Everything is a Potential Catalyst
Everything in life can be a catalyst to learning and growth. Every experience, every person, every challenge, and every accomplishment – you can use it all for your own growth and healing.
It is easy to compartmentalize our learning opportunities just like it is to put yourself and others into tidy little boxes. Your mind will try to draw lines between experiences in logical ways in order to make sense out of your experience.
Growth and learning don’t happen in a linear fashion and it is up to you to look for connections that might be less obvious. In these more abstract interpretations, you will find opportunities for meaningful integration.
Take a Universal Perspective
Learning opportunities do not organize themselves according to our roles. They don’t say “let’s set up this lesson so she can be better at her job.”
Learning opportunities – especially the ones that seem to repeat – have the sole purpose of expanding our evolutionary process. It doesn’t matter what environment you are in when the lesson appears. Real learning is much more organic than that.
Life will show you where you are most in need of healing and expansion – these are core areas. Lessons will show up in the area of your life that is most likely to grab your attention.
So, consider professional development opportunities. You might think that on the job training has a singular purpose with regard to learning. But, if you look a bit deeper, you might find a theme in that learning that you can transfer to your personal life.
That tip for effective communication you learned in the team building workshop could ultimately lead you to a breakthrough in your personal relationships. It is a personal choice and responsibility to take a universal perspective.
This can also be a double-edged sword. My background has been in hum
an services and adult education for more than 30 years. Believe me, I was accused more than once of trying to “social work” a friend or family member. Try to remember the context of your roles and relationships when practicing your newly found skills.
Healing in one area can lead to Expansion in another
The transfer of professional development to your personal growth might be really easy to see, but what about other life experiences. What about that messy divorce? What about your strained relationship with your mom? How does your screwed up financial situation have anything to do with the way you approach your work?
It can feel like a stretch to consider the challenges of your personal experiences as opportunities for learning. Usually, it just feels like punishment or bad luck. But, look a bit deeper. Do you see any themes at the core of these experiences that you can interpret in a new way – an opportunity to learn and grow – to heal?
Going back to my experience in human services, I am not suggesting that we use this role as a means to our own personal healing and growth. There is a connection here, for sure, but the intention of that role is to be of service to others as opposed to seeking personal gain.
The beauty here however, is that through service to others; you can be rewarded with your own healing. What I mean is that service to others often leads to a sense of growth and expansion within us.
Healing in one aspect of our lives creates expansion in all areas. We just need to be on the lookout for the connections.
Let’s get started!
What are you learning about right now?
How can you maximize this growth to expand in all areas of your life?
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