Learning and Growing
I'm astounded at how many opportunities we have to learn on a daily basis. I am talking about the opportunities we have every day to learn about ourselves. We can learn from both the negative and positive experiences in our lives. As an educator, I believe that everything and everyone has the potential to be a teacher. You just have to look for teachable moments everywhere and all the time - during the good and bad times. The Bible itself discusses how God works for the good of people who love Him in all aspects. For example, we may learn kindness from someone unkind, yet walk away despicing the person and the encounter. It’s something to ponder, isn’t it? Unpleasant people can actually educate us to be kinder. When we see how ugly mean spiteful words and actions look from a spiritual standpoint, we can make a decision to be kind or at least non-reactive. No one, of course, wants to look ugly physically, but do we want to look ugly spiritually?
On my journey of self-mastery, as I concentrate (and believe me, it takes much) on learning rather than reacting, I am making far better decisions, avoiding unnecessary conflicts, and just enjoying the peace! When I act impulsively and feel like I must have the upper hand, my emotions, rather than my intellect or spirituality, influence my decisions. Here’s how that works:. The very purpose of our ego is to protect us, and sometimes to that ‘whatever it takes level’ (that display of high emotions), because it takes the job seriously. Yet, we can circumvent the ego stepping in and fighting our battles simply by consciously protecting ourselves. Isn’t responding in a nasty way to a mean person fighting fire with fire? In these instances, both individuals are likely to get burned, right? It gets us all emotionally charged, and ego is in total control. Instead, I can choose to respond to their unkindness with kindness; to their mean words with silence, and to their hate with love. We all know that water is what extinguishes fire. Water is peaceful, it is calm, but it has its other side as well: it cleanses and destroys. On that note, let me add that I’m referring to unkind acts that are not of a physical nature. I am not only a fan of the song Try Jesus, written by Tobe Nwigwe, but of the philosophy as well! “God ain’t through with me yet!” If you’re curious, then go listen to the song. Anyway, it is always up to me to decide how I will respond in any situation.
How do you respond when your spirit is being tested? Do you respond to meanness with meanness or kindness? Hate with love or hatred? If we take the time to study and be conscious of the lesson rather than react, we will mature into the people the creator of the universe has called us to be. We can grow spiritually and eventually dwarf the demons of unkindness simply by recognizing a teachable moment and refusing to respond in kind. and learning to deal with situations. The same situations are prone to repeat themselves, so we may as well learn to deal with them as we have been called to do so. Once we understand how to deal with them correctly, we should be able to deal with them more effectively when they return.
Remain Consciously Conscious,