Life is a School, Many are the Lessons

One of my favorite bumper stickers says, "Life is a school. Love is the lesson." I think this phrase captures the essence of the work we are doing at USM. We are learning to love ourselves more fully, which allows us to be ourselves more fully, which allows us to express our true spiritual nature more fully. We each come to our lives with our own curriculum, our own personal lessons to learn. Most of them are about love.

What is really interesting to me about the USM process is how the work we are doing in class is so specific. But the goal is so global. Just as each grain of sand adds to a sand dune, each issue that I resolve adds to my spiritual evolution. Sometimes our issues are negative (hurt, anger, irrational beliefs, judgments against ourselves and others) but sometimes they are positive. Huh? Or, more accurately, our issues can be our resistance to seeing the positive. The June weekend was all about owning our positive projections, recognizing that all the positive qualities that we see in Gandhi or Mother Theresa or in any role model or hero are in us, too.

My lesson this weekend was to recognize my spiritual truth and own my abilities to express it and live it. I've been becoming more aware of my particular brand of spiritual truth throughout the last nine months. This weekend, I clarified this truth for myself a bit more.

My spiritual truth is that all beings are here to learn spiritual lessons, lessons they couldn't get in any other form. You get a different kind of lesson if you're a cheetah or a hawk or a caterpillar or a snake. We are all divine beings having a unique earth experience, be it human or animal (or even plant or rock if you want to take it that far), with our own unique lessons to learn.

As I explained my truth to my trio mates during a class exercise, they both had a paradigm shift, suddenly realizing that I what I said was true for them, too. One of them was blown away by the realization, saying that he had never thought about it before, but of course, now that he thought about it, it made perfect sense to him.

I hadn't been trying to convince them or convert them or even do anything other than explain the way I see the world. In sharing my truth honestly and from my heart I shifted way from my ego self and into my authentic self. I realized that simply by being in my Authentic Self, being my spiritual truth, my message was transmitted, emanating out from my core Beingness. My ego thought I had to work at it or do something special. But I didn't need to have it all figured out or make a plan or write a book or pull out any smoke and mirrors or bells and whistles. In fact, I didn't have to DO anything. I just had to BE myself. All those things I want to do and be and accomplish in the future (that seem so far away and impossible) are already contained within me. I am already living my future. What a revelation! I wanted to shout it from the rooftops: Everything I want to become is already inside me!! I just need to BE.

I flashed on the Gandhi quote: "Be the change you wish to see in the world." I suddenly appreciated it at a whole new level and found a deeper meaning for myself in the words. Be the change. Be yourself and the change will happen.

My new-found dreams to change the world by sharing my spiritual truth to promote peace, love and understanding among all beings by writing books, giving talks, and teaching workshops will be realized some day. They are within me. My spiritual truth is who I am and it gets expressed through me in a variety of ways: talking, writing, teaching, sharing, playing, laughing, singing, and simply by being. My dreams will manifest themselves naturally and spontaneously, just like they did in my conversation with my trio partners.

Life is a school and these are my lessons.