Honoring Our Teachers
By Lisa Templeton, Ph.D.
We are all here on this earth to teach and to learn from each other. Teachers can take the form of any age, ethnicity, race, gender, species, or situation. From the educators who spend time every day teaching our children to the mentors who guide us along the way on our emotional or spiritual path. Teachers can even take the form of illnesses and painful experiences. The fly buzzing in our face may be teaching us frustration tolerance and the pain in our body helps us learn more self-compassion. Honoring our teachers helps us shift our perspective and opens us to receive and grow.
Many people and experiences are teaching us without us even realizing it. If you are asking for more patience, the guy who just cut you off in traffic is teaching you. The woman who greets you with an open heart may be teaching you authenticity. If you are working on staying more mindful, your pain is reminding you to live in the present moment. A beautiful talk by a dear mentor may offer insight that you did not possess before.
Remember that if you set an intention, the universe will offer support. I recently asked for guidance around working through irritability. Once I set this intent, I found many triggers to frustration and a lot of annoyance coming into my life. Initially, I was discouraged. What is with all of these triggers? A person did not return a smile, a nasty cold made the holidays difficult, and a fly is buzzing around my face. Then I remembered that I asked for help. These triggers are my teachers. How can I receive help with irritability without experiencing the emotion of frustration to work with it differently? Once I was able to move into gratitude for these teachers, my perspective shifted and the lesson became much clearer. I then found more objectivity and compassion while feeling irritable remembering that it is always temporary. I also felt more grace in the experience, which provided a bit more ease to work through it.
Let us honor and express gratitude for our teachers, even if the lessons they are teaching us are painful. When a difficult person or situation arises, ask yourself, what can I learn from this? What gift can I receive for my own growth? This may provide a new perspective and/or a more objective viewpoint on the situation. Don’t forget how much we learn from joyful people and situations as well. Take in the good from these valuable and inspiring lessons. Stay open and thankful for your teachers and you will continue to learn.