Uh oh! What I remember about grade school had nothing to do with learning anything but survival in an unfriendly environment. Maybe the fact that I missed Kindergarten altogether had something to do with it. Perhaps graham crackers and milk before taking a nap on your own little mat is the real foundation for a successful education.
At any rate, my formal education began in the first grade. My only memory of that time is the crush I had on a boy named Steve. Since my only real accomplishment to date was being able to jump from a high-flying swing, I naturally chose that medium to woo my first flame. So intent on making the best impression I could in the short time I had, I failed to notice that the back of my little dress had become lodged under the wooden seat of the swing. Well, use your imagination. Needless to say, leaving the entire back of my dress in the swing I so skillfully leaped from did not impress Steve…well, not in the way I had intended anyway.
The second grade provided me with a new avenue to amaze my waiting public as I was chosen to play Snow White in the school play. Unfortunately I failed to tell my mother that I needed to provide my own costume until the day before the big performance.
In a panic, my mother finally produced a little princess dress she borrowed from a neighbor. I was ecstatic! It had spaghetti straps and was covered with tiny sequins. Unfortunately that was not acceptable to my mother and at the last minute she made me put an undershirt beneath it. I remember her saying, “If Snow White wants to stay that way, she needs to dress modestly.”
My only memory of the third grade was of the boy who sat behind me and took sadistic delight in marking large checkmarks on my arithmetic paper when we passed them back for correction. His papers of course were always perfect and neat as a pin. I completely loathed him. Then one day when he passed his paper forward for correction I was astounded to find his paper completely unreadable. Turns out he was about to loose his lunch. Fortunately for me he chose to ask the teacher's permission first and ended up puking on her desk. As everyone in the class was shrieking and running for the door, I just smiled with satisfaction and marked a huge red checkmark on his paper for sloppiness. Actually I was quite relieved he had not hurled in my direction.
Fourth grade proved to be equally unsettling as two of my classmates threw up during arithmetic. Though I sympathized with them (I hated arithmetic too) I began to wonder if that flu shot I had just suffered through would protect me from a similar fate. Turns out the two victims both had their appendix burst within an hour of each other. Go figure.
As the remaining few years of grade school were equally filled with similar drama, and the only useful thing I remember learning is how to shatter the chin of the boy who just stole my hopscotch taw, I'm forced to conclude that elementary education is obtained by osmosis…survival of the fittest is the most memorable instruction.
First Grade School Activities
How's it going for you?
If you are struggling with the pop quizzes, challenges, schoolyard bullies and teachers who just don't understand you, perhaps you were absent, unconscious, they day you were taught the lesson of Responsibility and how you are at cause for all of your experiences - good and bad. If you had been present, fully conscious, you would have learned one of the most important lessons in that you create our own reality, according to our thoughts, emotions and beliefs. You have access to the resources of unlimited energy and the inner knowledge of your "soul", Higher Self, or what I playfully call the Wizard Within. You are in school to learn how to use this awesome power that is your birthright with skill and wisdom.
If you had shown up alert, in the present moment, that day you would have learned that judgment has nothing to do with being responsible in this context. Judgment of any kind is detrimental to growth. For example, you did not deliberately miss school that day; miss the lesson on responsibility. You were doing the best you could given the energy and light you had at the time. You did not realize that instead of being present, centered in the truth of who you are, willing and available for whatever comes next you were lost somewhere in an effort to relive what you believe to be your past.
"Not only do you create the way you look at things, you create the things you look at!" - Lazaris
Many people spend so much time reliving their past beliefs of not being whatever enough (good, talented, rich, smart, confident, lucky, worthy, etc.) that they miss the moments of now where the learning takes place. It is in the present moments of now that you have an opportunity to deliberately and consciously plant the seeds for your joyful experiences going forward.
"Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid." -Albert Einstein
Thank you for showing up for class today fully present, awake, and ready to stretch and grow.
Unlike the brick and mortar schools of your physical experience, the cosmic grade school is without walls, limitations, restrictive rules or punishment. It is impossible to fail for each lesson, each experience, comes with gifts in the lessons that can be learned from them. Learn the lesson and you advance to the next class. Miss the lesson and you are given the same class over and over again until you finally acknowledge and embrace the gift. You may remember taking a class over and over again. You experienced it through the repeated patterns of events and behavior in your life, often delivered with a bit of drama to make its point.
If you've been showing up in your life present, centered in the truth of who you are, you are experiencing the life you've dreamed of. Without exception. If you are present and still struggling, perhaps you are not centered in the truth of who you are and leading a 'should be', 'supposed to be' conditioned life. You've been attending your universal school wearing a costume that doesn't fit, taking courses that you have no interest in. If you have no passion for the curriculum you've chosen it's no wonder you've been skipping school.
Instead of skipping school, I encourage you to rediscover your personal truth, your passions and your deepest desires. There are plenty of courses available to you here in this rich resource of cosmic learning that will effortlessly teach you how to express your authentic self. Expressing your full potential is what you are here to do.
And here's a little secret. When you were born you were given the best personal tutor in the world, the Wizard Within. You already have everything you need to be, do and have what you want in life. All you have to do is show up, be present, and tap into the tremendous source of power and wisdom that lies within you. The school, your physical life experience, is merely an inspirational playground for you to enjoy your innate wisdom, talents and desires.
"One must never let the fire go out in one's soul, but keep it burning."- Vincent Van Gogh
Both Cindy Jaynes & Valery Satterwhite are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Valery Satterwhite has sinced written about articles on various topics from self improvement and motivation, Education and self improvement and motivation. Valery Satterwhite is a Creative Mentor who specializes in empowering people to create more passionately, profoundly, productively and profitably. Learn how to trust your intuition, acknowledge your truth, and disarm your fear and self-doubt. Valery's pro. Valery Satterwhite's top article generates over 3600 views. Bookmark Valery Satterwhite to your Favourites.
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