Life School Mindset
From Fog to Flow (4 of 10)
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“Life is the School. Love is the Lesson.” - bumper sticker
Welcome back to “From Fog to Flow.” Are you feeling a bit lighter after doing the work of quieting and centering and clearing clutter? Did you take some time to reflect on how these actions are impacting your sense of being? This past week my body took my intention quite literally and engaged in an unexpected CLEANSE. It was unpleasant, to be sure, but thankfully I had the time to allow it to do its thing and to purge whatever was ready to release. I feel shiny and new and a bit lighter today! How about you?
I’m so excited to write about Life School Mindset. As a high school educator for 32 years, I most definitely value school and learning. And yet this particular insight didn’t really settle into my bones until just a few years ago, but when it did it was transformative. I remember sitting with high school seniors on their last day of their senior year. We were in a circle sharing our responses to, “What is something you Know?” I remember the Truth of it hitting me hard, “Life is about learning.” I know it sounds strange. I was at a school in an academic setting, of course it would be about learning. But the notion of learning was suddenly brand new. This wasn’t about facts and knowledge as much as it was about experiences and what one comes to truly Know (capital K) through those experiences far away from a classroom and throughout a lifetime.
Three ideas I would like to unpack here are:
What is life school mindset
What does it mean to learn the lesson of the day
Who are the teachers
Life School
I used to watch or listen to Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday. I enjoyed all of the guests who would take on questions like: What is the soul? What is love? What happens when we die? One day Oprah’s guest was Gary Zukav, co-founder of Life School: Seat of the Soul. This was the first time I heard the phrase “Life School.” But it intrigued me and hit some sort of deep knowing. Suddenly a mystery was being solved. That gnawing feeling that always seemed to ask, “What am I here for?” was suddenly gaining clarity. My Soul is here to experience Life School. Being a teacher and occupying space in a school for eight hours a day was one thing, but being alive and present on the planet in Life School was a whole different ball game!
There are so many things that happen in a lifetime where one is almost forced to ask: WHY? Why did this happen to me? Why did I experience that setback, that bad (or good) relationship, that encounter with that person, that illness. The list is literally endless. Why? Why? Why? It makes no sense until you realize you (and all of us) are in Life School. Imagine that at a soul level you have decided you want to learn certain lessons when you occupy a body for, say, several decades or even a century. You’ve got limited time so you’re not going to learn it all. So you have chosen. Then, here you are, living day after day with “stuff coming at you” - trials, tribulations and triumphs that you experience. It’s easy to believe my life journey is unique - maybe even tailor made for me. In my case, I had a hunch twenty-some years ago that I was indeed learning something or even meant to learn something significant when my husband and I hit a roadblock to starting a family. That roadblock resulted in one of many opportunities to learn PATIENCE. At that time, I knew in my heart that I was learning patience. But at the time I didn’t quite yet have the understanding that I was in Life School, nor that there were other lessons that I had chosen to learn through my life experience.
Have you discovered any Life School lessons in your time on the planet?
These Life School lessons just keep coming at you as challenges (although I now prefer the word “opportunities”). For example, do you find you are impatient with other drivers? Impatient at work? Impatient with a partner or children? Impatient standing in a line? If you continually find yourself becoming impatient, you can bet you are presently having Life School opportunities to learn patience. It’s sort of that simple.
Life School Mindset
Life School Mindset is a way of approaching day to day life that acknowledges “I am here on Earth in Life School. I have specific lessons to learn that I have chosen at a soul level. Challenges will arise to offer me opportunities to learn the lessons.”
Once you realize you (and all of us) are in Life School certain things begin to happen. You see and experience challenging moments, episodes, or even sagas, differently. You become more curious. “Now why did I get so frustrated? What is the root cause? What am I learning here? What could I be learning here from this encounter or this experience?”
This is no small matter. Life can throw real hard (excuse my language) shit at us - shit that takes years or decades to sort through. Some stuff never gets fully resolved! I tell you, the grace in all of it is having a Life School Mindset.
In my case, nearly a decade of my most challenging moments arose due to one of my greatest teachers, my son Adam. As a mom taking care of a child experiencing his own mental and physical challenges, I found myself carrying his burdens too. I did this for so long that my body began to take on a heaviness and buckle under the pressure. Once I was redirected to wonder “What is Life teaching me right now?” I began to develop a life school mindset and unpack a valuable life lesson: Carry your own backpack. I learned that it was fine to walk next to someone on their journey, but their journey is their own with its own lessons. By carrying someone else’s burden you carry that which is not yours and risk an opportunity they may benefit from. Through learning this valuable lesson I became lighter and my body became healthier. I was on the right track and learning to stay in my own hoola hoop (thank you, Larry L., for that phrase).
