Finding Teachers

Finding Teachers

One of the things that blows me out of the water is how full our lives are of teachers. We have teachers who teach us in school or formal classes. They teach us knowledge-y things like math and languages and science stuff, and they often give us tests. Some of them teach us fun stuff like music and art and cooking, and the proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes.

We have teachers who are parents or other adults we are close to who teach us useful skills to help us in life; how to express our feelings, how to iron, how to forgive, or wash dishes so they are clean, how to jury rig stuff, or take care of ourselves when we are sick, or how to be generous. Sometimes those teaching are really helpful, and sometimes they can really mess us up.

When we go to work we get new teachers who show us the ropes, sometimes they are our supervisors or bosses, sometimes they are co-workers. We sometimes find spiritual teachers at our places of worship, and sometimes we run into what I often refer to as our “best teachers” who drive us crazy but also give us the space we need to really grow into ourselves, to let go of being a victim, or to see our parents or other adults from our childhoods as just people, and not demigods.

When we are looking for a good teacher, the universe will usually provide us with someone. Thing is, we may not recognize them as a teacher.  Maybe they are a lot younger than we are. Maybe they are of a different lifestyle, or education, or something else that makes us think we can write them off. We miss a lot that way.

How am I supported? What makes me recognize a teacher? How do I open to learn something new?

Often we get ourselves in trouble by feeling like we are better than, that we know more than so and so, that there isn’t anything they can teach us. Sometimes we get ourselves in trouble by thinking that we we can’t learn, we can’t change, we are just stuck in this miserable mess we’ve created for ourselves.

We can always learn. We can always find something inside that we need to let go of; an old resentment, a mislearned belief, an attitude that doesn’t serve us. We occasionally know what these things are, but often we don’t, and a teacher will help us get there.

How do I know I can change for the better? What makes me courageous? Why am I strong? Why am I competent?

When I listen to me and hear things like, “I always, I never, I can’t, that’s just how I am, this is just how it is” chances are good I have some stuff there that I can let go of. If I choose to believe that I am meant to be happy, healthy, wise, and wealthy, there is a lot of room for me to grow. It may just be a matter of changing my point of view. It may be a matter of counting things differently, or reframing an old idea into a fresh belief.

By keeping my eyes peeled for my teachers, wherever I may find them, I open my heart to being my best self. I am not grateful for the tumor, but I am grateful for what I am learning from the healing of my body. I am not grateful for the discomfort, but I appreciate the skills I am acquiring without drama, the flood of good will and kindness, and my willingness to change my ideas about my experience from things that bring me down to things that uplift me and leave me lighthearted. I will take them where I find them.

How have I changed from feeling stuck to opening to a world full of good teachers?

3. Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 09252014