Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Gurus (Teachers)

When we sign up for a class, we expect to learn.  So much of the time, however, we forget that every experience we have acts as a teacher.  The only difference is that when we sign up to learn, our minds and hearts are generally wide open to the experience.  Sometimes we find ourselves so deep into our routines that we forget to have our minds and hearts open to the guru of life experiences.  For instance, difficult people are excellent teachers...teachers of patience.  You can't always choose who you are around or ignore others. Sometimes you are forced into figuring out how to "get along", and so you do.  You become a better person for it and more prepared for the next difficult encounter you may have.   Not only can routine and difficult people hamper our abilities to be open to learning, but so can difficult emotions.  Grief, anger, heartbreak and confusion have a way of tricking us into pushing our emotions and experiences down so we don't have to feel them so intensely.  However, difficult times in our lives can be the most powerful teachers of all.  I invite you to embrace these difficult emotions and experiences and reap the benefits of the strength and wisdom that they bestow upon you.  Try to find the gift within the turmoil.  It is always there, but sometimes you have to dig really deep for wisdom. Sometimes your gems are just sitting right in front of you and other times you are handed a shovel.  Either way, the gems are yours for the taking.  They will always be there. Will you use your gems or continue to let them pile up until they turn into mountains that you must climb?