in - Philosophy on Life, RELIGION, UNIVERSAL MEDICINE | SERGE BENHAYON 315 Words

Being a Student of Life

What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?

How would life be if we just saw it as a plethora of opportunities? From opportunity comes learning and with learning we soon enough realise just how much more there is to learn, to master.

What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart? And with that there can be no ‘better than,’ or wrong or right, but only what feels true and then the learning of what does not belong with that truth.

What if we saw ourselves as always being a student, a student of life, one that can never actually graduate per se, but one that was on a continuous journey of learning?

Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.

Being a student of life and truly seeing ourselves as such, makes it all about learning, and with this, judgment on self or others has no space. Just as a baby who is learning to walk – it stands, it falls, it stands, it falls and it keeps going. Never does that baby judge itself about the fact that it has fallen, but he or she is constantly part of the learning to take steps.

How would everything in life be for us all if we all chose to be this way in life, letting our heart lead the way, embracing learning and being a forever student?

By Johanna Smith, Bachelor of Education (Major Special Needs, Minor Psychology), Graduate Certificate of Early Childhood, Studying Diploma of Counseling, Esoteric Complementary Health Practitioner, Woman, Teacher, Mother, Wife and Friend

Further Reading:
The classroom of life
No Mistakes: Just a New Learning
Lesson for LIFE & Beyond – The UNFOLDING PATH

897 thoughts on “Being a Student of Life”

  1. The saying ‘The sky is the limit’ doesn´t apply to the student of life because there is no limit at all but forever more and more and more.

  3. Being a student of life takes the personal out of everything and allows one to step back and be the keen observer who is more than willing to have a go and learn rather than hold back expecting to be hurt by everything and considering oneself as a victim of circumstances.

  4. I love the fact that I am a ‘student of life…on a continuous journey of learning’. It simply means that I am forever embracing the possibility there is more to life than I can see at this moment and knowing of the fact that nothing ever stays the same; we are all here to evolve.

  5. I can not get enough of being a student of life, a posture that opens us to a forever unfolding abundance that wants to be explored, applied and lived, constantly enriching the sphere of who we are personally, with each other and as an essential part of the universe we belong to. I cannot think of any other approach that is as rich and satisfying.

  7. “a student of life, one that can never actually graduate per se, but one that was on a continuous journey of learning?…” This is a great perspective to have about one’s life… that we always continue to see, to learn, to understand, to evolve… and that this is our part, to be a part of in the evolution of human beings.

    1. A perspective that does not push us, does not pressure us but simply gives us an opportunity to understand more.

  8. Considering one’s self as a student of life,
    with our only assignment to master our own hearts: to learn to live in a way that is truly loving and responsive to what our heart is telling us, totally takes the pressure off. Nothing to get right and no need to fear getting it ‘wrong’ – it’s all an opportunity for learning. When we see life like this, we set ourselves free from our perceived ‘mistakes’ and appreciate them as our biggest moments of learning and expansion, building a foundation below which we know we will not drop.

  9. I love being a student of life, every situation, every step and every interaction we have, there is always an opportunity to learn and grow. When we are open and honest about what is being presented to us in life, it can support us to evolve.

  10. Reading this again just takes the pressure off life, no right or wrong, no pictures, just another opportunity to learn wherever we find ourselves at on our path.

  11. If we look at it honestly we are all students of life and we never stop learning till the day we die especially about matters of the heart.

  12. We can’t be reliant on outcomes or life looking a certain way because we may find ourselves in many different and unexpected situations, and these may be constellated to us to bring about great learning and to bring forth parts of ourselves we may not have realised otherwise.

  13. I love being a student of life; it helps me detach and observe what is really going on in the world.

  14. Judgement of things as being ‘right or wrong’ is very abusive and brings a huge contraction to the body – since changing the use of words to making mistakes that can then be learnt from is very freeing for the body and expression.

  15. Extremely poignant Johanna, as I am feeling how to deepen my relationship with self-animation, so I can extricate my-self out of it, and stop it from distracting me from being connected to my essence.

  16. When we claim that we are a student of life then we are actually a student of everything that we do in life which allows us to be less arrogant.

  17. Life is an endless study. Are we willing to be the forever student? Or do we say: ‘Enough now, know myself around, found my spot where I can hang out and let time pass by.’ ?

    1. I find this can seem like an easy option to delay our evolution, to hang out in the comfort of our arrogance and irresponsibility but in truth it is very complicated and stressful.

  18. Brilliant questions Johanna. What if life was all about learning to master living in connection to our Soul, so that what we deepen in our knowing and awareness of how to live all that is true? As you have wisely shared every moment in life would be received as an opportunity to for us all to explore, learn and evolve. I say ‘yes’ to this, to being a student of life, and The Way of The Livingness support this way of living which is not only very possible but being lived now by many around the world.

  19. Being a student of life is incredibly liberating as it allows us to be open and energised to what is in front of us rather than be drained and exhausted by the tension and frustration that would otherwise rule our lives.

  20. Just recently listening to a presentation by Natalie Benhayon I go aware of what it means to not just know oneself to be a student of life but all of us and that we have a responsibility to understand ourselves as a student body where we support each other in the study and process of evolution of humanity. Of course it is first a responsibility towards oneself but then it also is instantly a responsibility towards everyone.

    1. Beautifully shared Alexander. As we are all interconnected and equally part of life, it makes sense that if we begin to take responsibility first with how we ourselves are living, the degree of love we live with, this responsibility will naturally impact all.

    1. Beautifully expressed, and being joyful actually is very easy, it just requires us to reconnect to ourselves, to the love that is within and live every step of our day with appreciation and knowing that everything we need is already within us.

  22. I used to think being a ‘good’ student meant working hard, trying, bettering and/or striving. That I was the one that needed to come up with the answers, know it already before it was learned. And that it also meant I could fail with all the consequences that would entail. I now know that this is what we made education to be, how we have bastardised what being a student and learning is in truth. I am now starting to discover in my own life that being a student is nothing more then being open, willing to learn and make mistakes, and allowing a surrender to that deep within me which already holds all the wisdom and does not need answers.

    1. What is within us as souls is the answer and learning to live from that is our study. We are students of love.

    2. How deeply enriching it is to surrender to that deep wisdom that is waiting within, unshakable, offering a solidness of true foundations to reflect to the world, forever untarnished.

      1. and if we think about how complicated we can make life when the simplicity of surrendering to what is already there is on offer 24/7…it shows we are the makers of our own reality.

  23. The greatest inhibitors to us growing and learning are guilt, shame and self-judgement. These toxic substances obscure the fact we are being offered golden insights to heal, not bad marks in an exam.

  24. Being a student of life allows us to be open to what is before us, to learn, grow and expand and continue to expand. No matter what we may be faced with there is a deepening awareness for us to embrace.

    1. absolutely and also, no matter what is before us, we are already equipped to deal with it. It is as if we own this big set of tools and skills but we have forgotten about them and life is offering us a way to learn to use them again.

