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Posts from the ‘Learning’ Category

May 11

Daily Classroom

“Learning never exhausts the mind.” – Leonardo da Vinci

“There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

The school year is coming quickly to a close.
Weeks until summer break.
Commencement speeches for graduation.
Advice, celebration, reflection, anticipation.
Prepping and planning meticulously for the future.

As we get older, we realize that class is in session our entire life.
The journey we thought was linear is circular, seasonal, spiraling.
A mystery requiring trust and faith, a sense of humor, a bucket of grace.
If we think we are done, we are done.
Done growing, learning, becoming.

There are still lessons to be learned, unlearned, applied, forgotten.
Choose a growth and beginner’s mindset.
Ready and willing to inquire, listen, change, grow.

What will you discover today?
How will you contribute?
What will you take?
Will you be present or race by another day?
Class is in session.

“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional” – John Maxwell

Nov 17

Enlighten

“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.” – Francis of Assisi

“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” – Carl Jung

Keep learning, unlearning, relearning.
Inquire, dig, connect.
Uncover, discover, explore.
The world expands when we realize we don’t know everything.
Sow. Nurture. Harvest.
Seek light. Be enlightened. Be light.
Mind and soul work.

“To teach is to learn twice.” – Joseph Joubert

Oct 19

2 Comments

And…

“Originality is simply a pair of fresh eyes.” – Thomas Wentworth Higginson

We insist on either/or, right/left, this/that. Yet life is often not found in extremes, in checkboxes, in clear-cut answers immediately apparent. It’s hidden in the “ands.” Struggle and joy. Disappointment and hope. Light and shadow.

Woven brilliantly in contrast, contradictions, disappointments, messiness, imperfection, acceptance, denial, irreverence, awe, complexity, simplicity, on the surface and in deep waters. An essay rather than multiple choice. Each of us our own author.

Allow some “ands” in to see the same landscape in a new way. Be cracked open to let light in to grow something new in your heart. And…

“To live in the light of a new day and an unimaginable and unpredictable future, you must become fully present to a deeper truth – not a truth from your head, but a truth from your heart; not a truth from your ego, but a truth from your highest source.” – Debbie Ford

Jul 25

Get on the Field

“Life is a song – sing it. Life is a game – play it. Life is a challenge – meet it. Life is a dream – realize it. Life is a sacrifice – offer it. Life is love – enjoy it.” – Sai Baba

Are you spectating or participating in your life? Stuck looking backward or engaged in doing and planning what lies ahead? In problems or possibilities? In optimism or pessimism? Choose well and daily for it determines the quality and outcomes of your life.

Stay in your game and get on the field. Play. Have fun. Give your best in the moment, keep growing, improving and expanding. Ignore the critic who’s an expert at spectating, never playing. It’s not in error and shortcoming that we suffer defeat, it is in not ever trying or ever getting on the field. Dare greatly.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Guard your joy, embrace optimism, participate imperfectly.

Jul 15

Get Ready

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready… The teacher will Disappear.”― Tao Te Ching

What will you learn today?
What will you teach today?
The teacher is in nature, in words, in reflection, in actions, in conversations, in listening, in music, in reading, in art, in all of creation.
We have the capacity, calling, blessing and obligation to learn, evolve, transition, change, grow, transform, become and unfold.
Class is in session, become an ardent student and the teachers suddenly appear. Get ready.

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.” – Goethe

Jul 12

Never, Ever Stop Learning

“The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” – Leonardo da Vinci

“When you quiet your mind, you can enter a world of clarity, peace and understanding.” – Alice Coltrane

Next to this statute in St. Paul is a plaque with the quote from Frances Bacon, “Knowledge is power.” We have plenty of information and misinformation, overloaded and peppered with it daily. Knowledge, understanding and insight are in short supply.

Seek to understand, to question, to question again, to dig deeper, to explore, to discard the unnecessary and seek knowledge and discernment over noise. As we expand our knowledge, we find connection over chaos, openness over opinion, depth over skimming the surface.

Never stop learning. Ever. Expand your universe within and out.

 

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