Soil To Soul Principle #7 Learn, Think and Take Action: Be a mindful lifetime learner. Knowledge fertilizes the mind to think and form our beliefs.

         
Soil to Soul Logo with Website - 3600x1800 copy
email facebook instagram twitter
20170331 132409

Soil To Soul Principle #7

Learn, Think and Take Action: Be a mindful lifetime learner.

Knowledge fertilizes the mind to think and form our beliefs. Thoughtful endeavors build a resilient future.

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

Aloha Beautiful Souls,

Are you learning something new every day?
How do you use the knowledge that you acquire?

Don’t forget who you are, before society told you who you should be.

Learn

There is something to learn from every situation, person, place & thing.

During the impressionable and developmental years we're taught what other people believe we should learn. How to walk, talk, what to eat, and wear, to read, write, and how to play. We are taught by what we see and experience. Some stuff we learned was EPIC, some not so good.
We did not have a choice as to what we learned or who our teachers were. We were mostly taught to conform to our circumstances which are not always what is best for us.

Why are we taught not to question authority and instead taught to do as we are told?

The realities are that some youth are subject to bad teachers and parents, imprinting internal and external scars.

The good news is, as we age we have the choice to learn, think and take action on what is important to us. We have the choice to be bitter or sweet, to care or to give a F---, to be stuck or to grow. Some people spend a lifetime struggling to unlearn negative patterns and beliefs while others choose to learn, grow and prosper.

Freya   Me Puppet show

Choosing to Prosper ~ It's Your Choice to Change

Adding to my plethora of childhood memories was my struggle with school work. In third grade, I got a D in Language Arts. No one realized I was dyslexic until after failing several spelling tests. My mom finally got me a tutor who figured out that I had been copying the spelling words off the blackboard wrong. If given the test on what I copied and studied, (the wrong spelling), I would have gotten 100 percent. I felt dumb for a good part of my childhood. “D for Dumb,” eroded my self-esteem. I found my strengths in my social life and in sports which dampened the hurt and humiliation.

It seemed I often danced to the beat of a different drummer. In the fourth grade, our teacher went around the room asking all the children what they wanted to be when they grew up. The list went like this: the boys leaning toward being a firefighter, pilot, soldier, doctor and the girls a nurse, teacher, mother, fashion designer; and me, a rock and roll singer. Labeled "tone-deaf" by the 5th-grade choir teacher, my dream of being front and center on stage got crushed. I admiralty still struggle to sing in public, yet learning to overcome this obstacle is so much fun, especially when I sing to my granddaughter.

It wasn't until my twenties that I appreciated that being labeled with a learning disability was an invitation to do different things well. Being around supportive people and supporting others was the key to overcoming. I also learned that everything that I was consuming, both mentally and monetarily, was affecting the planet; that we are but one thread in the Web of Life and what we do to the planet, we do to ourselves.

tree

A Life Time Learner

I am a student in the university of life, consistently learning, growing and changing, free from conforming old beliefs. The more I learn the more I discover how little I truly know, this inspires me to continue researching and learning.

Think

To think, fifty years after getting a D in Language Arts, I’m an author.
It was a choice, often a struggle, to overcome a childhood belief. After nearly 40 years of entrepreneurship, writing and Nature photography has now become a gratifying means to express and to share wisdom and my gifts.

Feeling DUMB is no fun! Being a kid trying to fit into the social norm is challenging enough. Why is it that some children tease and bully others for being dumb, short, or fat, or they judge others by the color of their skin, the tone of their accent or economic status? What Kind of Social Norm is this?

Accepting an unfulfilling learned behavior, destructive patterns or conformity to something that does not serve you or humanity is no way to think.
Think about it; there is no one in the world as unique as you.

Public Education has been publicly gutted.

