Who are Your Teachers?

There are teachers everywhere, who do you allow to teach you?

I spent many years in an orphanage with the Sisters of Mercy. They were not, shall we say the sisters of mercy, in Leonard Cohen’s song… In the midst of their severity towards us was a real sister of “mercy”, Sister Paul.

Although bound by the rules of the order, and the fierce relentless vigilance of Mother Superior, she found a way to acknowledge me as a child, who had a love of books,

Sister Paul would stop me in the hall and ask me to go in the library and dust the books, and shelves. She would proceed to lock me in the library and leave me there for a while, maybe a couple of hours.

I loved being surrounded by books. It felt like heavenly freedom, all the while being locked in. My experience was an incredible example of the power of that which we desire and love being able to transcend daily struggles. In my case looking forward to the next time in the library, made the the day to day misery of being in an orphanage more bearable.

The power of reading also allowed me to transcend time and space to enter into Nancy Drew’s world, or the world of Little Women, and forget temporarily the unhappiness in my life.

Sister Paul was a most important teacher in my young life.

Who then have you allowed to teach you? (Sometimes our most important teachers are those who have hurt us) Years after a terribly painful relationship, and breakup, I made peace with it and realized that I grew a lot as the result of that suffering. He was also an important teacher, not that I would be insane enough to repeat the pattern.

A client who was extremely depressed went for a walk and heard a bird singing. He allowed the song to penetrate his heart as he sat by the side of the road and wept. That day was the first day of his healing process.

Be still, breathe, reflect, and journal.

Review your life.

There are teachers everywhere, who do you allow to teach you?