“Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t. “
Bill Nye (the Science guy)
When I was really young, I loved school and I looked forward to all that I would learn every day. As I grew older, at times school was challenging and I could NOT WAIT for summer vacation. Many years later it dawned on me that life is the University, everyone I meet is my teacher and every single day is a brilliant and new opportunity to grow and learn. So even though it has been years since I’ve actually attended classes, I realize I’m a grateful lifelong learner. Of course I still attend many conferences every year to update my credentials and expertise in my counseling and EAP skills. But now I choose to learn rather than think it is simply my duty.
Here’s my question to you the reader: are you aware of the daily lessons you learn and also teach others? I remember years ago the saying “garbage in, garbage out”. Do you allow yourself to be inspired by uplifting people? Or, perhaps you allow the daily news, pressures of social media, gossip, criticism, toxic people, or daily scandals to color your world and impact your attitude. Are you making the positive impact on others that you want? I read recently that the average person picks up his/her cell phone 80 times a day. Are you spending your time the way you want with positive results?
I feel truly blessed because I meet inspiring people every day in my work as a counselor. I receive daily lessons from my clients who may be coping with anxiety, grief, unhappiness, difficult relatives, poor health and the daily challenges of everyday stress. They are often still able to share resilience, joy, hope, imagination, humor and also the vulnerability of tears. My clients also share their successes, their growth, their hopes as well as what has helped them. (A recent book that clients encouraged me to read is Everybody Always by Bob Goff. Goff’s book challenges the reader to love everybody always. An excellent read!)
Look around. Who and what are your teachers? Here is a partial list of teachers and teaching situations that have taught me much and continue to change my perspective, inspire me with new possibilities and help me realize how little I can take for granted. Do they sound familiar? My family members, friends, co-workers, church and my religious tradition, TV shows, movies, each and every client, prayer, meditation, ”bad” and “good” drivers, work in general, art, music, my curious nature, my fascination with the human condition, the “Live from New York” HD operas at the Paradiso theater each month, a monthly discussion group, weekly yoga class, my Thomas Merton prayer group, walks in nature, taking time to reflect and journal, experiences examined at the end of the day, solitude (I need a lot of this), challenges, elevator rides in which I talk with strangers, humor, friendly people in the grocery store, exercise of any kind, obstacles, disappointments, disillusion, the newspaper (yes, I still subscribe!), mistakes, my own weaknesses, tears, vulnerability, beauty in all its forms, poetry, spiritual reading, humorous reading, non-fiction, and weather in all its unpredictability. Often my greatest lessons are from “valuable villains” who help me see parts of myself that are difficult and also allow me to follow my dreams in spite of their interference.
As you can see, I believe everyday life is full of moments where we can grow in joy, laughter and wisdom. In Everybody Always, author Bob Goff writes about the way his daughter Lindsey, who is a teacher, grades her kindergarten class. “Lindsay didn’t give A’s and B’s and C’s like I was used in school. She gave the students different letters. For example, an “M” means they mastered the curriculum. A “G” means they were at grade level. My favorite grade, by far, was for the students who hadn’t quite wrapped their minds around an idea. Those kids got an “N”. Do you know what that stands for? Not yet. Isn’t that beautiful?”
If you need help mastering the current “curriculum” in your life or help with your “villains” that do not seem valuable to you, please call the Methodist Healthcare EAP for free, confidential counseling at 901-683-5658.
Susan Erdman, LCSW, CEAP
Counselor
Susan Erdman has a master's degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University in New Orleans and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Tennessee in Memphis. She has worked as an EAP counselor since the 1990s. Before her work in the EAP, she was a mental health specialist at Methodist University Hospital in the eating disorder and dual diagnosis programs. Previously, she worked as a Catholic sister in a retreat center and as a personnel manager in a department store in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is an avid reader and yoga and fitness fan, and she loves to travel in the Mid-South and beyond.