  25. Seeing ourselves as a student takes away all of the unnecessary pressure we place on ourselves to be perfect and know everything just because we are grown up. Where did this come from in the first place and why is it that we have run with it for so long? It’s time to cut ourselves some slack and let ourselves be students of life and to let ourselves know that making mistakes is part and parcel of being alive.

  26. How normal has it become to abuse ourselves for not having our lives perfect. We pride ourselves on being perfectionist, completely dismissing the fact of how horrible it actually feels to put this amount of pressure on our shoulders.

  27. “How would life be if we just saw it as a plethora of opportunities?” I love this view of life, it means that no matter the situation that is in front of us we get to learn, grow and develop.

  28. “there can be no ‘better than,’ or wrong or right, but only what feels true and then the learning of what does not belong with that truth.” I love this Johanna, what permission it gives us to be ourselves, something I will definitely be bringing to my children next time around.

  29. What I have noticed is that when you step outside your front door with every part of you saying, ‘Yes, what am I going to see, discover, along the way today… what is life going to present to me’… its like ‘life’ hears you and responds without hesitation. Life really is your classroom, we just have to sit up and take notice.

  30. “…with learning we soon enough realise just how much more there is to learn…” – yes absolutely I can relate to this, and the joy in being open to keep learning…

    1. What an beautiful switch around concerning the words ‘to learn’, replacing what we would have considered ‘a task’, with joy.

  31. This will show us that many of our ideals, beliefs, rules are actually festered by a lack of acceptance of who we are.. Which is naturally a student of life, all else is a deemed creation that harms humanity hence forth.

  32. As I read this I can feel just how much the notion of being a student when I was going through school and uni actually put me off wanting to be a student at all. I was seen as less from what I knew but also held myself as less under the label of being a student. So much here to reimprint!

  33. The fact that we are here, on earth, living in a body to evolve is missing from the Western education, and so we grow up knowing something is missing, but not knowing quite what. When the penny drops and we can become our own students of life, we have a path of evolution that knows no end.

  34. Being a student of life is a growing process where gaining an understanding of myself and seeing life as a place of learning how I am with myself and in life, has hugely lifted the pressure I had on myself and it is so much more enjoyable. It supports me to be open to what’s next and not stay in the same old ways I have been living.. for so long.

  35. Perfectionism can be a real hindrance to learning, it’s stifling in the way we can judge ourselves for doing something ‘wrong’ and also if we have a picture of how we think we or things ‘should be’ then it stops us from being open to sensing what is really needed…

  36. Living as a student of life, brings a lot more understanding to life – of yourself and of the world around you. Attending Universal Medicine events (in person or via webcast) gives you the tools to bring that understanding with space, and love.

  38. Mastering our-own-heart or inner-most which is the esoteric is key in returning to the true Love we all are – with no one having any lesser Love than another so life simply becomes all about our choices.

  39. Everything is a lesson, we have disconnected from our innate knowing so much that we have to re-learn everything and everything that happens is because it is a lesson that may not have been embodied yet.

  40. How beautiful would life be if we actually took this approach? The self-condemnation and judgement would absolutely vanish.

  41. I am aware that the inner critic is very strong and that I have huge expectations that I hold myself too which get in the way of appreciating all that I am. Seeing myself as a ‘Student of Life’ feels so confirming, deeply caring and nourishing and also supports me to release the wisdom that I hold within to express to the world. The realisation that we can hold ourselves back (or in) lifts the self imposed weight from our shoulders and opens the doorway to everything that is already there for us to share.

  42. Something I learned more about today from a Universal Medicine presentation was how powerful our conversations can be in either lowering our state of being and entrenching us in old ways, or raising us up and supporting us to evolve. With this deeper awareness of the importance of every word and gesture in our interactions, I am looking forward to making this a focus of my learning this week and beyond.

  43. A child learns from every movement they make. Once we learn to talk, ‘why’ becomes one of our most used words to learn and probe deeper. College students may ask a ‘why’ a handful of times. When we fit ourselves, as gear in the machine of life, how often do we ask why? There will always be things we don’t know; we only need to ask!

  44. Life will teach us that evolution is not linear, that there is no point we are needing to get to, that our future is our past and that who we will become is who we already are and have been.

  46. “How would everything in life be for us all if we all chose to be this way in life, letting our heart lead the way, embracing learning and being a forever student?” Life would feel amazing. No room for hiding, holding back, delaying or procrastinating.

  47. When I allow myself to accept there is no right or wrong I feel a complete letting go in my shoulders.

  48. Yes, indeed Johanna we are all students of life whether we are willing to learn or not!

  49. I felt this this morning how we tend to see life as a ladder and the higher we are up the so called ladder the better or more advanced we ‘think’ we are. The beauty is there is no ladder, no point to reach or get to, as we are always constantly unfolding, learning and evolving (or not!).

  50. Being a student comes loaded with an image of what is that all about. This image tells us that a student does a series of things to accomplish a series of things that make our life ‘better’. The body is by-and-large not part of the equation of being a student. That is why it is so neglected. Yet, the body is our best instrument to learn everything about the most important subject: life.

  51. Slowing down so we can feel our connection to the divine essence that we all come from, is a great way to be able to observe life and the many various lessons we all go through. So stillness is a great tool that started with the Gentle Breath Meditation and being-still is too big a step from the racy world we that we mostly live in, which brings in the gentle-ness as our bridging first step.

  52. I have realised lately that when I react to a situation and judge or criticise myself and/or another person, it instantly shuts down the learning on offer. It is only when the reaction dies down that I am able to learn from the experience and feel settled about it. I am learning to develop this detached, student of life stance and it certainly brings more clarity and lightness to any situation. Let’s face it, we are not perfect or meant to be, so we may as well enjoy all we are here to learn.

  53. “Being a Student of Life” – for many being a ‘student of life’ can refer or infer that one has not been to university or further studied but rather lived life being savvy to life’s ways. Though the distinction to living life (irrespective of education) is really whether life has been and is being lived with the quality of love, for without love we are a student of a created world full of its tense squeeze; and with love we are a student of our spacious co-created soul. Being a student of life – is living with love.

  54. The moment we understand ourselves and all of us to be students of life we are in equality, together.

  55. “What if we saw ourselves as always being a student, a student of life, one that can never actually graduate per se, but one that was on a continuous journey of learning?” How different our education system and indeed our lives in general would be if this were the case.

  56. I love this Johanna! Being a student of Life is so much more acceptable to me instead of feeling that I am making mistakes and seeing myself as ” not trying hard enough”! Thank you I will share this.

  57. When we see that we are all ‘students of life’ it brings greater understanding of where we all are at.

  59. The commitment to be a student of life is a commitment to eradicating comparison, jealousy and judgement.

  61. Even considering life to not being about being right or wrong is huge. Right or wrong pegs us one against the other. If we consider everything in life as learning to understand more about ourselves and others, and being open to the fact that there is more to life that we see with our eyes, right and wrong just does not enter. For me learning to observe life is a great lesson in letting go of right or wrong and making mistakes, which means letting go of self-judgment. Not an easy thing when all of how we are brought up and taught does not support this.

