LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY

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We have our prejudices. We have our biases. Some of us, no matter how old we have become remain childish. We chose only those things we want to listen to, like a stubborn child who won't listen to his mother.
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WE DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING. Nobody does. Nobody has the monopoly of knowledge or wisdom or information which this world or life contains. Always there will be things to learn ---- new ideas, new roads to discovery, new insights or perceptions, new technology, new inventions, new ways of doing things or understanding things. Even new ways of learning. Life, as I have learned, is all about learning.... new learning, unlearning if must, relearning if necessary -- it's the whole process of developing- of growing - of becoming better - of achieving perfection if you so wish.
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I thought I knew all there was to know about cooking pancakes... until somebody did it with sour cream in the batter! I didn't know you could do that?! And I didn't know that it's okay to have lumps in the batter -- because I would beat the batter till it was smooth and silky. See? I was learning a different way of doing something.
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But we can LISTEN. What we lack in our own may or can be filled by somebody else's wisdom, knowledge, insights, experience, observations, or perceptions. They may have solutions to our problems.... they may have discovered a better way of doing it... they probably could refer us to people who are better on that subject. Maybe we can learn more if we decide to LISTEN and pay ATTENTION.
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Do you know what usually gets in the way of learning? EGO and PRIDE. You know it. I know it. Everybody knows it. Nothing more can be said about that. It speaks for itself.
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Do you want to bring in awesome into your life.. everyday?? LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY! It does not have to be those things of grand or grander measure or scale. It could be the teeny tiny thing unimaginable... but then teaches you something of such great value that it hits you like a eureka ball!. And you realize how much you have been missing.
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And......
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sometimes somewhere there we get to learn from UNEXPECTED TEACHERS. Life is full of them. I get my share and I am grateful to them... two-legged and four-legged teachers!! And Mother Nature! They fill up my day and life with awesome learning.
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Have a nice awesome weekend, friends! God bless you!

 

 

 

EXAGGERATED SELF-IMPORTANCE

 

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If you get the chance, get this book "1000 Stories You Can Use" by Frank Mihalic, SVD. My copy bought in 1993 almost always served through the years as a wonderful tool in understanding people and life. I am sure it will be in my library for a very long time yet. Here's one which always makes me laugh......
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To quote...
#426 on page 190 Exaggerated Self-Importance
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A small passenger plane was cruising through the sky, carrying as its passengers a minister, a boy scout, and the president of a computer manufacturing firm. Suddenly the engine went dead.
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Frantically parachutes were passed among the passengers. There was fast breathing, a rush of wind as the door was thrown open. And as the plane tilted and fell through space, there came the horrible realization that there were not enough parachutes. There was one too few.
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"I have to have a parachute," cried the pilot. "I have a wife and three kids." So he grabbed a parachute and put it on and leaped into the void. The wind whistled and the three passengers looked at one another.
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"Well, I certainly should have one of the parachutes," exclaimed the computer manufacturer. "I'm the smartest man in the world." And slipping his arms into the shoulder straps, he jumped out.
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"Son," said the minister wistfully, "YOU take the last parachute. I'm old and ready to meet my Maker; you're a fine youth with all of your life ahead of you."
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"Relax, Reverend," said the boy scout with a smile. "There's still a parachute for each of us. The 'smartest man in the world' just jumped out wearing my knapsack."
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The End. 
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Have a great day, folks. Laugh whenever you get the chance.

ACTUALLY WE KNOW VERY LITTLE

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Browsing through an old book found in one of the file boxes under my bed,  allow me this tiny bit of wisdom which grabbed my attention on this fine although still hot morning..... to quote
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"Que Sais-je?"  ("What do I know?")  was the motto of Michel de Montaigne, the sixteenth-century French essayist whose amiable good sense still endears him to many readers today.   His question was intended to remind him that knowledge was there to be tested and tried.  But it was also a reminder that he, an educated and quite wealthy man, well-read and with his own library of books,  actually knew very little.  ----- Lifted from the book Pearls Of Wisdom by David Ross
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Unquote.
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This made me think............
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'Actually knew very little.' -- No matter the great knowledge or wisdom each of us may have gathered for himself through the years, the truth is there is still little we know.  No man can hold all the information or knowledge or wisdom in and of the world all by his lonesome self.  It would take a person a million lifetimes to acquire every information about life, people, the world, mother nature, the animal kingdom, inventions and technologies, the universe, and etc.  But we all do have our individual store of those although minute in measure and size.  Furthermore, easily observed is that one person may know something the other does not, and in turn this other person knows something nobody else does.  No one person's monopoly of knowledge there as you may have noticed.
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So a little bit of knowledge can be ineffective... dangerous... superficial... and cannot or shouldn't be passed around as sufficient.  As such it will be a terribly  lame excuse for engaging in a blown-up ego or pride which would mean nothing to those who know.  Yet sometimes we see many or few strutting around the universe with their heads bobbing as big as their mouths....  they who my mother would call  'Mr/Ms Know-It-All'  with much amusement.  And yet they need to be understood just the same.
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A dear friend has this special way of dealing with that with one question:  "Really!? Tell me more......"  without batting an eyelash.  Almost always this makes that person stop dead in his or her tracks because he or she cannot tell  'more'.  Like a bank ATM messaging you with  'Insufficient funds'....  this one fails with  'Insufficient knowledge'.
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We are here to learn.  But when at some point you would think to stop awhile to evaluate your progress,   you will see how very little you have in your store and how so much more there is yet to gather, gain, and learn.  On the other hand when you have so much in your store,  keep your feet solidly anchored on the ground.  True humility gives you more mileage in wisdom and admiration  from all points of view ...without the floss and frills which come with pretense.
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The whole point of the story is DON'T STOP LEARNING. Just learn all that you can with who you are and with your God-given talents. With what wisdom you may have gained through it all, consider it your treasure but... not solely for keeping. It should be used as tools to grow yourself with and too to help others grow in their own journey.  Better yet use it to better our world......  or if this is too big for our small resources,  aim to help improve at least one life.  Let it be said that one life was made better by having met you.  Let's try to be what this beautiful quote says about ....   being the 'rainbow in somebody's cloud'.
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Blessings, everyone! God bless you.

TOSSED INTO THE SAME BOX

"Never be too proud of who you are and what position you hold

because after a game of chess

the king and the pawns are tossed into the same box."

(Author Unknown)

Well, that sure clipped the air-bag wings of my young friend... Yup, an air-bag! Mahangin; ka-irita. But casting irritation aside, I think I can understand the little fella.

You see, a lot of history, perhaps in great measure negatively, went into that person which now created who he is. Everybody has a story, everybody is a story. Your history is you. What happens to you... how people affected or influenced you.. your reactions to situations, things, places, people.. your successes and failures.. your impressions, preferences, choices and decisions, perceptions, beliefs, fears, expectations, frustrations, bias and prejudices, pet peeves, etc. All these make up or contribute to the person that you are. You are a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

To this my other friend quipped  'Well then, I'll say that there are no bad people - just bad personal stories or histories..'  That certainly is one to think about.

I remember it said -- God created us good; He doesn't make junk. So if we turn out jerks in life --- that is something we do to ourselves.

Hope you're all having a pleasant week. Blessings!