A.N.Y. Questions....Confessions from a Workshop Junkie (Question #27)

Have you learned anything of value today?

The Buddhist Proverb, "that when the student is ready the teacher will appear" , was a personal mantra and I have been an thirsty student. My thirst for emotional healing sparked an interest in online courses courses of various modalities and urged me to attend various workshops. With this openness to address my issues, an overwhelming multitude of teachers presented me their wares on achieving healing. Intuition was my guide and I went with the approaches that gave me a kick in the gut and dove in.

Workshops deeply fed my soul for my heart soared in the presence of like-minded people choosing to face themselves. Deep connections can be formed when vulnerability is honored and upheld. What an awesome experience... until the seminar was over and the feeling started to dissipate. Slowly the lessons learned at the workshop become a faint memory and it transformed into a memorable experience much like a rock concert. Been there, done that and now I have the t-shirt. What bothered me even more is the lack of transformation in the attendant's lives. Sure they could spew out theories and appear all together from a head knowledge perspective but their heart appeared unchanged. They still approached the world from the same broken perspective. Why does this happen? Simple, we had an emotional experience with knowledge; we were not shown the path of wisdom.

Let me introduce you to Yvon to further illustrate this principle. Back in the dirty 30's, Yvon's father , an electrician was killed working on telephone pole; he was only an infant. Back then children were put into foster homes having limited visitation with their parents. Yvon spent his early childhood there and struggled for he was French speaking in an English speaking establishment. His frustration followed him into school, and so did the ridicule, all because of his language barrier. He decided to join the working class at an early age without being able to read or write. Finally at the age of 53 he left the working world for 10 months to take a crash course in education; he obtained a grade 10 level of reading. Eight years later when I met him, he had the skills to read and write but rarely used them. Instead he relied on what he knew best; his intuition and survival instincts for they served him well.

There is another Buddhist proverb that states, "To know and not to do is not yet to know". Yvon could easily say he knew how to read but his life did not exhibit such a skill. Why? The answer was simple. He never put the knowledge he acquired to practical use. Often after going to workshop, reading a book or taking a course online we deceive ourselves into thinking we learned the information. All we have is knowledge and it's about as useful as the bookcase the book sits in. Knowledge itself is flattering but dynamic and amazing changes come from wisdom. Knowledge is based on complex and vast amounts of memorization whereas wisdom is the application of that knowledge. What areas in life are you a card holding member of some knowledge yet your life remains unchanged? The key to transforming your life is to apply that knowledge. That, my friend, is when you truly find value in what you learned.

Did this response resonate with you? I would love to hear your take on the question and how it impacted you. Please post your thoughts below.

On January first, I posted our first article in this series explaining a new way to approach New Year's resolutions. Each day we will explore a different question that challenges us to understand ourselves better. The format will be as follows: I will post the previous day's question with my answer followed by the next day's question for contemplation.

Tomorrow's question: Do you accept responsibility for problems??

Response posted tomorrow.

Who is the Common Guru? Here is our introductory article
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