My favorite 19-year-old daughter left home once (when she was my favorite 18-year-old daughter), the summer after high school graduation, and went off to Austin to school and work. She came home for part of last year, but left again this week. This time, though, she has gone out of state to a school 1200 miles away; so far away that I can’t take an evening drive to her apartment to spend time together, like before. There will be no more “Mom, can you bring…I forgot it when I left this morning.” She’s so far away that she’s really on her own, but I’m not worried. She’s prepared to compete in college. We hope that by the time the competition begins, we’ve trained well enough to contend for the prize we seek. Sometimes we hope to lift more weight than anyone in our class. Sometimes we hope to run faster than others in our event. Depending on where we started, we might feel like winners when we cross the finish line, even if not first. In the case of my sweet girl, it doesn’t matter if she gets a teaching certificate before, after, or at the same time as others in her high school graduating class. The time she’s spent serving, helping and learning from her elders over the last few months has been part of her ongoing training for the next leg of the path she’s on. It’s not a race against others, it’s really an obstacle course. That’s life. Training for life involves more than academic preparedness. It requires more than arriving at the age of majority. Training, generally speaking, is purposeful growth. The best training is perpetual, positive, purposeful growth. Lifelong learning by deliberate effort always yields positive results, even when mistakes are made or when injuries occur. If lessons are learned and wrong turns corrected, the training is successful. The fantastical idea that we can or should get everything right from the very beginning is make-believe. It’s unrealistic to expect we’ll win the first and every race we enter. Non-existent is the person who never stumbles, never strains, never falls. The reality of life is that from birth to death we are each a work in progress. We are never finished training, so live life with intent to grow. Whether you’re heading off to college or living in your post-retirement location, you’re growing. Recognize opportunities to apply what you’ve learned in positive ways. No learning need be a wasted effort or investment of time. All things in life are for your growth and benefit, working together as you maneuver the course. Remember; always train (meaning live), with intent. By so doing, you’re the winner. Be well.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life Cycles

Like the cycles of freedom and bondage experienced ages before Polybius wrote his theories of benign and malignant governments, we continue to cycle today, even thousands of years later. Generations, societies, governments and the governed cycle. Even the earth cycles as it spins through day and night, revolving through seasons and years over millennia and eons of time. Cycles are a theme of living things; growth and decline. We struggle for growth and cycle through periods of accomplishment and strength then ease and weakness. Time spent at ease leads to weakness; a very natural part of the living cycle. This is true for the body, both physical and metaphysical. Among my close friends, I would say this is true for both the body and the spirit. The phenomenon manifests in societies of all sizes, from that of the United States to those the size of the average American family. Around and around we go from weak to strong to weak; from poor to rich to poor. Generation after generation; hum...
Read more

Handprint on My Heart

A treasured friend told me today that I’ve left my handprint upon her heart (she quoted a line from a song she heard on the way to SWEAT with me, and said it spoke to her of me). Of course, I felt a welling of emotion. She’s left her handprint upon mine, too. That’s what we do in this life, isn’t it (if we do it right)? We leave our marks upon each other, upon the rising generation, upon the land, upon whatever it may be that will remember us when we’re gone… As I write, I’m sitting in the room with my mother-in-law, as her breathing grows increasingly shallow by the hour and her feeble heart grows tired of beating. Her body is aged and failing. She’s lived a long and wonderful life. Not only did she bring six boys and a daughter into this world, but she raised them in the hills, on a farm, in a little two-room cabin, with no modern utilities. She raised happy children and happy grandchildren who were, and ever will be honored to call her mother. She did it right. This fine lady has le...
Read more

Breathe Well

It’s quiet here this afternoon. Some of us are gone out for the day, some are napping and some are silently socializing on the internet. My home is very still in this moment. Stillness is good. All of us need to learn to be still…and breathe. Some of us need to learn how to move and breathe, too. That’s usually a little bit trickier, which is why part of training and learning to move effectively includes training and learning to breathe properly. Let’s talk about breathing. In a nutshell: The diaphragm contracts and expands, causing the chest cavity to increase and decrease in size, which in turn allows for lung expansion and compression. There’s a few other muscles involved, but that’s the basics of breathing, right? Most of us generally take it for granted. (If you are chronically out of breath, and you haven’t already done so, see your doctor.) At the beginning of an exercise program, breathing is probably the most difficult thing to learn and to control. A little bit of exertion, ...
Read more