Abundant Living Vol. VIII, Issue 1

Our little three-month-old granddaughter, Corrina, recently started rolling over. She’s so proud of herself! She grunts and struggles and gets frustrated, until all of a sudden she’s belly to backside. Ah, what an accomplishment and feeling of satisfaction! And in that moment she sees the world from a whole new perspective. For Corrina it is just the beginning of a lifelong process of learning.

Then there’s her Grandpa who the week just before Christmas found himself grumbling about spending two nights in front of a computer screen attending webinar classes, desperately trying to complete the continuing education requirements needed by year’s end to renew my coaching credential. (Had I procrastinated perhaps?) I grumbled and grunted and got frustrated expecting to be bored to tears not to mention all the other things I needed to do this time of year. Just get it over with I kept thinking, wondering how I would manage to stay awake. Then I got into it, and much to my surprise I found the whole subject matter to be quite interesting, the instructor inspiring and knowledgeable, and the class lively and interactive. By the end of the first evening I could hardly wait for the next one. Like Corrina rolling from belly to backside I began to see the world from a whole new perspective.

I should know better of course, after all I am a professional coach whose job, among other things, is to encourage others to be enthusiastic lifetime learners. Like most coaches I know we are all perpetual and persistent students, passionate about learning and dedicated to inspiring others to do the same. I think I must have briefly forgotten that.

Henry Ford once said that “anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning is young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

Seems to me Grandpa has a lot to learn from his youngest grandchild. I think my new year’s resolution should be to be more like her no matter how much grunting and struggling and frustration it takes – to keep on learning.



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