BE OPEN TO LEARN

Zoe and I do not even an own a television anymore, so I get my cooking show addiction by watching shows and/or excerpts on YouTube. The other night I was watching a two part episode of Master Chef where Gordon Ramsey was teaching how to make a tarte tartin, which reminds me of Pampered Chef’s Upside Carmelized Banana Skillet Cake, but with a pie crust instead of a cake top. The second part of the episode was the home chefs making one, knowing that the worst one was the one would be eliminated.

There were more than a few that just looking at them, did not look edible or up to par. After going through them all, the judges were down to the bottom three. Fred was pretty sure he would be sent home. Sam was feeling the same and Evan knew his was amazing even though he was in the bottom three. If someone had asked me who I wanted them to send home, I would have said Evan. Why? Because there is something to be said for humility and being open to learn.

As a teacher, I am far more willing to work with with someone who is honest, has integrity, but is seeking to learn then those who think I have nothing to teach them and I am just a bad teacher who is not seeing their shear brilliance. For me Evan, was that latter student. Even as he walked out, it was about how awesome he was.

In order for one to gain new skills, one has to be open to learn. You have to be open to being a student and expanding your skill base. Whether it is associated with cooking or something else, being humble and recognizing you do not know it all is an important skill.  The other day I was watching an interview with Marco Pierre White, who mentored Gordon Ramsey, where he talked about how he is ever learning and evolving in his cooking. Whether one is a home cook or a professional chef, if you are not willing to learn and grow, your cooking will remain the same.

YOU NEVER KNOW

Sometimes you have a conversation that takes you back in time. Wednesday night, during the Spiritual Discussion on teaching and teachers, a participant talked to me about all I had taught her since she has met me. It was a truly humbling moment. She said there are times there are not words in my heart to express what I am feeling so I do not say anything. She said she thought there were others for whom this was true as well.

I am not sure why, but this brought me back to a powerful lesson one of my students taught me decades ago when I first started teaching. I had a student whose mother had intentionally enrolled in my class. Her mother was a faculty member at our college and said she knew if anyone could help her daughter pass a class it would be me. I was not able to do so. However, it was not for lack of my trying.

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THE LONG HAUL

Recently in Why the Chicken Crossed the Road, I was reading this story about a student who wanted to be taught the Iron Shirt Exercises. There are a series of exercises used to allow the body’s natural energy to support its structural strength. Dean Sluyter wrote, "There's a story in Chinese martial-arts tradition about a young man who begs a great Kung-fu master to teach him the Iron Shirt exercises, an esoteric system reputed to make the muscles and organs so strong that they are impervious to blows. The master at first refuses, but finally sets him a kung (a formidable challenge). Pointing to a thick tree, he says, "Pull up that tree and bring it to me; then I'll teach you Iron Shirt." After months of futile tugging, the student notices that he can get better leverage if he keeps his back straight. With further experimentation he finds the optimal way to plant his feet. He works on, incrementally adjusting the way he hugs the tree, the way he breathes, the way he visualizes the task. After four years the tree starts to give. Finally he uproots it and lays it at the master's feet, demanding, 'Now teach me Iron Shirt!' 'Now I don't have to,' the master replies. 'You've just learned it.' "

There are lessons we learn in life which we learn quickly. There are also lessons that cannot be learned quickly, they are lessons like learning to pull up this tree, that are learned over the long haul. One of the lessons I have learned in life is that there is always more to a job then is written in the job description. The job description can tell you what you are supposed to be doing, but what you actually wind up doing is far more complex then that. I have been working as an adjunct professor for 20 years now and my job description is simple. I teach the two classes assigned to me each semester and offer office hours to my students where they can access me.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

This is why I have always loved collecting spiritual quotes. They remind me what is important in life and give me something to think about

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Embrace all the feelings. They each have something to teach us along our journey.

THANKS FOR BEING A PAIN

Years ago I remember reading or hearing Iyanla Vanzant say we should give thanks for those who get on our last nerve as they have saved us hours of therapy and thousands of dollars in copays.  That is not the exact quote, but the point I took from it is that those we find the most difficult to deal with often times have invaluable lessons to teach us.

This month, I am reading Mark I Rosen’s book, Thank You for Being Such a Pain. In it he provides strategies for allowing difficult people to be teachers. He tells a story that reminded me of Vanzant’s advice. He wrote:

"There is a story about the mystical teacher Gurdjieff and one of his disciples. The disciple, who lived in the ashram, was strongly disliked by the other disciples for a variety of reasons. When he left, Gurdjieff actually tracked him down and paid him to return, telling the rest of the disciples that the ostracized man was one of their most important teachers.”

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May 2017 issue of One Spirit, Many Voices

The May 2017 issue of One Spirit, Many Voices is now available for download at http://inspiritual.biz/newsletters/