Nursery School, Pre-School, Kindergarten, Elementary School, Middle School, High School, College and for some, graduate school and beyond…   The truth is we never stop being students if we look at being students of life. Life is a school.  But quite often we shut off our learning and we end up in a place where we’re just in a habitual stagnancy phase that never seems to end.  What ends up happening is responsibility takes over and it seems that the only learning one does is through the school of hard knocks and learning lessons from life events. 

And while that is not a bad thing, it really shouldn’t be the only thing we define as learning.

Learning is misunderstood.  Some people think learning only has to come from a book.  Some people think learning only can happen in a classroom.   But if you’ve ever spent time in a discussion circle gathering with those of like mind – you will find that even if you share like interests, minds can be extremely diverse and you can end up learning more about those you are gathered with and celebrate differences just by learning about them.

Gathering for social causes, charitable events and simply standing up for what you believe in and what your passion is, can often trigger conversation in unique ways.  Something that we often forget to do is to learn as we go.  We think discussions are just that, discussions.  But it is in being open and being ‘present’ to the conversation, we can not only learn more about life and about others, but we can often learn more about ourselves.   

It is in learning about ourselves, we are given the platform to grow.  We don’t always think about this and sometimes miss opportunities to value what is going on around us and even the most simple of conversations that we have.   We are given the gift of more than mouths to talk.  We are given the ability to LISTEN and HEAR and with that comes paying attention long enough to actually learn something.   While you may not think you can actually learn something from small talk, sometimes you really can.  If you take a moment to think about how we each have the opportunity to take in our day cherishing a brief moment of laughter or a shared view or shared value or even a different perspective to open our minds to other ways of thinking – we can learn quite a bit. 

So the next time you have the opportunity, stop in your tracks. Pay attention to what is going on around you and especially what is really happening during a conversation you are having.  If you learn something pass it on.  For all you know, you can be helping someone and be providing the very answers they have been looking for in all those books and classrooms that only YOU can provide.

~ Athena & Tess – We Solved It

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