A New Education

Think about the education that you received growing up.  Consider your formal education from school, and the lessons, habits, and ideas that you got from your parents and family.  Reflect on what you learned from your neighbors, friends, everyone.  Think about what you learned and what it has or is doing for you.

It means something different for everyone.  It's ongoing...What everyone takes from it varies.  We're taught to value education, in a traditional sense.  For example, we've been learning historically that getting a college education is the best way to a great career and financial security.  We've been learning that saving as much as we can is the best way to prepare for retirement.  We're conditioned to take the road most travelled.  Some of us are trained to follow in someone's footsteps...become the future leader of dad's company, be a lawyer like grandfather, or a politician because that's the family business.  Some of us are trained to "just go out and make a decent living, and take care of our families."

Part of the lesson is correct.  We should be trained to be leaders...of ourselves if no one else.  We should be trained to take care of our families.  But why is it that we are trained to go down the traditional, beaten path? It is because we've been trained to believe that it is safer.  The less risk you have to take in life, the better.  We know that the doctor or the teacher is going to be successful and secure...so we continue giving our posterity this one sided education.

Again, there are no quarrels here with teaching our posterity about the good possibilities that lay down road familiar.  But what is really sad is that even though we now see that steering the future leaders down that path is not necessarily safer all the time, we still turn our back on that road less travelled.  Experience is teaching them that going the traditional route is not always a sure bet to having the life you want, whether from a financial or happiness perspective.  So why is the formal education they are receiving not providing them with an alternative?  What does it say for our own education, that we believe it's okay to send them out into the world so inept for what they will really find out?  What will what they have learned actually do for them and us in the future?

Growing Up Can Be Hard to Do

Growing up can be a very hard thing to get through.  There are so many things to be excited about, like becoming old enough to vote, being able to stay out as late as you want, and having that belief that you can do anything that you want.  It's also very frightening.  There's all that responsibility to look forward to.  Deciding upon a career and paying for food and shelter on your own.  There's the idea of marriage and raising your own family to think about. 

When I think back on that tender time in my life when I was between the ages of 16-18, I was so excited about what I would offer the world.  I never really considered in all my "knowledge" what it would throw back at me.  There were so many things that I had to take a "crash course" in because I had no clue about them.  During those times of my young life, I thought the world was against me...and I was right!  I wasn't as prepared as I should have been, but I learned how to do it...because I wanted to.  

That is really the trick to striking down what the world is throwing at you.  Preparation a great bat to use when hitting the world's balls.  It can help us avoid a lot, because it can teach healthy anticipation.  It's also important to be prepared to work.  Gratitude and work bring abundance.  If you're doing great work, then abundance can be infinite.  Love everyone, regardless of who or what they are.  This does not mean that you should run around giving the shirt off of your back to everyone who asks for it....but it does mean respecting others and appreciating any positive connection you have with another person, regardless of how long it lasts...Pay attention with love in your hear to your fellow man.  Finally, give of yourself to those who give of themselves to you.  These things can make that transition to adulthood much smoother.  They can also pave the way to your having the life you always wanted!

Why being thankful all year long is so important

Yesterday, we celebrated Thanksgiving.  It was an extremely special time for me.  I had the chance to see two uncles, whom I had not seen in many years.  I had the rare chance to go back in time and remember great memories shared with them and other members of my family.  We got the chance to see how we had changed over the years, it was amazing to see how time had changed us.  I was so thankful to have the opportunity to see them in person again...to hug them, hear their laughter, learn about the lives they are leading and to share about my life.

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday, because it puts the idea of being thankful at the forefront of people's minds.  As a result, they are little bit nicer, are more focused on trying to enjoy other people, and is the beginning of the season of sharing.  At the end of the day, we find ourselves exhausted from all of the good food, fun, and laughter we enjoyed all day long.  This kind of exhaustion is the kind we should be experiencing every day.  But we get so caught up in other seemingly more important things and miss out on it. We should be on purpose about being thankful everyday, because gratitude is the start of the process for you to have anything you want!  Having a giving heart all year long is the second step!

Being thankful and giving, in fact, are explicit instructions for us from God.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us, "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  And Proverbs 19:17 says, "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay unto him."  Now there you have it!  Being thanksgiving only helps you! It's benefits are unfailing and eternal.  Want proof?  Now is the perfect time to start following the steps and get it!  You don't have anything to lose by doing so.