look pretty ragged.
“Rules for Being Human,”
by Jan
Van Doren,
was originally printed in “Faith at Work” magazine; Winter, 1993.
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