<\/noscript><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nA Steady Stream of Life Lessons<\/h4>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t go looking for life lessons, but lessons present themselves. I am open to learn from them. Life lessons come in all sizes, from the smallest interaction to an action of significant consequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I find a rich source of learning about how to live to be in the realm of relationships. All kinds of relationships, with just about everybody and everything. Relationships with family, friends, my testy neighbor, individuals with values and beliefs different from my own. Relationships with roots in the past that are resistant to change as time moves on. In relationship with Nature, the environment, as a citizen of my city and country. In fact, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s possible to live without being in relationship. Even when I am alone, I am in relationship with myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learning What Others Need<\/h4>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s an instance of learning from relationship. My husband and I enjoy taking long walks together. In addition to keeping track of our steps, it is a lovely way to be together. On one recent walk, I brought up something I had noticed and had been thinking about that was occurring in my husband\u2019s life. He receives many phone calls, and he is frequently in meetings for groups and activities he participates in. Since he had a heart attack over 25 years ago, I have taken on the role of watchdog for his well- being. I raised the question about all the calls and meetings. I asked, \u201cDoes it ever feel like the calls and meetings are too much?\u201d His immediate answer, \u201cOnly when you ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His answer was an instantaneous life lesson. Sometimes what I say or do that may come from a place of caring for another, may not be the most helpful to what another person needs. The value of the lesson is to remember it, so what I learn can be applied at other times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learning from Pain<\/h4>\n\n\n\n An example of a larger level of learning from life occurred several weeks ago. I tripped over something on the floor by my desk, lost my balance, and fell hard on my side. This resulted in a couple of broken ribs. Besides a trip to the ER, I understood in real time that my mind and spirit may be as energetic and active as ever. The reality is that as I age, my bones are more fragile than they used to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What did I learn from this? Many, many, things. That I have to treat my body with care and respect. It is not to coddle my body. It is be aware that a 73 – year – old body does not bounce like a 23 \u2013 year- old body. I learned that pain from an injury can be lived in several ways. It can either be an excuse to be preoccupied with myself or can serve as a conscious connection with others who feel pain in so many different ways. I learned that the feeling of vulnerability reminds me to express gratitude each morning when I wake up for being given another day.<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/noscript><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nMaking Mistakes in Life<\/h4>\n\n\n\n My style as a learner seems to include making mistakes. I seem to need to get it wrong before I get it right. As a learner, I not only get an aha moment from the mistake, the moment says \u201coh, that\u2019s how I do it.\u201d I remember when I first learned to drive and had to parallel park. As I backed into a space I sometimes bumped into the curb or even the bumper of a car behind me (a gentle bump). I had to repeat that process a number of times before I got it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or as I learn to do new weaving designs, the same is true. Understanding what the mistake was about helps me to not repeat the mistake again. It is said there are no do-overs in life. I think this is true and not true. For instance, when I blurt out a comment without thinking how my words might affect someone else. It is true that I cannot take the words back. However, when I pay attention to the effects my words have on another, I can change my pattern of speaking without thinking. For me, my pattern of learning seems to include repeating mistakes. I may make the mistake many times before the learning finally sinks in. Situations seem to have a way of repeating themselves over time, so opportunities to learn and to change are frequent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learning to be Open to Life’s Lesson<\/h4>\n\n\n\n My experience is that being open to learning from a mistake is a more freeing attitude than being down on myself for the error I made. An attitude of being open to learn is what allows me to live life as a learner. Living life as a learner I recognize there is much more that I don\u2019t know than I do know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have been fortunate in that I have been exposed to and have been in relationship with others who are role models for living life as a learner. To briefly site a few examples: My brother. By profession he is a gifted sculptor, a fine artist in wood work. In the last 15 years he went through many life crises. He had a debilitating cancer, went through a divorce, and the shop where he did all his fine wood working burnt to the ground. What is inspiring in his case is even though the pain of these struggles were deep, he learned to assess what was most important to him in life. When confronting a potential difficult situation he says, \u201c Life is too short to get upset by the small stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I meditate and situate myself in the silence of my soul in the presence of something vast, my relationship with the unknown changes. Sometimes the unknown can be anxiety provoking. But in meditation, I experience the unknown as an energetic dimension of life. This dimension can open my heart to the feeling of wow! How amazing! I did not know that! I learn about openness from the practice of meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n