The Rules For Being Human

Author Unknown

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,a only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error; experimentation. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”

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, 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 lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. There is no better place than here. Where your there has become a here, you simple will contain another there that will again look better than here.

7. Others are 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.

10. You will forget this.

The Whole World Stinks

I read this passage somewhere (author not known) and wish to share with you all for the message it contains
" Wise men and philosophers throughout the ages have disagreed on many things, but many are in unanimous agreement on one point: "We become what we think about." Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "A man is what he thinks about all day long." The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius put it this way: "A man's life is what his thoughts make of it." In the Bible we find: "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."
One Sunday afternoon, a cranky grandfather was visiting his family. As he lay down to take a nap, his grandson decided to have a little fun by putting Limburger cheese on Grandfather's mustache. Soon, grandpa awoke with a snort and charged out of the bedroom saying, "This room stinks." Through the house he went, finding every room smelling the same. Desperately he made his way outside only to find that "the whole world stinks!"
So it is when we fill our minds with negativism. Everything we experience and everybody we encounter will carry the scent we hold in our mind."

Frugality

Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things.

Manifest plainness,

Embrace simplicity,

Reduce selfishness,

Have few desires

Life is a long lesson in humility

Humility is a hall mark of great men. It is only the upstarts that suffer from ego and inflated opinion of themselves. The greater the position one climbs, humbler one generally becomes. The really great men rarely need the crutches of instant recognition and adulation. Pride is what most men display unwilling to accept what they really are and suffering illusions of what they really are not. I read that if men were clothed in humility, most would be scantily clad. Very few realize that we are in this world for a short period doing what is ordained and instead of taking pleasure at what is done, we attach importance to who did the work. We expect everyone to praise us and our work failing which we nurse bitterness. There is a craving for adulation and recognition in whatever we do. All the anger and frustration would not arise if we are not victims of self pity or self importance.

I have read that the great physicist and mathematician Einstein was embarrassed by the attention and admiration received by him very deservedly at that. He was humility personified when he wrote “There are plenty of the well-endowed, thank God. It strikes me as unfair, and even in bad taste, to select a few of them for boundless admiration, attributing superhuman powers of mind and character to them. This has been my fate, and the contrast between the popular estimate of my powers and achievements and the reality is simply grotesque.” Contrast this with our own tin-pot politicians and bureaucrats who believe genuinely that all the good that is happening in our country is because of them and keep harping on it.. There is no need to prove ourselves to others. Bragging with pride only diminishes the positive feelings others may have for us. Our work or accomplishments would speak for themselves better.

How many of us respond patiently to ordinary men and women who either on the roads or offices asks us some questions? We are always in tearing hurry. Humility is genuine concern for others. Humility means being a better listener, being more patient with others, being helpful to utter strangers when help is sought for and letting others have their glory. Humility is in doing great and small acts of kindness without letting others know. Humility is in making peace with other’s imperfections and being more tolerant.

Humility is like underwear,essential, but indecent if it shows

Ignoring misery

Miseries abound in life. The intensity of the misery and the pain it causes are a function of the mind. It is how we look at it. On a hot and sultry day when the power goes, the well placed man feels miserable when the fan or the air conditioner stops working. To the poor in the hut with no electric connection, the absence of power is no hardship. Miseries are the products of the mind. As we have seen the same situation produces different reactions to different people at different places. The eyes are just a device to see things. It is the mind that really sees and interprets. If the mind is clean, cleared of cobwebs of illusion, we tend to see things differently. What we considered at the night before we went to sleep as a great misery defying easy solution appears as manageable when we get up in the morning afresh. There is no change in the external situation. It is only a refreshed mind that looks at the problem in a different light.
Sri Ramana Maharishi says” the mind turned outwards on to the world becomes the ‘ego’ which is the small “self”, that is prey to innumerable wants and worries. Miseries and mortifications are the lot of such a lot. The same mind behaves or reacts differently in different men depending upon how it is conditioned. The mind turned inwards and in full view of the Self, it is oblivious to everything external to it. Miseries do not exist by themselves but what the mind makes or bargains for. They exist when allowed and disappear when ignored..Misery is relative to a person just as death in the family affects different individuals differently. When one daughter breaks down under sorrow, another one remains calm and composed. In sum miseries are the products of the mind. If you own them, they appear real. If you disown them they vanish.

A misery is not to be measured from the nature of the evil, but from the temper of the sufferer

Should religion divide?

