3 Ways To Get Schooled Without Getting Hurt

“To Get Schooled” is to learn something, generally the hard way. As in you got “schooled” in life. Often, we find ourselves at the learning end of life’s lessons, struggling to determine what happened. How did we get here? Why are we here? And what can we do about it?

Life is, indeed, the opportunity for us to become our most perfect selves. Every experience we have everyday is meant for us to become better. Let me say that again: every experience, every day is meant to help us become better. The All-Loving Universe supports us, constantly providing us everything we need. We always have the tools to get us through everything that happens.

But how do we approach life as a school? Here are three ways to learn life’s lessons as life is happening:

1. Act. Don’t React.

In every situation, we have two choices: act or react. When we get cut off in traffic, wake up on the wrong side of the bed, have someone yell at us, get an extra bill in the mail, have an unexpected emergency, etc., generally we react to the situation. We get frustrated. We want to yell back. We feel like we’ll never have enough money to pay all the bills. We react.

But, we have another option. Act. We don’t have to let the situation rule us. Instead, we can stop the reaction cycle dead in its tracks. What sort of action can you take in the moment? Take a breath. Smile. Look at the big picture. Read a good joke. Change the channel. Tell yourself the right affirmations to change your mindset in the moment. Make a list of possible actions. Make a list of your fears. Do something different than you normally would. Act.

2. Know the Universe loves and supports you.

There’s an old saying that we don’t get everything we want, but everything we never knew we needed in life. If we look at every situation as a source of love and support, we can approach life through a different lens. We don’t always know exactly what we need. We can only see in this moment based on our past experiences. We do not always see how the people and events of today relate to everything else in our life, to our life’s path, and to our own betterment.

By looking at every event as something that is good for us, that comes from a place of love and support, we can more easily learn the lessons of each opportunity presented to us.

3. It’s not about you.

Even when someone says that what they are thinking, feeling, or doing has something to do with you, remember this important fact: it is not about you. Other people are not motivated by you. We all have to approach life with what we are given, which is our own point of view. We can only be motivated by our own thoughts, feelings, and intuition. And so other people are motivated by their own thoughts, feelings, and intuition.

It is easy in the moment to think “what is it about me that has created this situation?” Instead, we should realize that it isn’t about us. Ultimately there is so much more going on than we could ever realize. We operate in a finite view of the world. The trouble is that the world–the universe–is infinite. Our understanding of the universe can never be fully complete. We just don’t have everything we need to do that. Instead, we are given just enough for us to understand, so that we can act with love everyday.

And, ultimately, that’s the true point: learning to love. Learning to love everything that happens. Learning to love our lives. Learning to love this world. Learning to love ourselves.