  62. A brilliant reminder to be sensible when it comes to life and it’s many lessons – thank you. A baby would never learn to walk if every time it fell over it beat itself up – and we would never let a baby do that, yet we do that constantly to ourselves. What I’m learning is that a splash of appreciation is important, if not vital to maintaining a healthy relationship with our mistakes and errors and more uncomfortable life lessons

  63. The beauty of being a student of life is very empowering to feel and know for ourselves as the forever student and how honest and real we would all become and the expansion that would flow from here.

  64. Simply being able to embrace everything as a learning curve takes all the pressure off us, not needing to be anything or anywhere we are not. Beautiful, thank you Johanna.

  65. As there is no end to growth in a universe that forever expands, we are forever students of what we are part of and contributing to. As we expand the universe expands.

  66. Truly accepting we are students of life gives us permission to make a million mistakes as long as we are honest and get up again and know always we are divine.

  67. I love the fact I don’t need to be perfect and that there’s always more to learn. It makes life worth getting up in the morning for.

  68. As I grew up through school it was commonplace to think, as a student, that mistakes were bad. Yet being a student of life and truly seeing myself as such, makes it all about learning – it would have taken the then pressure off and been a very different place without that judgment and expectations around what we currently class as education.

  69. Very freeing to let go of perfection it gives so much more space to learn and to expand.

  70. We would truly want to know ourselves – down to the raw and beautiful detail.

  71. I am learning to listen to my heart, a continual deepening process, there are no rights or wrongs when I do this, just what feels true. I experience life differently as it is then something I can always learn from, about myself, everyone else, the world and how I live in it.

  72. Taking the need out to reach a final outcome or goal other than living who we truly are, will mean that we will always be learning and a student of life. It also takes the pressure off always being in drive to constantly be improving.

  73. No blame shame or guilt, no right or wrong, just a learning of what is true and what is not. There is a choice.

  74. Great call, it would reduce judgement and self-bashing. There are many layers to this within ourselves that we can be unaware of till we take the time to rest deeply and feel how we are doing what we are doing. If we are berating ourselves for how we are doing what we are doing, but then not changing how we are doing what we are doing, then the self bashing continues because we know we have had an opportunity to change the way we are doing something and stubbornly refusing to do so!

  75. Indeed if we consider that we are a student of life our whole life, we can choose to learn, deepen and expand to our last breath, no matter what our age or developmental milestones.

    1. Allowing ourselves to admit to the fact that we will never have it all worked out and to accept this in the awareness that it is our natural evolution to be consistently learning and growing, we can let go of our self-imposed restraints and blocks. In this awareness, however, I am still constantly caught out by insidious beliefs that still run in my body that prevent me from letting go in full – an indication of the level of where my learning is in truth!

  76. ‘What if we saw ourselves as students of life –a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?’ The first line of this blog is the key to acceptance, appreciation and evolution. Simple and powerful.

  77. The best thing about being a student of life is that there is no end point, no graduation as such but more so a gradual deepening back into the truth of all things. There is no end to the depth we can go. There is only eternal universal expansion.

  78. ‘a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?’ Have I really considered this or just read it as read and moved on?! Do I still hold things as wrong and myself/others as bad? When I am observing I can see people’s behaviours are a result of what quality they are choosing to live by – any behaviours that are unloving aren’t coming from them. I often don’t afford myself this grace and understanding because only then can I see why and where I’m choosing not to be myself. When I narrow my awareness to only seeing life and people’s actions as a personal comment on me, I create a whole heap of hurts with no room for any life lessons! So it’s really great to catch any moments I’m seeing life from right/wrong and expanding my perspective and awareness so those lessons are available for me to grow and deepen.

  79. Getting rid of the belief in “right and wrong” and living from “what is true and what isn’t” would make daily life far greater than what we have narrowed it down to be currently. Right and wrong does not evolve us, but living from truth does.

  81. This comes down to the tiniest of moments where you can think to yourself, oh I got it wrong, and just in the split moment you are going into the criticism of self and self-judgement. When we are learning all the time, there is so much we can expand and grow from. This will always be the case, as life is all about evolution if we so allow it.

  82. “as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?” How amazing to see the truth of life and keep growing and expanding with all there is to learn in the cycles of life ahead of us always communicating to us all we need to know.

  83. Every situation gives us an opportunity to learn from it regardless if we see it as a negative thing or not. For example getting sick shows us so much about how we have been living and yet many of us see it as a bad thing.

    1. Yes, I have ignored so many lessons because I didn’t want to see how I was responsible for where I’m at. Reading this is a wonderful opportunity to say yes to each moment’s opportunity to grow.

  84. Being a student of life means that we can learn from everyone and everything around us, something that is truly wonderful.

  86. Get up again….and off we go, not issues with the mistake or the fall, but ready for what is to learn next…this s the way of the student fo life – I love being a student of life.

  87. Yes indeed, Johanna, I am also finding that with every expansion there is a new platform, and from there the next opportunity for learning presents itself before too long.

  88. Being a student in life means no graduation or end goal, simply a return to living and knowing who we truly are and the never ending expansion of that.

  90. As I accept myself more and more and where I am at in life, the less I am unloving towards myself, such as harmful thoughts or regret. It has to be ‘what is it I am to learn here?’ Or ‘how can I be more loving?’ Or ‘what is it I am to change?’ My movements cannot be in the past or future, but with me in the present and that takes care of everything else.

  91. Self criticism cannot exist in living by this paradigm. Only committment, loving dedication and the willingness to feel and hear if how we are living is in line with our soulful essence. And if not, to implement the changes that brings this to a living truth.

  92. A very heart warming article.
    This is the true love of our soul, it provides us with the grace to learn again the language of love. There is no time frame on this, simply a continual offering to return.

  93. A student of life is always open to learning, a stance whereby ‘mistakes’ offer deeper understanding and awareness.

  94. If we would live this way, there could not be any victims of situations, as we are all the creator of these situations. We would know our responsibility in it and that it is there to reflect something very important for us. There would be no war or hate, frustration and anger, as we would never point the finger out, but back to us.

  95. ‘Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.’ being a student of life and of myself my experience of how I am with the learnings that come have completely changed, I now see them for the great opportunity they are for me to grow, gain deeper understanding of myself and others and to become more of who I am, rather than my reactions, beliefs, ideals.

  96. Seeing ourselves as students of life allows us to release ourselves from the stronghold of all the perceived rights and wrongs and various ideals and beliefs we have allowed ourselves to be shaped and imprisoned by in life and helps us to restore our true inquisitive and childlike nature. We are forever learning in Earth school until such a time that we return in full to the depth of who we truly are and even then, there is no end to the next level of expansion.

