Tag Archives: lessons

Other people may be there to help us, teach us, guide us along our path but the lesson to be learned is always ours

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“Other people may be there to help us, teach us, guide us along our path, but the lesson to be learned is always ours.”

—Melody Beattie, American self-help author

Image from Unsplash by niko photos

Imagine your life as an oak tree standing tall in a healthy forest. Your life began as an acorn filled with potential from a nearby member of your family. You got lucky that first season, landing in a fertile spot with lots of water, nutrients, and sunlight.

With all of these positive influences you received the bonus of a squirrel burying you, and not remembering where, over the winter. You sprouted, started sending your branches and leaves to the sky and your roots deep into the ground. One day you, too, got to be generous, and dropped your own wise acorns onto the ground.

EXERCISE:

What are some of the most impactful lessons you have learned over the years?

Who were some of the guides and teachers that helped you grow?

What lessons are you still learning and who are the people that continue to bring out your best?

“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”

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“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”

—Maya Angelou, 21st Century American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist

Image from yadvashem.org

During our visit to Israel, Wendy and I had the profound experience of visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

Unrelenting pain and deep sadness cannot fully express this dark period in human history.

This museum and the tragic story and inhumanity it conveys cannot be unlived. It is a brilliant and courageous reminder for all mankind of the importance of a “never again” stance against some global behaviors.

EXERCISE:

What are some of the big and small lessons that are part of your personal and professional history?

In what ways have these experiences provided you the courage to never travel these paths again?

#24: “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.”

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– Vernon Sanders Law, Major League Baseball pitcher

My first career was as a school science teacher in Philadelphia. Those who know me know of my passion for learning. What I found through all my education and the process of educating others, was that very few lessons really stuck unless they were combined with some experience, such as a lab experiment.

When we see and hear, and then act on what we learn, we internalize a lesson and it sticks.

Exercise:

What lessons are there to be learned from the day-to-day test you are taking?

What experiences can you initiate to speed up the learning process?

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