The Lessons

A boy, ten, most prized possession was his football - he ate with it, slept with it and polished it weekly..instead of his shoes. He knew all about football - but on some other things like, where babies came from, he was a little hazy. One afternoon, he was playing in the street and lost his precious ball. He looked everywhere and figured someone had stolen it. Eventually he spotted a womanwho seemed to be hiding it under her jacket. So he marched up and asked her:" What do you think you're doing with my football stuck up your shirt?" It turned out that she didn't have his football..but that afternoon, he learned where babies came from - and what a woman looks like when she is nine months pregnant. Later that day, he also found his ball. What fascinated him was why he had never noticed a pregnant woman before the age of ten...and why, from then onward, he seemed to be surrounded by them.

We reach points in our life when we are ready for new information. Until then, something can be staring at us in the face but we don't see it.

The only time most of us ever learn anything is when we get hit over the back of the head. Because it's easier not to change. So we keep doing what we're doing until we hit a brick wall. When do we change diets and start exercising? When our body is falling apart - when the doctor says:"If you don't change your lifestyle, you'll kill yourself!" Suddenly we're motivated! In relationships - when do we usually tell each other how much we care? When the marriage is falling apart, when the family is falling apart! In school - when do we finally knuckle down and study? When we're about to fail. In business - when do we try new ideas and make the tough decisions? When we can't pay our bills. When do we finally learn about customer service? After the customers have left! When do we usually pray? When our life is falling apart! " Dear lord, I know I haven't spoken to you since the last time the yogurt hit the fan..." We learn out biggest lessons when things get rough. When have you made the most important decisions in your life? When you were on your knees - after disasters, after knock-backs, when you've been kicked in the head. That's when we say to ourselves:" I'm sick of being broke, sick of being kicked around. I'm tired of being mediocre. I'm going to do something." Success we celebrate - but we don't learn too much. Failure hurts - and that's when we get educated. In restropect, we usually notice "disasters" were turning points. Effective people don't go looking for problems, but when they get smacked in the mouth, they ask themselves:" How do I need to change what I'm thinking and what I'm doing? How can I be better than I am now? " Losers ignore all the warning signs. When the roof falls in, they ask: " Why does everything happen to me? " We are creatures of habit. We keep doing what we're doing until we're forced to change. Mary gets dumped by boyfriend Al. Devastated. she locks herself in her bedroom for a week. Then gradually she starts calling old friends and meet new ones. She soon moves house and changes jobs. Within 6 months, she is happier and more confident than she has ever been in her life. She looks back on the "disaster" of losing Al as the best thing that ever happened to her. Is life a series of painful disasters? Not necessarily. The universe is always nudging us with gentle signals. When we ignore them, it nudges us with a sledgehammer. Growth is most painful when we resist it.

"It's only by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble there lies your treasure. The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to be the source of what you were looking for."

- Joseph Campbell -