When I choose to think of life as one big classroom, it helps me to be less reactive, to take events less personally, to not get so caught up in things as ‘attacks’ on my identity or values. If every day is a new class, then my ongoing challenge is to find the nugget of value, the lesson available.
Life gives pop quizzes all the time, moments we can perceive as stress or crisis or that we can allow to flow away like water under a bridge. With practice, awareness, and determination, we can increase the space between stimulus and response and avoid being ‘hot reactors’. If others or outside events determine your emotions or behaviors, then they are in control, not you. Who wants to live life as a puppet? Be a good student of life and life will get better.
Closing Quotes:
“Education is not the preparation for life, education Is life itself.” – John Dewey, 1859-1952
“Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life.” – Henry Doherty, 1870-1939
“The difference between school and life? In school you are taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you are given a test that teaches you a lesson.” – Tom Bodett, b. 1955, (famous for popularizing Motel 6’s tag line “We’ll leave the light on for you”)
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier