Welcome to the September Edition of 'Your Monthly Wake Up Call'. Welcome to Issue 22 of Your Monthly Wake Up Call. That's 22 months of Waking Up the World, one sleeper at a time. In this issue: Moving Beyond the 'Life As Teacher' Cliche'. With no messing around, let's go! *** Learning is seldom an event. Other than very dramatic experiences such as learning that fire is 'hot' or ice is 'cold', little of what we learn in life comes as a result of one time experiences. Most of our learning are processes, involving the repeated application of a skill/understanding, until that skill/understanding becomes second nature. Once we reach a certain degree of mastery we are no longer involved in a learning process as much as simply applying our new skill/understanding in various ways. We have learned 'good enough', and although improvement may continue over time it is no longer necessary to practice in order to be adequate to apply our new skill/understanding. Learning to walk, learning the alphabet and learning to ride a bike are examples of such learning processes. Other kinds of learning can be lifelong endeavors, where the practice of a skill/understanding is not an event or even a finite process, but a bottomless unfolding of deeper understandings, applications and expressions. Arts and skills such as painting, dancing, singing, educating and lovemaking can be lifelong learning endeavors. Here, there is no real goal in mind. Instead, learning is seen as a deep exploration of a mystery without end. That said, many people like to mouth the pithy phrase, "Life is my teacher", although it's obvious they are not even present as they speak those words. What does it mean to say, "Life is my teacher?" They way I see it, ever moment is an opportunity to understand more deeply how Life works, what is really real, why things are as they are, and especially HOW things are. Life drifts by, moment by moment, burgeoning with wisdom that remains secret to the untrained, inattentive eye. Neglect, distraction, obsession, denial, avoidance, delusion, confusion... These forms of inattention rob us of the one chance we have to see what our lives are really about. Antonio Machado puts it: "What have you done with the garden entrusted to you?" Once in bloom and now in seed, you imagine 'there is always next year'. There isn't. You imagine there will be a better time to pay attention to what is before you. There won't be. You imagine you will have another chance to care for what has been provided. You won't. You imagine your Life is more than one season long, but already the days are growing shorter. Autumn is coming, and with it your last chance to savor the colors of your Life Garden. Please understand before it is too late. There's no going back. Life is unfolding one moment at a time, with or without your attention. All around you Life's Great Song, drifts upon the breezes, As She dances slowly past, without a care for who She pleases. SWACK! Recommended reading: A Year To Live by Stephen Levine In this book Stephen Levine performs a 1 year experiment using his whole Life as the lab. Excellent practices and perspectives throughout. Contact me with comments and criticisms. Gratefully, Aaron McNaught A.K.A. The Wake Up Guy