Tuesday, March 10, 2009

If life is a lesson, be a happy learner

As the old adage goes, life is a lesson. So what does that really mean? A lesson in what? What is the course, what is the curriculum, who is the teacher, and who is the learner? We are often caught up in our day-to-day existence without spending much time or thought on our purpose for being.

What is being anyway? What is living anyway? What is death anyway? And what does it all mean to me? These questions have to be answered... must be answered... if you are to create a meaningful existence with your one precious life as this form. Do you wish to squander the time you have here, or use it to its utmost and fullest possible extent?

The questions when posed this way of course raises the obvious answer - YES we want to make our lives meaningful... memorable, useful... and full. So if that's the case, take a moment to contemplate this. What would it take to make my life meaningful? Would it be more meaningful if I spent more time with the people I loved? Spent less time with those who don't love me? Spend time mastering a skill and acquiring abilities, or should I just be satisfied with my TV, and my XBOX, and my instant microwave dinners?

Life is about ... well ... whatever it is you want it to be. But essentially, all you are doing all day long, every day, is the actualization of 1 thing. Concepts. Whether you realize it or not, all you ever do, is actualize a concept. The concept of hunger, prompts you to eat and satisfy the urge, the concept of Law makes sure you don't download songs you shouldn't be... the concept of stopping at a red light prevents you from being destroyed in a head on collision... the concept of work provides you with abundance in the form of money... which is then actualized and applied to the concept of commerce, and purchasing of goods and services. It goes on and on... this is all we do. We just decide which concepts to apply, and when. Sometimes we apply them appropriately, but most times they aren't applied at all... or in a timely manor. This is a problem.

So here we are, in a world with so much abundance... so much contrast... so many options before us that we stifle ourselves. We make up platitudes and sayings, and concepts that don't serve us, and generally cause us great pain. Even the idea that "life is a lesson" is a concept.

So if we decide that yes... in fact "Life is a lesson," then we should then contemplate who are the players, what is the curriculum, but most importantly... why did I come to THIS school? What did I come here to learn? What is my purpose and why am I here experiencing these particular set of events? The question is so much more important than the answer in this case, as the question prompts you to wonder, to think, to grow. The answer just satisfies you... for now. And if you are a lazy thinker... forever.

So as we roll about from event to event... circumstance to circumstance... with the idea in mind that "Life is a lesson," then be easy on yourself. Life is easy... learning and improving yourself is not. Life requires nothing of you... you exist. You've always existed, and always will. It demands nothing, because on a deeper level of existence, it's all be done, and there's no where to go but here. The only work worth doing is actualizing concepts to better yourself, but while you're knee deep in this process... be HAPPY about it. Be a happy learner... therefore you'll become a happy teacher, and a happy practitioner of life itself. You'll see the next event as a happy occasion from which the well springs of life presents you with your next opportunity to learn and grow. Relish in this... be happy about it... lessen the ropes and ties around your mind and your body, and stop forcing yourself through things. Instead, be happy they are being experienced... and trust yourself. If what you are experiencing is not "FUN" at all, then realize that it isn't right for you, and move on.

Look - there is 100 years roughly for your life on this planet, and in that time you are lucky if you master 1 task to a very high degree of skill. You don't have time to waste on the billions of other things that don't even interest you in the slightest... which is why there are different people, and different preferences. Follow your bliss, your love, your enjoyment. Master and bring these skills to high levels of completion, and be happy in the process, you'll thank yourself later.

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