To accelerate your personal growth, learn to embrace learning as a true lifestyle.
Many of us consider learning the act of acquiring new information. The fact is, learning happens every moment of our lives. It isn’t just about assimilating knowledge but recognizing the lesson in every experience, even the value in every message that each person shares with us, growing from it and moving onto a more productive path.
While we draw into our life that which we need to learn, we often resist the lessons in front of us, since we may associate “learning the lesson” either as a result of doing something wrong (often from our childhood, for example, “If you touch a hot stove you’ll get burned”) or a task we have to finish. (“Do your homework or you’ll be punished.”)
As adults, this feeling fostered in our youth perpetuates, often blinding us to the valuable lessons and experiences that show up simply because we’ve been taught to resist them rather than embrace them.
When you are faced with a challenge or an upset, do you tackle it head on or have tendency to avoid them hoping they’ll ‘fix themselves’ or go away? When you’re handling a problem, do you address it in a way that permanently eliminates it or does it reappear? If you find similar challenges reappearing in your life, it’s a strong sign that you didn’t get the lesson the first time around or you missed out on a subtle, new opportunity to learn and grow or act upon a solution presented to you by someone who could have contributed to you.
Here are two universal laws worth adopting. The first one is, “We attract what we need to learn.” And in conjunction with this universal law, is another which makes this first one so challenging, and that is, “We resist what we need to learn the most.”
Consider every person you interact with in your life has some gift or knowledge worthy of sharing. Become more sensitive to the value in the message, without discounting the messenger. Allow each situation or challenge, even every person you come in contact with, to leave you with something valuable that can contribute to you in some way.
Embrace the A.F.G.O.’s In Your Life
Here are just a few questions you can ask yourself to become more connected to the value in every experience.
- “What is the value I am leaving this conversation with?”
- “What can I learn from this?”
- “How did I contribute to this person in some way?”
- “What am I resisting here?”
- “Why is this causing a reaction in me?”
- “What about this (situation, person) is making me feel uncomfortable?” What’s the A.F.G.O. here?” (A.F.G.O. = Another Fabulous Growth Opportunity!)
Although you need the right answers to keep up, to get ahead you need to ask yourself the right questions. Therefore, focus more on the question than on the answer. The question is the answer.
Anyone can have a great day. But lets face it, we don’t get tested on our good days. We get tested on our “bad days” or our tougher days. These are the days when the true essence of our character, convictions, beliefs and abilities are being challenged and have the opportunity to shine; our defining moment. These are the days when we can show the world what we’re made of. So, what are you going to do on a bad day? Embrace the test and make it a great day.
So, what can you learn today?
Photo Credit: my_southborough
