The Student……..

I’ve always been a student, in classrooms, workshops, nature. A student of Life. Being a student is learning and unlearning.

I was an ordinary student in school. In First Grade, I had a very strict and frankly not very kind teacher. I was 5-years-old when I started First Grade, turning 6 in early November. I’ve always been a bit of a daydreamer. One day, as I sat in my desk, I was looking out the window and whistling when all of a sudden I felt my hair being pulled. The teacher had come up behind me, without my being aware of it, and let me know that she obviously did not like my whistling! I had this teacher for my first two years. I wonder why it’s ok to whistle while you work, but not while you study? :)

In my Third Grade we got a new teacher. She was my teacher for Grades 3-8 in the one-room country school I attended along with my brothers and sisters. In all of my secular schooling, she was the teacher who impacted me the most positively. It is a joy that she is still with us at age 102. I enjoy visits with her when I’m in the area.

Then, school got serious! I got through High School with pretty good grades. I started Nursing School out of High School but gave up after 3 semesters for a number of reasons. My grades began to suffer is a few classes partly because I wanted to play more than study hard, and because of some events that made me question being a nurse. Later I would regret dropping out or not finishing, but I don’t think it was a job I’d have thrived at. Many years later, I went to Massage School and found my calling.

I’m always reading a book or searching to learn more about life. I’ve studied many philosophies and paths regarding health, healing, spirituality, meaning of life, in my quest to live well, to live as a good and mature human being.

There is a balance I think. There comes a time to study, and then comes the time to apply what one has learned, which is an ongoing practice where knowledge weaves a tapestry of Wisdom.

I needed to unlearn my toxic ways, and I needed to learn new ways which makes up a healthy lifestyle. Carving a healthy lifestyle within a toxic, unhealthy culture has been the great challenge. Finding that which truly is healthy has taken researching, testing, and synthesizing to what makes my body, mind, spirit THRIVE. It’s a personal inner journey, no one can walk our path for us. My body has been my laboratory, my spiritual path, which led me to Self-Discovery and Self-Realization.

Healing is simply self-care, and self-care is healing. It’s a process of realizing what is toxic to us and then removing the toxins and replacing with non-toxic. For me, it was changing from that which was self-neglectful or self-abuse to self-care. A rather mystical experience at Bell Rock in Sedona, AZ provided this realization. I had climbed Bell Rock asking for healing. The message I heard, very clearly and simply, was it’s about self-care, not healing. Self-care includes all the other “self” words, which I’ll likely write about at another time.

Student - learning and unlearning. Practitioner - integrating and applying. Wise One - Incarnating and Being it.

I think I’m ready to give away a lot of books and spend the rest of my life just Being. Maybe Being is the path I’ve just stepped onto. I read recently that maturity is slowing down. I like this.