Everyone has something to offer, something or someone to teach, and something or someone to learn from. We are all teachers and students at the same time, continuously, effortlessly, and I argue, this should be one of the main pillars of life and living. Maybe I am a little biased for being a teacher myself, however, look at the evidence around you and ask yourself: How do I learn and why do I keep learning?
A huge part of our upbringing as humans in a given community or society, is to constantly find ourselves learning, unlearning, and teaching a variety of things that become crucial throughout our adult development. If we continuously reflect on our daily lives, we will most likely (and certainly) come up with a list of things we’ve learned, unlearned, and/or taught someone. Part of those life and living pillars I mentioned above, is to be generous with our knowledge and share it on small or big scales. When we become active participants of our teachings and learnings in this world, we become more responsible for our inputs and later outcomes of those same teachings and learnings. We all want to live in a beautiful world but don’t put much effort into making it that–beautiful.
As an educator who is ending her school year on a very good (and exhausted) note, I want to invite everyone, independent of your role or occupation in society, to locate the innate educators and constant learners in you! I always like to reflect on my lessons as a teacher–and to be very honest, the majority of the lessons are continuously and effortlessly shared by my students and some adults (this is a conversation for another blog on how adults lose sense of humor, creativity, and agency over time). Ask yourself. Who inspires you? Who held the door for you at the coffee shop that one day you were feeling blue? Who changed your perspective on something that you were unknowingly conservative about? What circumstances taught you patience, love, and respect? What does your god teach you about humility every day? These are all endless lessons in our daily lives! Embrace them, respect them, love them, sing to them…
When we hold up the door for someone, we do not just hold the door, we teach kindness. You teach a sense of community when sharing a cooking recipe, you don't just teach tricks and commands to your pet(s), you teach them love. As long as we teach each other through acts of love and kindness, we give meaning to our lives. What would life be without the constant stimulation that comes from learnings/unlearnings/teachings?
Don't be afraid to unlearn or learn or laugh or cry or love...let's just live.
