<h3>By Martha O’Regan</h3>
I once read a profound explanation by a 6 year old boy as to why dogs live shorter lives than humans. He said ‘People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life—like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right? Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay as long’. By his innocent explanation, it seems that as long as one is still alive, there must be more to learn about love and kindness. I believe there must be two additional ingredients: willingness and teachability

Those who are willing to learn and are teachable can begin to recognize that each person encountered in our daily life course, is part of discovering the good that lies within. Yes, even those folks who continuously rock our world, tweak our last nerve, or claim to ‘know’ everything are our teachers. What about the folks who seem bored when someone else is sharing their latest nugget of information garnered from a book they read or seminar they attended? Or, those who are chomping at the bit to ‘one up’ what others are sharing before the other person even has a chance to finish theirs. Or, the ones who say ‘I know’ to just about anything anyone around them says. Yep, our teachers! Whether we have fallen into one or more of these social pitfalls or have just observed it in others’, a willingness to learn a new way of sharing with others was or can be ultimately created. Becoming consciously awareness to how we share with others, allows us to listen and learn from each person and situation we encounter in our lives, creating one teachable moment after the next.

I believe we each have a unique curriculum that we came to earth school to learn and once aware of that, we have the ability to see each person and encounter as part of that ‘life’ course. While this awareness can create clarity, contentedness and expectancy when navigating your day to day, it can also great confusion, frustration, and sometimes even resistance. Personally, as I have continue to listen and learn, I still find myself looking to the heavens and asking ‘now what?’ only to receive a response of ‘there’s more to learn’, which sometimes elicits a giggle and other times a shake of my fist with a response of ‘ jeez, haven’t I learned enough?’. I guess not…I am still here.

I am often reminded by a story that a friend shared about his mother’s transition. The day before she left her earthly body, she shared with her son that the previous evening she had an opportunity to spend time with the ‘Divine’ and learned three things. One was that the will to live was the strongest of all human desires, another is that every thought is a silent prayer and every prayer is received by the ‘Divine, and finally, but most importantly, it really is all about love. Although she expressed some regret that she spent so much time in the material world worrying about things that she couldn’t control, she was grateful to know she had loved deeply and had been loved by many, and to know that through it all, she was truly communicating her deepest thoughts, wishes and dreams to the One who mattered most. This gave her the peace she needed to move on to her next adventure. It seems to me that at this juncture, she must have learned all that she was supposed to and was free to go.

So, what is your curriculum? What are you here in earthly school to become? Are you willing to learn and listen? Are you teachable? Pondering these questions moving forward will hopefully create a new awareness of each person or situation you encounter along with a curiosity about how it fits into the grand scheme of learning how to live the good life. So, here’s to loving others and being nice. Live Awake…Have Fun!