  97. The whole ‘making a mistake’ thing or being ‘wrong’ is so strongly ingrained in the psyche of humanity, along with the stranglehold of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, that even when one is aware of it, it takes quite a bit of presence, true moment and observation to not be ensnared. I have had a wonderful situation of working closely with someone I love and trust in editing articles and books, and we practice expressing and exchanging suggestions about the editing together without any attachment to ‘mistakes’ either in ourselves or in the writing. A beautiful flow is generated as reaction drops away and all expands.

  98. ‘What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?’ A game changer indeed. As a teacher I see so many individuals experience shame at the perception of getting things wrong, let alone experiencing my own discomfort when I feel the same. In understanding the above statement and living it to small a degree I can still get caught up in the consciousness of right and wrong until I tell myself it’s ok – I’m just learning!

  99. It is easy to let go of control and perfectionism when we fully embrace that we are here on earth as a student of life. We would be so much more gentle and loving towards ourselves and each other.

  100. What I’m beginning to have a sense of is how limiting our lives are, how much we control life so that it fits the picture we have carved for ourselves. We deny who we are to fit a picture of what we have become.

  101. The path of the student is the liberation from the unknowingness back to the all-knowingness.

  102. If we took the stance of being a student and others understood we are always learning, there would not be the pressure to get it right or be perfect. This is an angst I see in myself and most other people and does nothing but keep our nervous system on edge.

  103. “Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.” Every situation teaches us and makes us stronger.

  104. Beautiful analogy – when learning to walk as toddlers, if we didn’t get back up again and again, making more steps each time then walking would be impossible. We have no idea what we’re capable of through commitment, dedication and a willingness to learn.

  105. Being a student comes with the humbleness of understanding the limitedness of our awareness, the openness and dedication to forever explore the more there is and at the same time with the knowing that we all know it and are returning to the realization of it all. It is the utmost invigorating approach to life one can choose.

  106. I find if I focus on a ‘mistake’ in a negative way then it doesn’t actually help me to learn from it – rather I can humbly acknowledge the mistake and see it as an opportunity to learn and evolve.

    1. The “game” behind focussing or criticising on the mistake is that we are cutting ourselves off the actual lesson that is there to learn. Not seeing the gold in what gets reflected to you, you will be on the same spot guaranteed again, when something similar happens. Instead of being expanded and handling a similar situation differently with more power and absoluteness.

  108. Thanks for the reminder. I often tell others ‘we are students of life’, but I realize I got caught up last days in ‘why didn’t I do this (a certain task) earlier?’ or bashing myself silently for not completing certain things. Every moment is one of growing and learning. I already feel the expansion and space by just letting those words in!

  109. Strange how we sometimes associate being a student with getting something and having an end point – perhaps passing an exam and it is all finished. Life is not like that, it is an eternal return and expansion.

  110. “What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand”. For me there is only one answer to this question – It would be amazing! And life as we know it would change beyond all recognition as we live every day as that student, free of the harming beliefs that we have taken on, so then we are always open to the overflowing abundance of opportunities that we are endlessly presented with.

  111. Although there will always be lessons for us in life, some of which may be quite hard to accept, we are so blessed when we are open to receiving what is there for us learn from and consequently grow. Ultimately it benefits everyone.

  112. The pressure and expectations I had on myself to have it right and know what I was doing, have been so destructive not only in myself but for everyone as I have had this for others too. Letting go of this and allowing myself to learn has been such a breath of fresh air and my body feels so much lighter.

  113. With this approach as a student of ourselves and life we open to what is possible that within our current ‘picture’ we may not have not allowed ourselves the space to feel. We would not be reduced to the temporal existence as we have known it and begin to unfold our multidimensionality.

  114. I love the example of the child that falls and stands up again, how symbolically this is and actually it works well to use this example for our adult/elderly lives.. For what makes us judge, compare or need to beat ourselves up when we fall?

  115. I have had many moments living life in observation, allowing myself to fall without judgement or critique. What I’ve learnt is this is how we allow joy to enter our life. We accept, understand and learn from all we do. In this we allow evolution to unfold without control but flow.

  116. ‘ Just as a baby who is learning to walk – it stands, it falls, it stands, it falls and it keeps going. Never does that baby judge itself about the fact that it has fallen’
    Gosh Johanna this sentence really hit home. How often when we have a ‘fall’ do we judge ourselves, this feels a lovely way to hold yourself in love and understanding,

  117. There is always something to learn. And how boring life would be if there wasn’t. Being open to growing keeps us feeling alive. When we lose interest we may as well be dead.

  118. In a realm of imperfection within a universe of divine completeness we only can be forever students; everything else is determined to fail us.

    1. You can only but accept the imperfection in order to grow, understand and reveal the lie that we are living on this plane of life in the first place.

  121. I am humbled again and again by how much there is to learn, understand, embrace and live; humbled not by a sense of overwhelm but by the limitations I have accepted and at times arrogantly consider to be the all there is to know about life; humbled by the multidimensionality that makes life and who we are and is way beyond the little frame I have tried to fit life and who I think I am in. Recognizing one´s arrogance and ignorance and the pictures we think or want life to be, is necessarily humbling and required to clear the ground for what life truly is.

    1. It is humbling to see how much of a reduced version of ourselves and life we have be living. When I connect to this, I am filled with appreciation for all that we are showered with in life. When we are open to receive we start to see.

      1. Oh yes, it is our openness and willingness that reveals and makes available the greatness of what life is all about and who we are in that grandness.

  123. Being a student of life is the grandest education. It can take us into the deepest realisation of why we are here, how we can be, and how we can bring all that we truly are while we are here. And I love how in this education there is no right or wrong’ or perfection, there is just expression. And our ‘imperfections’, if observed, show us perfectly what our next step needs to be.

  124. I love this philosophy, nothing like living life with the preparation of being open to whatever is to learn…mistakes, wrong turns, awesomeness all part of the learning. I say claim the learning and be understanding and loving…with yourself as a foundation.

  125. “Never does that baby judge itself about the fact that it has fallen, but he or she is constantly part of the learning to take steps….” This is a great real life example Johanna of how we start off non self judging when we ‘fall’ or make a mistake… shows you how self judgment is a learned behaviour one unconsciously picks up in life.

  126. “Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.” I agree, how we are in any situation is absolutely key in relation to whether we are willing to learn a lesson or not.

  127. Having no right or wrong but instead having truth, the truth our hearts are there to show us and we can never stop feeling, living and learning what the heart has to offer.

  128. ‘How would everything in life be for us all if we all chose to be this way in life, letting our heart lead the way, embracing learning and being a forever student?’ It would change the face of relationship hugely and would lay the foundation for true Brotherhood to be able to be expressed on earth, which would lead to our return to the magnificence of who we are.

  129. When we are a child, a day can last forever! When we get older, we get days that time slows down or even stops. We become clock watchers and time flies or stands still at the same time. When we are open to learning new things they become the milestones of where we have come from. Without these markers, does time stop?

