October Lessons for Learning

image by ketnipz

1. Beating yourself up is never a fair fight - Andrea Gibson, Truce

2. This is the role of storytelling in times of personal transition. Getting the story right is critical, as much for motivating ourselves as for enlisting the help of others. Anyone trying to make a change has to work out a story that connects the old and new selves. For it is in a period of change we often fail, yet most need, to link our past, present, and future into a compelling whole. - What's Your Story by Herminia Ibarra and Kent Lineback

3. You'll need time for friends and laughter, even on the busiest of days.

4. Go after what you want, and often that means - signing up for the course, the class, putting that money, time and intention in it. Keyword: Go.

5. You will find the strength to walk your own path and still, you will be beaten down. You will feel like you're back at square one, that everything you've done up to this point feels like failure and that you could seem like nothing more than a cry for attention. None of those things you tell yourself are true. 

6. Go anyway. Keep going anyway.

7. Find your tribe. 

8. To do better, to be better, to make other things better. My whole damn life is my passion project. - Alicia Cook, Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately

9.  I actually attack the concept of happiness. The idea that – I don’t mind people being happy – but the idea that everything we do is part of the pursuit of happiness seems to me a really dangerous idea and has led to a contemporary disease in Western society, which is fear of sadness. It’s a really odd thing that we’re now seeing people saying “write down 3 things that made you happy today before you go to sleep”, and “cheer up” and “happiness is our birthright” and so on. We’re kind of teaching our kids that happiness is the default position – it’s rubbish. Wholeness is what we ought to be striving for and part of that is sadness, disappointment, frustration, failure; all of those things which make us who we are. Happiness and victory and fulfillment are nice little things that also happen to us, but they don’t teach us much. Everyone says we grow through pain and then as soon as they experience pain they say “Quick! Move on! Cheer up!” I’d like just for a year to have a moratorium on the word “happiness” and to replace it with the word “wholeness”. Ask yourself “is this contributing to my wholeness?” and if you’re having a bad day, it is. - Hugh Mackay

10. There's nothing wrong in asking for what you want.