8 April
2011
Written by Brian Martin
The classroom of life is not a neat line of desks and chairs.
Life seems to give us our life lessons in the perfect order we need them in, which is different for each one of us. And if we don’t get it, we have to keep repeating the lesson until we do. We keep resisting and resisting, afraid of letting go of the control we think we have.
‘What you resist will persist.’ Boy, do I know that. I was a control freak! Then a well-known psychologist friend of mine, Dr Chuck Spezzano, taught me this wonderful saying, ‘Brian, do you want to be right or do you want to be happy? You cannot be both." When I discovered the answer, it was so simple, and yet possibly one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Surrender.
When you stop resisting, when you stop defending your way as the right way, then you have real power and control.
People often ask me what university I went to. I answer, "The University of Hard Knocks" or "The University of Life", majoring in Experience, and now I have my doctorate. I think the most important aspect and function of education, at any level, is to develop the individuality of the student, and the importance of their life to themselves and others.
I am not sure this is taught in today’s schools. Yes, reading, writing and arithmetic are very important, but a person’s personality, passion for life and communication skills are going to get him/her a better job and positively influence the relationships they develop in life and the kind of life they experience.