    1. Good question Nikki. I would say that there would not be a ‘wrong’ in such a case. As a student of life one would learn of the destructive nature of ‘right and wrong’ and of judgment . . . and of the beauty of true observation. This process would open up space, and that space would allow connection to a higher order of intelligence from which a true education would be easily accessible.

  131. And just the space to accept that we are not perfect and never will be – yet while still knowing that the essence we each have within is full and perfect in itself. Life on earth is a learning to live our grandness in full, our essence in human form – the soul on earth. When we all together master this, then the school of earth may not be needed any longer.

  132. Life is about learning…it is not about everything going super smoothly and everything being rosy! If this were the case (ie things always going smoothly and according to ‘plan’) then we would not be prompted to learn and grow. And so life abounds with opportunities to handle different situations, to be taken out of our comfort zones, to be placed into situations where we learn and grow as people, and learn to bring the divine aspects of who we are into the what we do. C’est la vie – divine!

  133. A plethora of opportunities, what a great way to look at things this way. I plan to be learning lessons until my last breath. While learning there is no right or wrong, good or bad, only new learning to be had.

  134. ‘Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.’ True Johanna… accepting the amazing beauty of how everything constellates for our evolution.

  135. “What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?” I loved reading your ponderings on life and especially this one line, it takes life away from competition and to the truth of our essence and the truth of our own heart.

    1. Love it Steve! I agree, we are never too old, and it is never too late to learn and keep learning!

  137. There is so much to learn in life. How can we ever be bored? If we switch off from life we are likely to choose alcohol or drugs or excessive TV or gaming, all of which take us so far away from reality that we don’t get a chance to engage fully with life and learn. Staying engaged is an active choice and one that can bring much joy through the commitment that we bring.

  138. I’m starting to see where the roots of my decision to be perfect and vow to never to make a mistake come from. I was picked on and often felt washes of shame throughout each cell in my body. I wanted to never have anything someone could pick on me about, because then I would feel bad about myself. Letting in how horrible it felt to be put down and told how rubbish I was, was simply a reflection of my meanness to myself. With other people I was much more understanding. I am now willing to feel any hurts I have tried to protect by being good at everything instantly! I am now willing to let people in and see I haven’t got it all sorted. I am willing to let myself learn and be in a process that feels uncomfortably messy at times. I am willing to be there for me and be understanding which I never gave myself growing up. I was so hard on myself. Life is far less anxiety provoking this way!

  139. To truly learn we need to be completely open to the lessons life is offering us.

  140. “Never does that baby judge itself about the fact that it has fallen, but he or she is constantly part of the learning to take steps.” True and this shows that we innately know that taking one step at a time, in other words learning, is what life is about, so it is returning to something that is deeply natural to us.

  141. “What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?” I love this statement, it’s deeply supportive of me being all that I am and not needing to be more than I am, or get everything right.

  142. When we start to see ourselves as a student of life, we begin to ask ourselves different questions. Rather than why me, we start to ask what is it that I need to learn here? or What is this reflection offering me? Situations and circumstances we find ourselves in can still be challenging or difficult and we will still make heaps of mistakes, but our approach to walking through them shifts completely. We see that there is a greater purpose underneath the experience. It’s not that these things were sent to try us, but to show us who we already are.

  143. very thought provoking. Made me question a lot about my life and the experiences I went through. Thank you!

  145. ‘Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.’ I so agree. Not getting caught up in the drama of events is a great first step to learning non-attachment. I am also learning how damaging having expectations and pictures of how things ‘should be’ can be. It just sets us up for disappointment and even resentment – not very healthy!

  146. Our body never stops learning, it is our way-ward mind that thinks it knows it all. What our body can feel when connected is very similar to the pain we feel as a young child. So when we take away all the hardening from our mind-induced-numbness we can start to re-connect and feel what is truly happening to us in the lessons in life.

      1. I am still returning from the school of hard-knocks. Some days more than others with the mind running the show and the body feeling the consequences as if I was a baby! Ouch!!! They hurt so much and I can no-longer hide what my body is telling me, so when I do-not listen it has become instant karma.

  147. A beautiful example of how we can embrace life and ourselves in it…Understand, observe our ways – without judgement or critique – hold a loving understanding of yourself and others.

  148. Worse than eating or drinking something we do not truly need is the poison of self-judgement, a commonly experienced emotion in even the most fervent student of life. Not only are we cutting ourselves down, we are also often enticed by the illusion of thinking that what we say or think about ourselves is who we are when we are far far greater.

  149. I would love to bring the first question in this article to every kitchen table, gathering of friends, family discussion… it would be inspiring and fascinating to explore this openly and curiously, affording ourselves the grace to be learners.

    1. It would be an endless conversation. Imagine saying rather than “How was your day dear?” “What did you learn about yourself and life today?”

  150. ‘What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?’ – It would turn everything on the head, our family relations, the schooling system, friendships, work places and so on – a true rEvolution.

  151. I am becoming more and more aware that my pride is in the way and stops me from being a student in every moment. It avoids learning and experimenting, because what to do and how to act if I am wrong? It is dealing with this arrogance and coming back to being vulnerable and open up to a delicate process called living our life joy fully.

  152. This attitude of curiosity and commitment to learning is how every species goes about life, apart from the adult human being. We adults seem to be plagued by doubts, judgments and the need to be perfect. We had the enjoyment of learning as kids, without these self-imposed issues. So, we must have the ability to return to this if we just stop giving ourselves a hard time!

  153. What a wonderful thing it would be, to teach children that there was no such thing as a mistake but only lessons to be learned. If this were the case, guilt and shame would eventually become obsolete, and then what a different world we would live in.

  154. Every time I go to work I marvel at the amount there is to learn. And it is up to me to choose the attitude I bring to it. I can turn up bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready and willing to take on any challenge and enjoy it, or I can turn up dragging my feet and find every challenge a burden and an inconvenience. It’s up to me.

  155. A judgment at any time is one of the worst things we can do. So as you have shared Johanna, when we are in the stillness from our inner-heart there is no space for judgement.

  156. I agree Johanna allowing our hearts to lead the way is the only way to move forward.

      1. Yes – you are 100% right. I also feel there is a tendency to feel pressured into having your life planned out, but it’s OK to be unsure! I’ll be sure to check our your page!

  158. If everything in life is a learning with the basis that we are so loved and every learning is for us to deepen ourselves in awareness, then life would be a gift every moment and there is appreciation and joy no matter what.

  159. Pride is what keeps us from being a student of life, because being a student requires us to not hold onto and hence identify oneself with anything that is not of truth. Pride is hurt when we need to admit that something we like to hold onto, i.e. have invested in, is exposed for not being what we thought or wanted it to be, thus it is either being open to learning, or holding onto the identification anyway.