Education was derived from the Latin word educere, which means to bring out the unique talents and abilities within an individual.
The public educational system has limited the inherent abilities of our youth by primarily stressing compartmentalization, memorization of mundane information, and glorifies standardized testing. Basing a child's wisdom on a test score is old school. It’s time to break the rules.
What good is an education that stifles potential, and puts us in labeled boxes and worse, on drugs!
It’s time we think and act outside of the box. All of us have the ability to stop the craziness.

Think:
Who are your greatest teachers?
What will you do with the rest of your life?
How do you manifest knowledge into a meaningful endeavor?

It's a colorful day when we have the confidence to paint a rainbow in shades of black and white.

Good Morning afternoon   evening
 
peace-symbol
 
Phycidylic Sheep

Take Action

When you change your story, you can change your life.

How awesome is it that we live in a time and place that we can rewrite our future. We can rehash the past and compost what does not serve us and nurture what does. We can take action and stand up for what we believe in and make a difference. As parents, mentors and role models, it is in humanity's best interest to STOP the craziness and shift to a mindset of equality and empathy.
If we all focus on the strengths of our children, and each other, how might the world be a different place?

Imagine if the focus of our educational system was to inspire children to be creative, curious, benevolent, compassionate, altruistic thinkers. To be humanitarians and philanthropists while nurturing the child's authenticity. How awesome would it be to learn in a creative environment that instills reverence for nature and human potential? It is going to take a concerted effort to transform the public educational system so that it equips students with the skills, expertise, and knowledge to survive and thrive in the 21st century.

look deep into nature

Thoughtful Endeavors Build a Resilient Future

The pervasive lack of a genuine understanding of Nature in our education system has contributed to the gross mismanagement of our planet. It’s time to reconstruct the public education system to emphasize human and planetary wellness. A system focused on solutions, creativity, and generating happiness. To teach the urgency for peace and the importance of ecology, to interconnect business and humanity to the systems and cycles of Nature along with reading writing and arithmetic. As Satish Kumar says, " a more holistic approach to education, connecting our hands, hearts, and heads"

There are numerous ways to get involved in the school system. Family and community engagement is a vital part of a truly successful education. Thankfully, there is a growing movement of citizens that are inspiring schools, teachers, and parents to create a more supportive educational environment. In addition, more families have chosen to homeschool. On June 23, 2015, Watch Dog.org reported that The US Department of Education revealed that homeschooling increased by over 61% in the past decade.

Waldorf, Montessori inspired schools, and charter schools have risen exponentially inspiring children to master what they excel in and preparing the youngsters for a meaningful career and life. There is still much to be done in the public schools and higher education.

*Satish Kumar*, a long-term peace and environment activist, shares a regenerative plan for education that resonates from the soil to the soul. He brings to our attention that ecology and economy come from the same Greek word, Oikos, meaning “home”. Ecology is the study of our home and economy is its management.

The Center for Ecoliteracy- promotes ecological education. They recognize that students need to experience and understand how nature sustains life and how to live accordingly.

Other nations are also concerned about the future of education working on solutions to encourages young people to embrace their passions, such as Innovation Unit in the UK and Australia.

20161206 100856

The opportunities to learn at any age are endless. Why not be a mindful lifetime learner, thinker, and teacher? Knowledge is power, it fertilizes the mind to think and form our beliefs.

Wisdom is knowledge applied. Apply the knowledge you've learned into your life and enjoy the rewards.Think about the significance of what you read, watch, and observe, and how what you teach impacts others. When you focus on your unique strengths, you're in a position to offer your gifts. Let your voice be heard, your desire flourish, and the beauty of your dreams become your reality.
Love is our greatest teacher.

Have a blessed Easter and Passover

Big Love, Mama Donna

Remember that...

Your Awesome

Why Retire If I Can Inspire

I wish to thank all of you for taking the time to read, comment and share my post and for checking out our other social media platforms for daily dose of inspiration.

You who are on the road

Must have a code that you can live by

And so become yourself

Because the past is just a good-bye.

Teach your children well,

----------

Crosby, Stills & Nash

email facebook instagram twitter
1px