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You never stop learning
LIFE is funny. When we are at school we get the lesson first and then we get the test, but in LIFE you get the test first, and then you get the lesson.
Everything that happens to us, that we don't like, generally feels like a test. Within that incident there is almost certainly a lesson hiding. For example if you run out of petrol on a journey, the lesson is very simply, inconvenient and annoying, but simply solved.
If you fail an exam, the lesson is harder to learn and more uncomfortable, but still pretty obvious. If you are always falling out with people, then there are some tough lessons around which you are simply refusing to learn.
You probably know some people who are never wrong, and everything is someone else's fault. These people are the blindest of all. They are blocked from life's lessons and will continue being tested again and again.
This leads me to another of Life's little strategies. When we need to learn a lesson Life will tap gently on the window, the problem will be simple and easily solved. If we ignore the window tapping, Life will knock on the door; if we ignore that, it will bang on the door, and if we still resist, it will eventually batter the door down.
By hook or by crook, we will eventually learn the lesson. When you do learn it, the lesson goes away, and you move on, a little bit stronger and hopefully wiser.
When my eldest son was about 18, he was horsing about in the garden with his brothers. They thought it would be amusing to smoke out a wasp nest. This of course sent the wasps into a frenzy and one of them flew up the leg of his shorts and stung him repeatedly on the leg. Within 15 minutes he started to have a fairly dramatic reaction in front of our eyes. Huge red weals started to appear all over his body, and he was highly distressed.
We raced to the local surgery and he was quickly given a big shot of anti histamine and adrenalin. Gradually he returned to normal. It was a good story and we never thought much of it until he got stung again the following summer. This time the reaction came quicker and more dramatically.
Again he was lucky to be near medical help. This time the doctors told him that he would be sensible to carry an adrenalin pen, in case it happened again. It has taken another three frightening incidents for him to finally get the message that his life really is in his own hands.
He carries a safety pen now, and we are all relieved, because he's getting married this summer. The reception is being held in a garden, so you can imagine the drama if the groom got carried off screaming and scratching in the middle of the party.
Now that brings me to the thing I really want to talk about, weddings. We have two coming up this summer: one in July and one in September. The invitations for the July wedding are out, so the excitement is mounting. The most important thing has been bought and that is my hat!
The whole question of outfits for weddings is a huge mystery to my husband.
It is beyond him why I can't wear the same outfit to both weddings. In fact it is as big a mystery as the dramatic reaction to the wasp sting. The thing is I could wear the same outfit. It really wouldn't matter a bit.
Who would really notice and who would mind? No one is the answer both times. Maybe this is the lesson that I have to learn. This is definitely one area where men have a huge advantage over women. They really can turn up looking exactly the same at every wedding and the same as every other man. And nobody says a word.
What freedom that must be. On the other hand it might be boring. So there's the lesson, sometimes life needs to be slow, steady and boring and sometimes it needs to be exciting and varied. But whatever it throws at you, it's worth it for the fun and the learning.
- Jo Middlemiss is a Personal Life Coach. She works from home in Edzell and can be contacted on (01356) 648 329.
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Weather for Brechin
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 25 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 3 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South west