    1. Yes, good point Alex. The stance of the student is one of humbleness and openness, combined with a real sense of one’s own authority in being able to discern what is true and what is false with what is being presented – whether it be information or the events of life itself. All the ‘holdings of thought’ that we have clung to and identified will eventually be demolished as we learn the new way of living observationally and lovingly. And yes pride could be hurt, but what a freeing into joy too.

    2. I have come to see pride as a really constrictive and reducing characteristic. When I fall foul to it it strangles my openness to others and willingness to learn. Exploring, embracing and getting to know the quality of humility inspires and supports me to let go of the false protection of pride.

  160. When we see ourselves as ‘forever students’ it takes away the pressure of perfection and allows us to use life’s experiences for learning not for self bashing.

  161. Beautiful Johanna being ‘ a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?” How this would changes our behaviours understanding and life as a whole in the oneness of who we are.

  162. Imagine a world where one did not need to be right, and the other wrong. Would that stop many wars? Would that change divorce rates? Would that allow each of us in ourselves to no longer be self-abusive as we try to live up to our own image of right and wrong.

  163. Life is the biggest classroom we will ever be in, and it doesn’t have a clock off point at the end of a given day. We are in life’s school all of the time, and when we surrender to this, we then can feel the wonder life offers to us all of the time. Every encounter, every interaction, every moment of the day offers us another level of awareness and understanding, another precious lesson about what the immutable truth is that we all deep down know.

  164. I’m learning to not be hard on myself when I try something new, when I come across a challenge, or when I am reflected something that I need to look at. Seeing everything as a point of learning and an opportunity to grow can take out the sting of feeling uncomfortable or raw in some cases.

    1. I also find it super supportive to give myself the time, space and grace to adjust to new things that may present as challenging – when we do not carry a picture or time-frame and just allow ourselves to feel what is presenting, then it takes unnecessary pressure off ourselves.

  165. “What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?” That would firstly put a stop to the arrogance the current education system is exploiting in its ill way that it knows what we need to learn to become useful and productive participants of our societies. Secondly that will make us all equal, independent of our level of education as that comparison will cease to exist as we will find that we are all equal in our learning.

  166. It’s truly enriching to approach life knowing that there is always something we can learn from any situation, with genuine humility and openness.

  167. Being a true student of life is the only posture that can get us all out of the mess we have created by not being ignorant and arrogant, ie. simply not wanting to learn the lessons life is teaching us.

    1. Yes Alexander, the mess in this world, all the abuse and atrocities that take place will come to an end if we start to understand that life has a true purpose, the purpose to return to that way of being we all once lived in the past by simply to learn the teachings life is presenting to us.

    2. And what’s beautiful is even if we miss or ignore a lesson, life is sure to offer us another go!

    3. How refreshing and empowering to know that – all the mess we have is self created so we all and each hold the keys to un-creating it.

      1. I like the term. We need to become the ‘un-creators’ of our false creation.

  168. I had an old hurt come up in a family dynamic recently, and even though I did not get to the bottom of it yet, I am aware of the increasing ability to see it as a learning and be willing to explore it further rather than shut down and take a completely defensive stance. Step by step I know it will get resolved if I stay open.

    2. I find too that if I recognise that I’m feeling hurt about something, rather than going into ‘victim’ mode or justifying the hurt, if I stay open to seeing what the learning or opportunity being presented is, then it will come to me (at some point) and with that understanding there can be true resolution.

      1. I woke this morning with the same sense, that when I stay open the understanding will come, and i will hear/see/receive see just the thing and two and two are put together. When it comes, that resolution is a very clear sense in the body, it knows it is resolved.

    3. That’s super cool Janet. When we can allow this space for learning to take place as you have without having pictures, judgements etc then we can observe ourselves and allow the process of healing, letting go etc take place in a natural and supportive way. For myself I can feel the vast difference between the two ways of being an embracing student of life or not.

    4. Have you ever had a small splinter in your finger that you noticed only in certain movements? Is the splinter not the same as an old hurt? Until it’s removed no real healing can take place.

  169. “What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?” For me this is not a question anymore but a truth and a reality.

  170. For me being a student of life is letting go of needing to get things right all the time, it’s being willing to give each moment everything without worrying what happens next. It’s about enjoying each moment, and being willing to be present in the moment.

  171. Accepting that we are indeed students of life can relieve us of the burden of shame and guilt of all the mistakes that we make. Allowing us to take responsibility for the consequences of those mistakes but more importantly for the learning that is also available.

  172. Being a student of life is a posture of surrender, a willingness to learn everything about what separates us and how to re-unite with what we have separated from.

    1. Good point Steve, the finite point does not exist and is only used by people to give expression to something they do not know or better said they keep themselves unaware off.

  174. There is a big difference between being a student of life and expecting oneself to be an expert at life.

  175. ‘How would life be if we just saw it as a plethora of opportunities?’ …We would feel inspired and eager to evolve to the next ,…and the next opportunity.

  177. There is nothing grander than being student of life and all that this entails, which is to live in truth.

  178. Living as a student of life, using The Way of The Livingness as a key instrument to unearth all our ways that are not supportive for our evolution, then we can heal them and move or expand to our next lesson in life.

  179. Being a student of life takes all the pressure off – we’re here learning and evolving and any thoughts that we should already know everything or be perfect are simply rubbish.

  180. I have been learning to allow my heart to lead the way….it is definitely an unfolding path, no perfection, but I very much know when my heart is leading now, it has a full, expansive and warm quality in my whole body, when I am with my hurt, things feel small, hard and narrow.

  181. “How would everything in life be for us all if we all chose to be this way in life, letting our heart lead the way, embracing learning and being a forever student?” I love this, it made me think, reflect and consider that I have areas of life where I embrace being a student of life and other areas where I don’t! I’m going to explore what it looks like to be a student of all my life!

  182. Being a student of life requires us to be present and ready. If we are abusing ourselves with alcohol, drugs, or numbing ourselves with food or depriving ourselves of sleep, we are not ready to face the lessons that life brings but are simply avoiding them. In these cases life is just too overwhelming. Being ready to be open to the lessons requires us to be fit for life. For this reason it is worth taking care of ourselves.

  183. I came to a realisation yesterday which in the past would have been an opportunity to be hugely critical and it felt so lovely to feel the lightness and understanding I brought to myself, a new way of reflecting on my choices rather than self bashing which makes life so much richer and enjoyable than the record of self critique that so many of us play.

  184. I have to question the obstacles we put in our way throughout our life. Are they intentional so that we don’t get to feel just how amazing we are?

  185. If we look truthfully we can never stop learning therefore every man, woman and child walking this planet is the forever student. The trouble is too much time is spent on what is right and wrong and the different opinions about what this is when it should be all about truth.

  186. Life is getting so much more true and lighter when we are open to learning and expansion. Simply by being open to receive the intelligence to grow and expand, makes us already do so. It is so simple.

  187. Being open to what life has to teach us removes any potential for anxiety or fear of getting something wrong, as we become more willing to understand and accept the lessons that are presented for us to learn from.

