Book Summary: If Life is a Game, These are the Rules

This #1 New York Times bestseller offers some useful and understandable advice that can be applied to many situations. The idea of life as a series of lessons can help to put things into perspective and add to anyone's ability to deal with setbacks and reach their full potential.

Rule one - You will receive a body Acceptance or rejection of your body only carries weight in your own mind, and your perception has no bearing on how your body actually looks, so why not choose the ease of acceptance rather than the pain of rejection? The choice is yours.

Rule two - You will be presented with lessons Each day in the school of life you will be presented with all the lessons that you specifically need to learn, whether you choose to learn them or not is entirely up to you. See these lessons as gifts, or guides along your path toward living as your authentic self.

Rule three - There are no mistakes, only lessons Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors, victories and setbacks. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work. Without lessons, it is difficult to convert mistakes into valuable learning opportunities.

Rule four - A lesson is repeated until learned Lessons will be repeated to you in various forms until you have learned them. When you have learned them, you can then go on to the next lesson.

Rule five - Learning does not end Your journey on earth is constantly unfolding, and while your wisdom grows and your capacity to deal with challenges expands, new lessons will present themselves. Lessons will be around as long as you live.

Rule six - There is no better than here This rule encourages you to live fully in the present. When your 'there' has become a 'here', you will simply obtain a there that will look better to you than your present here. Live in the 'here and now'. Avoid the continuous cycle of longing.

Rule seven - Others are only mirrors of you You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself. See the qualities that you admire in others as characteristics that you have already embraced in yourself, allow them to illuminate more clearly your own feelings of self-worth.

Rule eight - 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.

Rule nine - Your answers lie inside of you All you need to do is look, listen and trust. Many answers to life's problems are available by trusting your intuition and listening to the 'little voices' in your head.

Rule ten - You will forget all of this at birth Create ways to find your way back to your truth when you forget. Surround yourself with people who know your personal truth and are familiar with your authentic self. They can help keep you rooted.

Key thoughts:

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because characte is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." -John Wooden, college basketball coach

"Although they only give gold medals in the field of athletics, I encourage everyone to look into themselves and find their own personal dream, whatever that may be - sports, medicine, law, business, music, writing, whatever. The same principles apply. Turn your dream into a goal and learn how to attack that goal systematically. Break it into bite-size chunks that seem possible, and then don't give up. Just keep plugging away." - John Naber, swimmer, four-time Olympic Gold Medalist

By: Regine Azurin

Regine Azurin is the President of BestSummaries.com, a company that provides book summaries of the latest motivational, inspirational, self-help and personality development bestsellers.

http://www.bestsum.com Free Book Summaries of Top Self-help, Motivational and Inspirational books

Mailto: freearticle@bestsum.com BestSummaries is a BestSummaries.com service. (c) Copyright 2004, BestSummaries.com

---

Pride and Prejudice Can Be Healed and Melted Away

Several years ago, my husband introduced me to some potential... Read More

The Solutions to Lifes 10 Biggest Problems!

Every day clients tell me about their problems, often in... Read More

How to Use the Power of Words to Your Benefit - Part II

A friend of mine read the article, How to Use... Read More

10 Ways to Overcome Procrastination: The Challenge for Tomorrow!

Did you realize that as much as 47% of the... Read More

Why You Dont Ned Motivation

As a life coach, I often hear people say they... Read More

Life?s an Illusion

I'll get right to the point. Life is not necessarily... Read More

Commitment vs.Trying - Is Trying Lying?

Today I heard the saying "Trying is lying!"It made me... Read More

Procrastination

Allow me to start this with a quote:To think too... Read More

The Undeniable Power of a Mastermind Group

A Mastermind is a group of individuals who are joined... Read More

The Answer Is The Question ... Asking The Right Questions!

We all have questions about our lives, directions, and destinies.... Read More

Do You have a Dream?

Do you find yourself sitting at work longing to be... Read More

Prime That Pump! Part 2

In Part 1 of this article, we talked about reaching... Read More

The Ultimate Kick-butt Motivational Lesson

How often have you struggled with yourself over the work... Read More

Motivation and Change: Creating Your Daily Success Program

I get some of my best ideas for my column... Read More

Read All the Books

All of the books that we will ever need to... Read More

Hey Me, Get Out Of My Way

Hey Me! Get Out... Read More

Mindfulness and Birthdays: Surprising Moments

The first week of May is a big birthday time... Read More

Courage

"Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up... Read More

JJKs First Six Secrets to Becoming a Successful, Creative Entrepreneur!

Hello Creative Entrepreneurs!As many of you may know I have... Read More

Motivation: The Power of Opportunity

I think each one of us has had the experience... Read More

Dont Just Hope - Decide!

As the story goes, a single college-age guy went to... Read More

What Is Failing Forward?

What an absurd statement! Absurd or not, progress is not... Read More

The Toughest Decision of All: Get Out or Get Going!

Many of us are influenced by the sports ethic: Never... Read More

Quit Pretending - You Have To Live Whats In You To Succeed

Some people, after they reach their mid and upper adult... Read More

How to Stay Motivated - Part 1

As a "Motivation Trainer" for over 20 years, I have... Read More

Words that Inspire: PASSION

What is your PASSION?Dictionary says: strong liking for or... Read More

How Breaking Routine And Unexpected Acts of Kindness Can Energize Your Day!

Sometimes life becomes so routine, we don't have to think... Read More

Daily Motivation: 7 Methods

Isn't a lack of daily motivation one of the biggest... Read More

Motivation: The Cure for Complacency

Q. I've always tried to work hard enough to provide... Read More

Motivation - The 4 Most Potent Ways To Awaken Your Enthusiasm

...it is in this whole process of meeting and solving... Read More

Increase Your Energy!

It was only about 18 months ago that I could... Read More

I Should Be Doing... But...?

What a perfect fall Saturday morning, clear sunny blue sky,... Read More

How To Deal With Denial

Denial is a coping mechanism commonly used when something happens... Read More