Why does religion divide? Etymologically, religion derived from the Latin word ‘religio’, means ‘bind’; that is that which binds all is religion. Sadly in practice religion divides, rather used by vested interests to divide people on the basis of religion, denomination and subdivisions, setting man against man and instigating wars and strifes.If we consider religion as love, tolerance and respect for other faiths and beliefs, we can see the mockery to which the word religion has been reduced where one brother fights against another. God expects us to love, be kind and practice forgiveness among other values in life. He has never said that there is only one right way to honour, praise and worship Him. Why is it that the fanatics in every religion believe that their religion alone is the one and only way to follow? Trying to force something upon people of other faiths will do nothing except drive them away from your fold. Instead the focus should be on right leading making people come to your faith wanting to know more.
The bottom line is that there is no place for intolerance in world today allowing religion to divide instead of unites. Religion should not be used to harm others. The leaders should not use religion for narrow political ends. Instead they should spread the message that God is one and not separate for each religion, that God is universal in concept with all mankind His children and that love, kindness,tolerance,compassion and charity should inform all our actions. All paths of different religions ultimately lead to God and that religion is not a badge to be worn but is a way of good life with principles of high values common to all religions. The following verse should serve as our motto.
The world is my country
All mankind my brethren
To do good is my religion
I believe in one God and no more

What are your three best wishes?

Dream lofty for dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil. James Allen

I had asked a good friend of mine what her three best wishes would be if an angel were to ask her. She could not readily answer and I think she bought time by telling that let the angel ask me first. Most of us do not have a clear wish list. We haven’t prioritised them even if we had one. If you had missed your bus, you may wish that another one should come soon. I am not talking about such petty wishes. We are not often in a position to spell out what we want in our lives. We haven’t thought about them. Perhaps it would be nice to write down our ten wishes and then scan them to prioritise them. Like a child we should not ask for a jar full of candies. We must seek the best. Many of the wishes we had noted would be deleted on a second look and some new ones instead may find place.
Our first talk should be to know what we want from our life. There should be a purpose in it. Otherwise, we are like a rudderless ship moving in unchartered seas. I read success in anything, even in life,’ isn’t the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.’
“All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim; have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible.’ There is no limitation to your big dreams.You can fix big goals, and achieve what you want to. Success in life means different things for different people. Some may want to be stinking rich, some may want a beautiful wife, children and a happy home, some may wish to serve society as a service to God while some may wish to move higher in their spiritual path. The sad part is most of the people have no specific goals and move along in their lives accepting things as they come. They have no vision or a chartered route.
But by and large, one’s success is settled by having a goal or two. It is not enough to have mere goals. The success is dependent on your potential, determination and hard work. The goals should be realistic keeping in mind the potential, ability and training needed to realise. One cannot hope to reach the moon without equipping oneself as an astronaut and developing the skills there for. But the sine qua non for success is your strong belief in your vision. It must permeate in your whole body, thinking and attitude with the dream virtually taking over you. The goal must always be a compelling vision and not a wishful desire.

Avoid accepting others' problems

I read an article by M.R.Kopmeyer that a man in a lunatic asylum was found pushing the wheelbarrow turned upside down. When asked for the reason for doing so, he quipped “I am no crack to allow others to put their rubbish in my wheelbarrow” This doesn’t seem to be the answer from an insane man. It looks a very intelligent and well thought out response.If only we care to look around including ourselves, we would find we are all moving around with our wheelbarrows open for others to dump their problems and worries on us. It is a human tendency to pass on the problems and jobs that have to be met or done by them to others. As long as there are willing persons to hear them out, the problems are invariably and gladly pushed by others.
It is a natural tendency for us to feel important if someone seeks our willing ears to listen to their woes. We may be aware that we are not in a position to solve every problem of others and yet out of politeness and social courtesy or due to ego, we get involved. We have trouble in saying NO because we do not wish to disappoint someone or trying to be nice. If we do this, we would find ourselves over stressed or failing in our promises. We must learn to be firm and say “No, thanks I have no solution to this problem of yours” There is no need to enter into lengthy explanations. Never say “I will try or let me see”. This refusal can be done without rudeness.
There may be genuine cases where we would wish to reach out.If you wish to help out, think about the time and energy required. There is no point in promising what is doubtful or cannot be accomplished. Be selective in helping out depending upon the merits of the case. If you say yes every time you are asked to help out, people may take you for granted and burden you with their work. There is no need to feel guilty in refusing as you have your responsibilities and goals to take care of.
Our strategy should be to keep the wheel barrow upside down and choose what and whose contents it would carry to keep it manageable.