  188. The grey cloud of judgement we inflict on ourselves all the time is a great distraction away from how incredible we all actually are, and the fact that we are here to learn, not be perfect.

  189. Life presents many and varied opportunities, some more challenging than others. Its how we approach things, not the result that matter. We can get so sucked in by the ‘wins’ that we completely miss or sometimes even ignore the opportunity that rises through something we may find incredibly difficult.

  190. Absolutely every single moment is an opportunity to learn. We are surrounded by reflections all the time, and every single conversation and interaction can show us so much. If we go through life with this awareness our lives can be rich and evolutionary.

  192. Being a student of life is something that has changed my life, from needing to be perfect to really appreciate and enjoy each step that life brings. The challenge for me now is often knowing that something is or is not true and then putting that into action with the torrent of what may result. Take difficult situations with people at work, you know something is not true but want to give that person the opportunity to change. As a student of life, I get to appreciate that sometimes I let things go on too long as I don’t want to step into the absoluteness that I know.

  193. “What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?” Somehow, I feel my heart is already mastered. It is surrendering to the ease, the openness and the joy that is there in my heart that feels key for me. As this is our natural state, life keeps serving us up opportunities to come back to this way of living.

  194. ‘How would everything in life be for us all if we all chose to be this way in life, letting our heart lead the way, embracing learning and being a forever student?’ – It would be a fast track to true evolution.

  196. Seeing everything as a plethora of opportunities is very supportive and keeps us open to learning. When we can realise there is often no right or wrong, good or bad but choices to be felt, and learning to be had, we can feel very different to whatever comes our way.

  197. We are always going to make mistakes, none of us are perfect so why not take each mistake as an opportunity to learn and love ourselves for our imperfections and all.

  198. The beauty of being a forever student of life makes amazing sense, clarity and joyfulness of what is really going on and our ongoing journey in life, allowing a real purpose and expansion, instead of any giving up and self bashing ways and allows the light of our true reflection with honesty.

  199. Like a baby I surrender to every fall and get up. This is not indulgence to struggle, because there is no indulgence in the emotion of not getting up. It is very simple and neither is there the indulgence in falling.

  200. I realised recently how I used to think that one mistake, one slip up and it wiped everything else out, somehow any mistake or loss of commitment or consistency was the end of the road and I needed to bash myself up and then start again. What I am realising is that those mistakes and off moments need to be addressed, looked at etc, but it doesn’t have to stop us from moving forward

  201. Yes, Johanna, the school of life is rich and forever unfolding its awareness, as we return to the true knowing we once had before.

    1. Absolutely – ‘Living life without right and wrong eliminates guilt.’ – alongside with shame and doubt and all the other self bashing activities of ours.

  203. ‘Being a student of life and truly seeing ourselves as such, makes it all about learning, and with this, judgment on self or others has no space. ‘ So true Johanna – there is no right or wrong what so ever, everything is about truth in expression and how that evolves us. Making life an interesting, observational and playful study is important, rather than ‘getting things right’.

  204. Not judging ourselves as bad or wrong for making a mistake leaves space for growth, evolution and expansion. When we stay stuck in the rut of self flagelation we’re holding ourselves back from moving on from it, and we keep ourselves small and capped. Life is constantly presenting us with opportunities to learn and deepen our awareness of how we are in it, with ourselves and with others, with the invitation to always go deeper.

  205. I find that accepting that there is always something to learn to be humbling but in that humbleness there is openness to great wisdom. It seems very probable to me that we are more wise in a state of great humility than when we are lost in the arrogance of what we think and believe we know.

  206. As children learning to walk we seem to live with greater appreciation of the steps we take and this attitude supports our natural evolution. A return to the innocence we had as children may serve us well.

  207. We think that we stop learning when we leave school but everyday is a school day, as we continue to experiment on our selves through our life choices and live out the consequences. We can either choose to recognise and welcome this perpetual journey of deepening our awareness and connection, or invest in ways to resist this inevitable and forever unfolding path of learning.

  208. If we raised our children to know that there is no wrong it would go a long way to remove judgement and comparison in this world; of self and of others. We would all become students of life with the learning that is offered to us when we have done something that many would consider to be wrong, replacing any feelings of failure and self-condemnation

  209. Never seeing anything we do as wrong – I wonder if this could be misunderstood as license to do anything, as it need never be wrong?

    1. Only when we have no boundaries and when we understand that we are coming from Love and Light we are open to unmeasurable possibilities, which is within no boundaries!

  210. I feel this is really important for us all to remember that we never stop learning and that everyday is an opportunity to truly learn from and heal old and ill past patterns, behaviours, beliefs, ways etc. For me I feel the last week has been a real fast track for learning and I deeply appreciate how I am willing to be more honest about things in my life, particularly how I am both with myself and with others.

    1. This is beautifully said Vicky and relates to my experience too. It is worth appreciating how honest we can be and how much of the old can dissolve as a result.

  211. We are all here to be students of life whether we are willing to learn or not is up to us.

    2. Well said Kathleen. When I was at university I remember observing many people just bunking off. It was like it was cool as you could do that and no one would tell you off and you wouldn’t get in trouble like you did at high school. I always wondered what the point of it was. It’s the same in life. We’re here to learn and evolve and if we bunk off it’s just going to take so much longer.

  212. “Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.” the great point raised here is how life is not something that we have to know all the answers about, that we have to have perfection and never be wrong. In fact what is beautiful here is that life is about ever-evolving, growing and learning.

  213. This reminder came at the right moment – it is easy and seemingly normal, a default position, to get caught up in our faults and shortcomings and totally forget that we don’t think and act like that when we watch how a baby learns to walk, i.e. by making the same moves, falling over untold times, picking themselves up and making another move.

    1. We can learn a great deal about how we can be in, with and through life by observing small children and remembering that that was once us.

  214. Wow I am so loving being apart of this miraculous school when you let go of the arrogance and simply allow yourself to be taught by the Universe and what the next thing there is to be learnt.

    1. I love that it is a never ending learning also. There’s something very humbling about never getting to an end point and the knowing that love can always deepen this expand.

  215. The baby gets the message and learns but along the way, we forget to learn new things and get stuck in the patterns we do. So too can we learn from how we used to behave, when we were babies, this process is for the lifetime.

  216. “What if we saw ourselves as students of life…” – agree, where the learning begins is being a student of and with ourselves. It wasn’t until I began a truly self-loving relationship and understanding of the skin I was in and really appreciating this, that I began to understand life and myself in life, or my part and purpose in life.

  217. Letting our heart lead the way in our true connection is a very beautiful and so inspiring. Being “a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?” is very lovely to feel as a way to live.

  219. Yes it is important to remember that when we grow up, we in essence are still that baby that does not worry when it falls, when learning to walk, as it knows it is part of the learning and is the way to go for the next step in our evolution.

