Learn Something Every Day

We all know many different people. Some we see every day. Others we may see once a week, once a year, or once every five years. Usually as we spend time with people we see changes in them. I’m not talking about sudden changes, but a gradual evolution. As you look back over your relationship, you’ll say to yourself, “Wow! Joe sure has changed a lot over the years.” Sometimes we evaluate the changes as good, sometimes as bad, but the important thing is that change has happened.

Other people we look at and say “Gee! I met Roger ten years ago. He hasn’t changed a bit.” Roger is a good example of how not to live your life.

Look around you. Even in the physical world there is constant change. The seasons come and go. Spring cycles into summer into fall into winter into spring into summer, ad infinitum. There is a constant cycle, with change within the cycles. Nothing remains the same. Living things are born, grow, give birth, age, and die.

It is trite, and often said, but change is constant within the world. The same is true with people. Physical changes - birth, growth, death, come whether we will or no as long as we are alive.

Living is more than being alive. If you look in the mirror in the morning, and see the same person who looked out at you five years ago, you aren’t living. Actually a total lack of change isn’t common in people before they reach middle age, but after that time personality changes seem to be fewer and harder to see.

As I’ve said before, in my day job I am a service coordinator (a kind of social worker) working with senior citizens. I’ve had this position for over ten years. Many of the people I work with I’ve known the entire time. Some haven’t changed since the day we met. They have the same routine. They talk about the same things. They eat the same food. They watch the same television shows. They won’t look at a book. These are often the people who complain, and have multiple aches and pains.

Others I look at and say “I want to be like you when I grow up.” They seem to embrace change. They go on trips. They go to new restaurants. They rarely complain about whatever ills they have. They read. They talk about what they have learned in life. I see the process of change and personal growth in them as the years go by.

Even though they walk, breathe, and talk, the first group is alive, but they aren’t living. They stopped changing and growing at some point in their lives, and have been in a kind of stasis ever since then.

The second group is living. They have embraced change and learning. As the years go by they continue to grow.

Live to learn, and learn to live (my pithy saying for the day). None of us are perfect. None of us knows everything there is to know, not even about ourselves, the subject we are most expert in. If you want to continue to grow, to become a more conscious human being, make it a goal to learn one new thing every day. It may be a new fact about the world. It may be a discovery (or even rediscovery) about a belief you hold that colors your outlook on life. It may be someone else’s thoughts about their life. No matter how big or how small, each thing you learn will change you in some way. Whether it changes you for good or ill is up to you, but change you it will. It will help you retain the resiliency of youth.Learning is the psychological equivalent of stretching exercises and yoga for the body. Don’t become stiff with mental age. Keep your mind limber.

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