Learning all life long

Learning is not something that begins and ends in school, quite the contrary. Here is a little list of my favorite lessons from the past year or so.

It will always be more tempting to go back to sleep than to get up at five am. On the other hand, I will never regret getting up, once I am out of bed. (One foot at a time, one eye at a time.)

Life is enriched and made more beautiful by starting the day with a simple "thank you."

Babies, planned or not, will always be a source of love, joy, lovely smells, cuddles, sweet nights and days of giggles, spills and sticky kisses. There's nothing like a baby in your life to warm it up and reveal the beauty of life again. And there is nothing like a child to reveal all of the wonder you may have forgotten is in the world, or to ask you probing questions that awaken your curiosity again.

This does not mean that everyone should go out and have their own baby today. You may want to just go sniff someone else's for a minute. One must be reasonable and know when to say enough babies. (And that, I'm afraid, is a lesson I will never learn!)

Meditation, taking time to be, to remember that we are human beings and not human doings, has also made an intense difference in my quality of life. This time of quiet, not of reflection, but of inner stillness, requires more discipline from me than an intense housecleaning session or a run in the heat (probably my two least favorites.) Meditation, for us utilitarians, does not give one a sense of having accomplished anything measurable by society's standards; no work was done, no calories burned, no stitches knit in that time. The worth is there nonetheless, patient, biding its time as a bulb in the winter, growing stronger with tending and watering.