Teacher, Student or Both?

I have come to a point in my journey where I am realizing something that feels pretty big to me.  Something that at one point would have hit me right between the eyes as I thought ‘Huh???’.  In fact what I am realizing is also becoming a theme with many of my professional colleagues and friends who are sharing their gifts with the world.  Maybe you are going through it too on some level and if so, I want you to know you are not alone.

So what is it?

I have recently realized (or remembered as it may be) that we tend to teach the lessons we most need to learn.

Say what?!

If you are a business owner, teacher, professional, or expert of some sort it can be mind-boggling to think that you can actually teach something you still need to learn.

It sounds a bit like an oxymoron, but I am willing to bet that some of the most amazing teachers of the world were also some of the best students.  I mean even Albert Einstein was constantly learning, growing, and evolving in the middle of all his amazing scientific discoveries.

What is it that makes us believe that when we transition into the role of teacher, professional, expert, CEO, or whatever other powerful position you can come up with that, we need to know everything in order to do the job well?

I call BS on that thought because it simply isn’t true.  Not only do we teach what we most need to learn in many cases, but our own individual lessons, growth, and healing make us so great at what we do.  The fact that we have the experience, have the knowledge, know the tools, and can share them with others makes us incredible teachers!

Bottom line: You don’t have to know it all! (Whew, thank goodness for that right?)

So with that thought I share with you my lessons that I am constantly learning and teaching.

• Flow with life.  Forcing does nothing but create resistance and resistance feels icky.  Don’t struggle, just flow with it! (This is one lesson I have the honor of reminding myself of a lot. )
• Accept what is. There is no use worrying about the details, the moments that haven’t come yet or trying to prepare for the inevitable failure that we feel is coming.  If you accept what is right in front of you as being perfect in every way you allow solutions, magic, and miracles to appear.  So true!
• Keep going.  This one seems a bit obvious and while I haven’t ever entertained the thought of ‘quitting’ per se, there are times when I am down in the dumps for whatever reason and instead of planning, scheming, solving, and trying to control the situation, I need to remember to breathe and keep going.  My theme of the year is ‘show up’ and when I consistently show up and remember the first two lessons, things work out rather nicely.
• Self-care is monumental.  I am learning to listen to my body far more than I have in the past.  A previous people-pleaser and overall achiever, I often felt guilty when I wasn’t busy doing something.  It really didn’t matter what that was either.  Now I am providing myself with more compassion and love so when I feel the need to take a break from Facebook or take a nap to fill up my tank, I do it and don’t feel the least bit guilty (most of the time).

Do you find you learn many of the same lessons that you teach?  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.  Let’s learn together!

***Calling All Creatives!!! The Free- Creative Chaos call will be this Wed. at 12pm EST so if you are interested and haven’t signed up yet, please do. I will be sending out the call-in info soon and you don’t want to miss this.  If you can’t make the call live, no worries!  I will record it and send it out to everyone that has signed up along with a few exercises to help you get through the web of ideas so you can take inspired action! 

Also, don’t forget about the Unleash Your Personal Power e-course that will begin April 1st.  We have now added a payment plan option for those who want to sign up.  It is important for us to make this amazing course as accessible as possible so if you know of anyone who might be interested please don’t hesitate to share.  You already have the power to change your life for the better, we just want to introduce you to it and would love to have you join us for this transformational experience.  ***