Pema Chodron speaks of this with such clarity, ‘Life’s work is to wake you up, to let the things that enter your life wake you up rather than put you to sleep. The only way to do this is to be open, be curious, and develop some sense of sympathy for everything that comes along, to get to know its nature and let it teach you what it will. It’s going to stick around until you learn your lesson at any rate’.
Little kids adore their teachers at school, and then there is this tipping point, where most teachers, to young teenagers, become a huge hindrance. They’re resented a lot for their job, which is to teach the kids so they can be better, more educated people. It’s so unfair on the teachers. My friends and I joke that our teenagers are so fit because they burn so many calories constantly rolling their eyes. What happens here when we begin to resent that which has to happen? The learning and the education that will set us up to move on becomes something that stops enjoying.
I think we accidentally carry this mentality into our adult years. Now the universe is our teacher, providing us with constant education and opportunity for growth. And like sulky teenagers, we often huff and roll our eyes. What if we accepted that in order to ‘pass the test’, we had to fully understand it, and only then could advance. It’s the things that keep repeating, rolling around time and time again that we really need to apply ourselves to. How about we welcome every single challenge, as a brilliant class, wrapped up in this exact situation happening right now. Wonderful, another opportunity to learn. What if we resented nothing?
Written with love,
Jac x