Sunday Sunshine: Learn, Grow, Become

The new school year provides the perfect time to remind ourselves that learning can take place every day and at every stage of our lives, whether or not we’re in the formal setting of a classroom.

What new thought is calling to you? What would you like to learn?

When you’re curious and you choose to see everything as a teachable moment, you learn new information and expand your perspectives.

How do you plan to stretch your horizons?

Today, this week: Spend time each day learning something new.

Sunday Sunshine: Be a Lifelong Learner

Just as the grass grows, the trees leaf out, and the flowers lift their heads out of the soil, we, too, have opportunities to rise and shine during this glorious season of summer growth.

Today is a new day. Today marks a new week. Look for opportunities for your creative energies and ideas to form. Look for ways to grow as a person. Be a lifelong learner. Be an every-single-day learner!

Today, this week: Be a lifelong learner. Make time to grow each and every day.

Sunday Sunshine: Explore!

There is such joy in learning new things. Your understanding expands. Your perspective grows. Your assumptions are challenged. Your self-confidence increases.

Perhaps that learning experience comes from listening to the radio or a podcast. Maybe it's through watching a television program or an online TED Talk. Perhaps it's through reading a newspaper, a book or a resource on the Internet. Or maybe it's through a conversation with someone. 

Learning can happen anywhere and at any time (including at any time in your life), if you're open to receiving and considering new information.

When you are open to such newness, you feed your curious self and, as a bonus, you feed your soul.

That's what lifelong learning is all about: A joyful journey of expanding, growing and becoming!

Today, this week: Explore! Give yourself the joy of learning something new, no matter how small, every day. 

Sunday Sunshine: Expand Your Horizons

If you live somewhere in the north, chances are you may be seeing at least some snow right now. There can be vast expanses of pristine, white snow at times during the winter months. Whenever I encounter one of those beautiful landscapes where snow seems to go forever, uninterrupted and beautiful, I think about my own horizons. 

A new year represents a clean slate, a fresh start. You, too, are a clean slate. You, too, can make a fresh start. 

Perhaps it's a new way of taking care of yourself -- a healthier diet, integrating more exercise into your day or turning off the technology in the evening so you can get a good night's rest. 

Perhaps you want to learn a new skill or study a new subject or meet new friends or try a new recipe. 

Perhaps there are new roads to be traveled, new places to visit.

Today, this week: Expand your horizons. Spend time learning something new about yourself and the world.

Curiouser and Curiouser

I'm a big believer in lifelong learning. My schooling didn't end with a college diploma. Learning doesn't have to happen in the classroom or for credit. Learning something new is a daily adventure!

I tend to be a curious soul, especially when I hear people's interesting stories about their lives. I love to explore new topics and concepts. I believe I inherited the "curiosity gene" from my maternal grandfather. Grandpa Joe was always fascinated with people's stories. He soaked up new information. Consequently, Grandpa's perspective stayed young, despite his years.

Sometimes a word or concept comes into my life repeatedly for a short period of time and I'm challenged to pay attention to it and to determine what it means in my life. 
And so it was about a year ago when the word curiosity kept manifesting itself over a period of days--first in a chance conversation with someone who told me he is curious about so many things that he will never grow bored. He told me about the books he was reading. They were diverse and fascinating. Then, I saw a tweet about curiosity being the cure for boredom. And then again, I saw yet another tweet about curiosity keeping us present and reminding us to be open to change, meeting new people, challenging ourselves and growing.

The repeated messages about curiosity were meant for me! I had been overwhelmed by many professional directions at one point a few years ago. I had taken professional multitasking to my limits. As those professional endeavors came to their natural conclusions, I was left with just one project--one that led to the writing of my third book, Find Your Heart, Follow Your Heart: Get to the Heart of What Matters and Create Your Abundant, Authentic, Joyful Life, published in July 2017. 

Media exposure, speaking engagements and a series of Facebook Live videos followed, marking the next fulfilling chapter in this new venture. However, in the midst of it all, I started to feel that itch again, questioning as to where I was being called next. 

That was when the messages about curiosity came into my life with increased frequency. My tendency toward curiosity led me to even more opportunities for growth, fulfillment and enjoyment this year. 
With the calendar turning to 2018, I began writing a new series of blog posts called Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday, Affirming Words and Seasonal Sprinkles. Nudges from all directions also caused me to write a five-part blog series about My Dad, the Snake Man that has been posting this summer and fall. Another nudge caused me to submit my father's interesting life story to a magazine, where it is now awaiting publication. 
As I write this post, I'm exploring even more exciting, new avenues this fall.

I offer these examples of the joy and adventure of curiosity and their recent effects on my life as a nudge to you. 

What is appealing to your curiosity? What new concept, skill or subject might you like to learn about? Are there new people and new places calling to you? Are there new adventures waiting for you to say yes?
A curious mind is a fertile mind that eclipses fear, obstacles and limits. A handy dose of curiosity can lead to fresh insights, thoughts and ideas. Curiosity can lead to fresh starts. 

Stay curious, stay present, stay aware. There's so much to explore. The sky's the limit!

Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: Bloom and Grow

Bloom, grow, and be the best you can be. Every day offers opportunities for learning.

When we’re open to receiving new information and perspectives, our ways of thinking change and we grow in positive ways. In this new year, in what areas would you like to bloom and grow? Are there books you’d like to read? Are there classes you'd like to take? Are there places you’d like to visit? Is there a new skill you’d like to acquire? 

Allow this post to be your invitation to explore opportunities for learning new things in this new year. 

What first step might you take today to begin that exploration?

Shining Glory

My late mom's favorite author, Gladys Taber, wrote so eloquently.  Reading the "Fall" chapter from Stillmeadow Sampler made me think of something I heard our health system CEO say in remarks to our hospital staff recently.  He talked with us about the four traits of good leaders:  They have integrity, they work well with others, they hold themselves accountable, and they are lifelong learners.  In Stillmeadow Sampler, published in 1959, Gladys Taber commented on the education of our children, hoping that "today's children may benefit as much as possible from the shining glory of acquired knowledge."  Fast forward 53 years:  Our two-year campus affiliated with the University of Wisconsin is developing a four-year liberal arts bachelor degree that will indeed bring a new era of shining glory of acquired knowledge to the residents of our community and region.  Whether it is through formal education, such as what will be offered at our campus, or through other, more independent educational pursuits, there is something exhilarating about learning something new, acquiring that new knowledge that will shape our perspectives and ways of thinking, expose us to new ideas and broaden our horizons of understanding.  I'm a firm believer in lifelong learning.