Lessons from the Universe- Part 2

So to continue yesterday's blog about changing your mindset about the lessons that keep showing up from the universe. If it doesn't mean that you've necessarily failed to learn a lesson just because the same lesson or similar lessons show up again and again, what could it mean or how could I change my mindset to learn something from it?

I kept thinking about things yesterday. I know I have things to learn from the lessons the universe is throwing at me again and again. But as I said yesterday, my dream and my trainer have let me know that I need to change my mindset about it and flip it. So how do I do that?

It's not enough to just realize that I haven't failed because the same lessons keep showing up. I need to practice and I need to learn deeper things and more facets of those lessons and understand that we face the same lessons at different times in our lives with different people. That's only the first step.

That helps me change the questions I can ask myself in order to learn the right things. Instead of asking myself why does this keep happening to me, or what am I doing wrong or blaming other people or other things, I can start asking different questions.

I can ask what can I do differently? What am I doing in these situations to create the wrong results? What are the signs I missed?

How can I handle these situations better in the future? How can I be prepared? How can I prevent? How can I change my focus? How can I pause? How can I be peaceful? How can I stop pushing?

I need to learn from this. Not so this lesson never shows up again. But because it's sure to show up again and I need to be ready for it.

Lessons from the Universe and My Trainer

I had a dream last night about hockey and quoting my trainer and it all came together this morning in the car and during yoga. Doesn't it always?

First my dream. Well, one of my dreams--I have all 18 theaters open every night. I don't know why there was a hockey team watching video games or something and they were trying to figure out shots (it won't make sense--it was a dream)...but the idea was that they were complaining because the video game was wrong because they couldn't have made those shots because there were other circumstances in between that made it impossible.

Anyway, I said, well, as my trainer always says, Change your mindset. Instead of worrying about why the game is wrong and why the shots can't be made, maybe the game is trying to teach you to think ahead. Instead of thinking that the shot is the end, maybe think past the shot and what can you do after the shot if it's missed and what move you might make then.

Again, this doesn't make a lot of sense now because it's a dream. But my brother somehow showed up, nodded, and said, Perspective.

My lesson when I woke up was that there are always new ways to look at things and new lessons to learn. This got me thinking about the quote that you see all the time about the universe keeps sending you the same lesson until you learn it.

And I flipped that quote for the first time. At first glance that quote seems to imply that if the same lesson keeps appearing in your life that somehow you haven't learned your lesson yet. You've failed. If you'd learned that lesson, it wouldn't keep showing up. But that's wrong. The universe is going to keep showing you that lesson in different ways to keep you on your toes.

Learning doesn't stop because you've learned something. It's like training. You don't stop training because you've trained once or learned an exercise. You keep training. You learn deeper. You learn better. You practice.

The universe keeps sending you the same lessons because you need practice. You need to remember what you've learned. You need to learn deeper. You need to learn in different ways. With different people. At different times. Maybe you even need to help other people learn, too.

Professionals athletes probably learned how to play as kids. They learned the rules. They learned the skills.  But the learning wasn't over then.

You keep learning and playing and getting better and better as time goes by. As you grow. As you play better opponents. There are degrees and levels of learning the same things. Different facets. New challenges. New ways of using your skills and applying those rules.

We learn life lessons the same way. We learn them. But we then we grow. Time goes by. We face different circumstances. We play different opponents. We have different teammates. We get out of practice. That doesn't mean we never learned anything. We always have more to learn. We always need practice.

I have learned many life lessons. I haven't failed because the universe is still sending me some of the same lessons. The universe is helping me. The universe is reminding me what's really important to me. What I need to practice. Deeper lessons. More facets. It's giving me more practice. It's making me better.

Tulips

The tulips are out again. I am reminded of the idea of introverts and tulips. I read somewhere once that introverts are like tulips. They can bloom and shine but for short periods of time and only after the winter of rest. They aren't like the summer flowers that bloom all summer long. I liked that idea.

Some people think that introverts never like to "come out" and have fun or be pretty. But they do. They just can't do it for a long time without needed the long rest of winter to be able to come back out again.

Lately I've been feeling like the way too wide open tulip that has been out in the sun for too long and the leaves have turned brown and the petals are falling off. I'm ready for a rest. I tried to be a summer flower like the rest of the world and it just didn't work. I can't be what I'm not.

I can't maintain the schedule that the rest of the world does.  I wilt. My petals fall off. I get ugly. Really ugly.

It feels like the world is made for the summer flowers. People don't get the tulips. But I'm the tulip so I'm the one who has to get them.

I have to figure out what I need. What my wintering involves so I can keep my flower blooming and stop my leaves from turning brown and my petals from falling off so easily and enjoy the sunshine more often. I'm a tulip and tulips are pretty cool and beautiful even if they don't last as long and need special care.