That one question “What is Life teaching me right now?” is HUGE.
That brings me to my next point. What does it mean to “Learn the Lesson of the day?”
Learn the Lesson of the Day
Perhaps it sounds like I am repeating myself. But this is actually slightly different. This phrase is used often by guides who channel through Paul Selig: “Learn the lesson of the day.” To me this implies a few things: 1) There is and will be a lesson of the day. 2) There is not a need to learn the lesson of tomorrow.
I love this one for these reasons. Each day I can be open to learning a lesson of some sort. It means that it is okay for something to go sideways. It is okay for something unexpected to happen. I can assume that the discomfort, inconvenience, frustration, or any other form of suffering is presenting an opportunity to learn and eventually hone itself into wisdom.
Additionally, this also reminds me that I don’t need to borrow trouble from the future. Tomorrow will have its own lesson. My whole sense of worry has been put to rest. I am not asked to worry about a thing. I can keep my focus on the here and now, on today, on the lesson of the DAY. (What a relief!) When you take off the burdens of senseless suffering and the “what ifs” of tomorrow from your shoulders, this is another huge step from fog to flow.
In a weird way, I believe living with Covid-19 in the world since. . . well, the end of 2019. . . has been helpful. We have had to set aside our expectations for “tomorrow” and more or less throw our hands up in the air admitting we don’t really have a clue what will happen tomorrow, do we? So, why not let that go. Go with the flow, if you will. Allow today to be today and tomorrow to be tomorrow. Allow the lesson of the day present itself. Allow. Allow. Allow.
Teachers and Guides
This brings me to another point. As this is Life School, there are others to help you along. Certainly life experiences are one way you learn. But also consider the people in your life who are on this journey with you. They are your teachers, too. They may be family or friends, older or younger, alive or dead, mean or nice, in flesh or spirit, real or fictional, in person or in a book. Anything goes. There is a lovely reflection exercise you can do to open your understanding to how others have been your teachers. Write down the most important and impactful people (or animals or characters, etc) who have held a role in your life. Assign each a color (with a crayon). Then reflect upon how that color speaks to their role.
Here is a personal example:
Marsha - college roommate - bright yellow. The color of her blond hair. Sunshine. Energy! Brought joy and new perspective to my life. She loved life. When she lost her life in a car accident at 22, it taught me to love life as much as she had.
Sometimes our teachers aren’t all that nice, but they are the ones mirroring back to us what we need to learn about ourselves in that moment. For example, it isn’t uncommon to find that when you are frustrated by others “not listening to you,” you may in fact be the one in needing to listen. So by tuning into your complaints about another and bringing it back to yourself, you may discern your lesson of the day.
Finally, it is important to know that you are never alone. Sometimes Life School can feel very lonely or isolated. But this is Life School! That means that there are others ready to support you any time. You need only ask for help. Raise your hand, so to speak. Speak out, speak up, self-advocate. You may find a family member is ready to help. Or a friend. Or a counselor or therapist. Or maybe your deceased grandmother will quietly come near to support you. Ask your guides, living and in spirit, for help and you will be supported in love.
The Assignment
This week, remind yourself of these two things: 1) I am in Life School. 2) Learn the Lesson of the Day. And take some time to process who and what your teachers are.
Let me know how it goes! Or feel free to share a story about when you realized a transformative lesson.
Journal Prompt: What is life teaching me right now?
Reflection Exercise: Write down the most important and impactful people (or animals or characters, etc) who have held a role in your life. Assign each a color (with a crayon). Then reflect upon how that color speaks to their role.
Resources
Gary Zukav, Life School: Seat of the Soul. https://lifeschool.seatofthesoul.com/videos/
Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday. OWN. https://www.oprah.com/app/super-soul-sunday.html
Selig, Paul. I am the Word. A Guide to the Consciousness of Man’s Self in a Transitioning Time (A Channeled text). Kindle Edition. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2010.
Next up: Real Talk. Real Life.
You can find all of my series in the archives:
Parenting 101 Coupons: A Gift from your Parents
Partnering 101: A Deep Dive into Leaving Kindly
Me-Time: Self-care in the time of Covid
Reasons for Hope
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Brenda BraykoWriter. Teacher. Gong Player.
Find more of my writing at GreenBaytoKorea.blogspot.com
Learn about my business at CelestialSoundGB.com
On Instagram @applebb09
All photos by © Brenda Brayko 2022.
Thank you Brenda...
I love the journey you are on and I am grateful to travel a bit from time to time with you.
Keep writing. . . . really appreciate your thoughts and challenges.