Cherie Carter-Scott's, Ph.D Life Rules

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 or stupid.

3) There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of experimentation - trial and error. The so-called "failed experiments" are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work".

4) A Lesson is repeated until learned.
It 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. If you do not learn easy lessons, they become harder. You will know you have learned a lesson when your actions change.

5) Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. Every person, every incident is the universal teacher. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6) "There" is no better than "here."
Nothing leads to happiness. When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain another "there" that again will look better than "here."

7) Others are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate in yourself.

8) What you create of your life is up to you.
You have all the tools and resources your need; what you do with them is up to you.

9) All your answers lie inside you.All you need to do is look, listen and trust.

10) You will forget all of this.

-Cherie Carter-Scott, Ph.D.
"If Life is a Game, These are the Rules"

Fire of Motivation

I believe in two premises:
(i) most people are good people, but can do better; and
(ii) most people already know what to do, so why aren't they doing it?

What is missing is the spark--motivation. Some self help books adopt the approach of teaching what to do; we take a different approach. We ask, "Why don't you do it?" If you ask people on the street what should be done, they will give you all the correct answers. But ask them whether they are doing it and the answer will be no. What is lacking is motivation.

The greatest motivation comes from a person's belief system. That means he needs to believe in what he does and accept responsibility. That is where motivation becomes important. When people accept responsibility for their behavior and actions, their attitude toward life becomes positive. They become more productive, personally and professionally. Their relationships improve both at home and at work. Life becomes more meaningful and fulfilled.

After a person's basic physical needs are met, emotional needs become a bigger motivator. Every behavior comes out of the "pain or gain" principle. If the gain is greater than the pain, that is the motivator. If the pain is greater than the gain, then that is a deterrent.

Gains can be tangible, such as: monetary rewards, vacations, and gifts. They can be intangible, such as: recognition, appreciation, sense of achievement, promotion, growth, responsibility, sense of fulfilment, self worth, accomplishment, and belief.

Inspiration is changing thinking; motivation is changing action.

Motivation is like fire unless you keep adding fuel to it, it dies. Just like exercise and food don't last long, neither does motivation. However, if the source of motivation is belief in inner values, it becomes long--lasting.

- Shiv Khera