When learning is the spice of life

Some food for thought:

"It’s not what we eat but what we digest that makes us strong; not what we gain but what we save that makes us rich; not what we read but what we remember that makes us learned; and not what we profess but what we practice that gives us integrity.” (Francis Bacon Sr)

I like the idea of learning as digestion… and then practicing, rather than professing, what we have learned.  There’s always a celebration of learning over at Joyful Jubilant Learning and Rosa (the hostess) has been encouraging us to look back at what’s been learned during July.  Spices was her hook for the learning points and she rattled through them like a gourmet chef chopping up onions…!

Sticking with the spices (with a definite curry theme - must be feeling deprived after two weeks in the highlands) here’s a quick check through of what I’ve learned in July:

Pepper: there’s been so much to learn from the comments and conversations here this month, I’m wondering if thoughtful, generous comments are like black pepper, sprinkled over our food, bringing meals to life?  This month I’ve had some amazing comments and feedback: thank you all

Cardamom: sometimes we need to split things open to find out what’s inside… Learning lessons from the art of juggling this month taught me that to keep progressing, to keep learning, we need to go ‘backwards’ from our juggulation and start dropping the balls again…

Chillies: nothing like ‘em to bring you back to life, waking up your taste buds, maybe even tears to your eyes.  I had the luxury of live music every night when I was on holiday (courtesy of the Feis an Eilein festival on Skye) and it was just amazing, reminding me time after time of the power of music to get us jigging again

Ginger: great for the circulation… I’m wondering if learning isn’t the ginger of life.  Even a little bit here and there can make us feel invigorated, curious, intrigued, inspired…. I spent the last fortnight in the company of people brought together with a love of learning.  From 16 to 76 they were using their holidays to learn about a language, music, history, a sense of culture and heritage.  And didn’t they all look good on it!  As Robyn reminds us: learning really is good for the brain

Mint: After that explosion of tastes the soothing, refreshing mint that helps us to digest it all…  This month I came across a great question that helped me to feel calm, refreshed, that soothed me and allowed me to shed some old baggage, to make sense of it all, to aid the digestion… It was this great coaching question from Nick at Life 2.0, for which, once again, many thanks:

How does the truth of who we are wish to express itself now?

Words that will stay with me well into August - and beyond.

Thanks, Rosa, for the prompt to look back at the highlights of the month that’s coming to a close.  It’s a good preparation for whatever adventures lie ahead.   And thanks to all of you that have shared in my learning this month.

If you were to do the same exercise I wonder what learning has been adding spice to your life this month?

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Tagged as: digest, digestion, Feis an Eilein, Francis Bacon, integrity, Juggling, juggulation, learned, learning, Skye