Light My Fire

 

Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” ~William Butler Yeats

My two granddaughters start school next week, and that got me thinking about school days. I love the end of summer and the return to the classroom. 

As a young girl growing up in the 1960s, I didn't care much for school. I was an awkward child from a dysfunctional home, a little agoraphobic, and afraid of my own shadow. I don't remember liking school, but that attitude had more to do with social anxiety than a distaste for learning. Fast forward sixty years, and I am a voracious adult learner. Possessing two masters degrees and several certificates, the last thing I need or want is another piece of paper in a frame on my wall. While my diploma-seeking days are behind me, my thirst for knowledge is keen. 

As I age, my curiosity is at an all time high. At 68, I am a lifelong learner passionate about discovering everything from horseback riding to oyster farming to airport architecture.. Fortunately, I live in a state with robust adult learning programs and opportunities. The Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University are within driving distance, and there is a major university minutes from my home. The University of Rhode Island hosts the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) on its Kingston campus. You probably have a chapter of OLLI in your state.  Founded in 1999, OLLI offers noncredit courses with no entrance requirements, no tests, and no grades, (just learning for the sake of learning) for adults over age 50 in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. 

I just registered for my fall classes (for under $100), and I can feel the fire beginning to burn. 

Interested in taking a class? Here's the link to OLLI locations around the country: https://www.osherfoundation.org/olli_list.html

Finally, I've compiled a short list of quotes about lifelong learning. Which of these quotes resonates with you? Feel free to add one or more of your own.

"A lifelong learner is someone who is passionate about learning." Sharlene Habermeyer

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” ~Henry Ford

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” ~William Butler Yeats

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” ~Albert Einstein

“There are few things more pathetic than those who have lost their curiosity and sense of adventure, and who no longer care to learn.” ~Gordon B. Hinckley

“All the world is my school and all humanity is my teacher.” ~George Whitman

“Read daily to renew your mind.” ~Lailah Gifty Akita

“The education of a man is never completed until he dies.” ~Robert E. Lee

What had the frightening episodes of vertigo come to teach me?

Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash

"The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play." ~Arnold J. Toynbee

As an energy worker, someone immersed in studying and working with the mind-body connection, I knew that the frightening episodes of vertigo that I was experiencing were a wake-up call. The spins, as I call them, had come to teach me something as all dis-ease does. It didn't take me long to connect the dots: vertigo manifests itself as an imbalance, an inner ear disorder. Where in my life was I experiencing an imbalance? Without hesitation, the answer sprang forth: I needed to put the word play back into my vocabulary.

I love the work I do---writing, creating, photographing, teaching---the range of tasks associated with these endeavors is deeply rewarding, but sometimes, without warning, the output can drain me. Most days I don't recognize the drag on my psyche, but it was hard to ignore the spins. I realized that, in order to heal, I needed to breathe fresh air into my creative blood.

"To heal illness, begin by restoring balance." ~Caroline Myss

Prior to the pandemic, I’d been an avid student, taking adult education courses on oyster farming, near death experiences, the U. S. Constitution, and even airport architecture. For me, learning is a playful pursuit and it activates a childlike exploration within me.

I've been a devotee of Julia Cameron and her groundbreaking work, The Artist's Way, for decades and have always subscribed to her two main tools: Morning Pages, and Artist Dates. A weekly artist date to a bookstore, cafe, museum, or secondhand shop could always enliven me, fill me with creative capital, but even those outings have dwindled.

The time has come to correct the imbalance.  

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Distraction or Dream

 

Don’t be on your deathbed someday, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams. – Derek Sivers

What's your distraction of choice? What's your favorite diversion when it comes time to enter the creative realm? Do you find yourself suddenly captivated by the dust bunnies under your bed? Perhaps you decide this is a great time to clean out that junk drawer in the kitchen. Then again, maybe you do sit down with the best of intentions, but your working mind tells you to check your emails, and then down that rabbit hole you go.

We live in an electronic age, an era of unprecedented communication. The ability to type out a text, email, direct message and have it, within a nanosecond, sent and received. But for all the convenience and efficiency this modern age has given us, notifications---email, text messages, voices messages, social media updates---can derail us and sabotage our creative efforts. 

We all have different work habits. For me, I must make my bed, feed the cat, clean the litter box, and empty the dishwasher before I can even think about doing anything creative. Left unattended, these household chores will rise up in my mind, they will intrude, interrupt and hinder my creative efforts. I know this fact about myself, so I wipe the slate clean ahead of time. If you know your tendency is to get wrapped up in endless scrolling on social media, call yourself out. Dedicate time before you engage in your creative pursuit. Set a timer. When those 10 minutes are up, set your phone aside, and turn your attention to your creative intentions.

What's your dream? Big or small, it takes consistent baby steps to see those dreams come to fruition. Refuse to be distracted, diverted, interrupted, disturbed, obstructed, and/or hindered. 

Don't let little distractions derail big dreams. 

Finding Time to Lose Time

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

 "There's a certain alchemy to the whole photographic process for me. I go out with anticipation, and soon enthusiasm sets in. Before long, I lose track of time, and I am transported to another dimension. When I come to, I am at my computer questioning the process, my abilities, and my eye and cursing my lack of good fortune. During the editing process, I lose track of time again, and the next thing I know, light and colors and textures dance across the page, and that's when I know God has been here." 

~Carol Mossa, Linger Longer: Lessons from a Contemplative Life

Have you ever gotten so wrapped up in a project, pursuit, or activity that the outside world melted away and time took on a life of its own? A time when the only thing you could think about was the project you were working on? This is often referred to as a flow state, and it's one of the most magical and fulfilling places to be. The creative process is one of letting go, of letting the divine in, of having faith in the outcome, but too often our minds hold us hostage, refusing to allow a contemplative respite.

“Experts estimate that the mind thinks between 60,000 – 80,000 thoughts a day. That’s an average of 2500 – 3,300 thoughts per hour.” ~Remez Sasson

Our minds are like hummingbirds, flitting from one thought to the next. Creative pursuits generate a break in the incessant chatter of our working minds. Like meditation, creativity is a journey within; it gives us a chance to fall into a more contemplative state of mind.

I'd love to hear from you. What activity, pursuit, occupation, venture. undertaking, enterprise, project, business, job, task, interest, hobby, pastime, recreation, diversion, entertainment, act, action, deed, doing, exploit, generates this sense of flow within you? Perhaps it's when you're chopping vegetables for a favorite meal, or cutting and assembling components for a craft project, maybe weeding in your garden brings on this hypnotic state. For me, it’s photography (see quote above). Pay attention to your inner promptings because whatever it is, whatever activity transports you to this other dimension, you'll want to find more time to lose time.