These “11 Rules for Being Human” have been passed around for years. No one seems to know who wrote them or when. One story says they were found on a refrigerator in Toronto. I feel sure there’s wisdom here we can all use — each in our own way:

1. You will receive a body. You make 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. Every day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant or stupid.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error and experimentation. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately works.

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

5. Lessons do 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 “there” than “here.” When a “there” has become a “here,” you will simply find another “there” that will again look better than “here.”

7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate another something about another person unless it reflects something you either 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 to life’s questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10. You will forget all this.

11. You can remember it whenever you want.

“There are no mistakes, only lessons.” “You have all the tools and resources you need.” “The answers to life’s questions lie in side you.” Encouraging and scary at the same time, isn’t it, to reflect on these possibilities? Wisdom to ponder and apply as we all write on!

*  This comes to us via Dr. Rob Gilbert’s wonderful Success Hotline (973.743.4690)