  220. Forever gives it away as we live or exist in a way that is forever, so we must always be learning other wise we end up lost, confused, demented and in some type of nursing home!

  221. I tend to see life as more of a chore when something goes wrong, but this blog reminds me, very much what I already know, that it is fun and full of joy if I so choose it to be.

  222. So much of the time we want to have control over our lives and what we are prepared to do and not do. Whereas if we were willing to be open to whatever was offered to us, and didn’t only do what suited us and fitted into ‘our lives’, we would find there would be a much more harmonious flow to everything that happened, including in our relationships.

  223. Being a true student of oneself is a process of forever learning and humbly realising more about who one truly is. How can one realise more of who one truly is if they are constantly self judging and critiquing?

  224. This is a great opportunity to review our relationships with opportunities, situations that come up to deal with, and learning: do we freak out whenever anything comes up and resist it, in the belief that we can’t handle anything else because it’s too much, or do we say a gentle yes to what’s needed, surrender to the wisdom that we all have access to, in the knowing that we can always handle anything that is before us? In most cases the situation is happening anyway, so we can either exhaust or empower ourselves by the way we choose to respond to it.

    1. That is a good reminder Bryony, we can either exhaust or empower ourselves, it is simply our choice and when I look to myself and around me, I have to admit that in general we are choosing the exhausting way. But why? as we have proclaimed ourselves as the most intelligent species on this planet, do we make this choice instead of choosing to empower ourselves and to step out of the terror we have made life to be.

  225. I agree – everything that plays out in my life makes so much more sense when I stay aware and open to see every moment and happening as an oportunity to learn and evolve.

  226. Being a student of life brings a curiosity and innocence to the way we live. It also cuts out something that instantly kills joy, and that is seeking perfection or wanting to get it right. But these ideas of perfect and right are arbitrary and can shift any moment, leaving us falling short all the time.

  227. Life does present many little packages for us to learn from. Just this week I left a job. However for several weeks I had the feeling to leave, but overrode this and stayed. Things started to get difficult and not run so smoothly. My learning was that; when we delay complication creeps in. So simple yet so very true.

  228. There are no accidents, or let’s say, there is a purpose in everything and a learning to be had if we choose it and this doesn’t have to be an onerous thing, we can stay light and allow space everywhere and let life unfold.

  229. ‘Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.’ – No moment is insignificant, something to constantly remind ourselves of.

  230. Understand our own back-yard or life as it simpler to learn lessons from our-self, then as we expand into the broader world the lessons are deepening and expanding so listening to our body, which has always been super-sensitive is important. So is it possible to numb our life so that we do not recognise our own back yard any more?

  231. Here you really do have a joy for life as each and every single moment is about what is next and learning along the way. There is so much we can learn each and everyday if we so choose to look at the finer details of what is playing out and to read energy.

  232. Johanna I so appreciate what you have written here
    “What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart? And with that there can be no ‘better than,’ or wrong or right, but only what feels true and then the learning of what does not belong with that truth.”
    To be given the support and opportunity to master one’s own heart is massive as we have not been encouraged to do this, instead we have made life all about the mind and it’s intellect which to me is cold and heartless.

  233. I was intrigued at what came up for me when reading that sentence about never being able to graduate. It revealed for me that I do look for an end goal, the certificate / course completed time in life. Yet that is not how the universe works (not University!) – that is a constantly expanding, evolving environment that we live all our lives in and the only graduation is when we all return back to God equally so.

  234. Forever learning indeed. Currently I am really appreciating that I am starting to read situations in life more clearly rather than ignoring them, overriding them or trying to numb myself from what I feel and am aware of.

  235. Allowing the body and the heart to lead the way is a refreshing change to always following the head and its mental instructions. Mindfullness versus Bodyandheartfullness!

    1. When I walk in the mornings I always say to myself, ‘Let my heart lead the way’ and there is something very playful and unrestricted about this. Heart-led decisions are super simple – which route to take on my walk, how to prioritise my work, what food to prepare… everything.

  236. “How would life be if we just saw it as a plethora of opportunities? From opportunity comes learning and with learning we soon enough realise just how much more there is to learn, to master.” This is a great question and a beautiful one to ponder on, life would be very different and very amazing.

  238. We try to renounce bad whilst worshiping good, we give up our dreams but keep entertaining nightmares. As long as we judge we postpone our evolution indefinitely. Thank you Johanna.

  239. Letting our heart lead the way embracing learning and evolving how beautiful and what a enriching way to live. Being a forever student of life is something I am learning the beauty and realness of with the natural flow of life and the universe in harmony .

    1. With learning to and letting our heart lead the way – we are moving and living life from our greatest intelligence known to man.

    1. Absolutely we are all been offered the next thing to learn equally it is to us to say YES to support us to expand and evolve or we can equally say NO and stay where we are at.

  241. There is so much emotion and judgment in the right and the wrong, keeping us forever caught up in the vicious cycle of blame shame and guilt. How simply amazing is the understanding that mistakes are here for our learning, our evolution, how different our world would be if we all understand this loving opportunity.

  242. Beautifully reminded yesterday that the lessons we learn from life bring us to living in constant and ever deepening connection to all that we are and to express this in all we do and not to place any other form of ‘success’ ahead of this.

    1. And the amazing thing is when we make life about connection first then we are successful. As a society I feel we have misused this word success to be about money or accolades or achievements, when true success is the growth of humanity, living who they are and being confirmed in that.

  243. Being a student of life allows me to be more open to the learnings in life, to see them as a learning rather than getting it right or wrong.. and not judging myself.

  244. Being a student of life takes away the harshness of the thoughts that we would usually send our way, and gives us space to see things for what they are.

  245. ‘What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?’
    I keep coming back to this opening line as this is key to evolving.

  246. My own body teaches me what I have been doing in life, so I am a student of it, of myself in a way.

    1. Super gorgeous. We are students of our own body. This makes me think just how much we are geared up in life to ignore and not listen to our bodies. It all comes back to how we ourselves choose to be in the world. Either get swallowed up by the false beliefs and ideals or set our own rhythm in life listening to our bodies and the opportunities of learning we are presented with.

    2. Words of GOLD Lyndy! To be a student of one’s body is amazing, and I am not here talking about learning the Anatomy and Physiology and the cellular mechanisms etc. but more about learning to really tune in to what we are feeling on all levels, be it physical, or deeper as a sense within. We are really walking around with this amazing teacher (the body) and we so often forget about its very existence! How ironic! 😉

      1. Totally Henrietta. And I know that we have ‘upped’ our awareness of this . . . say in comparison with a young person I was speaking with yesterday who had badly injured their foot but had, after that event, played another game of soccer before it was healed . . . but we still have a huge way to go in utterly clearing the ruling consciousness of our generation, which continually bash the body by holding ideals thus letting in astral forces to play havoc within us. With Love, Lyndy

    1. How cool to see and hear this way of being in life from someone who has walked many steps already. Because the truth is we are never not given moments to learn from no matter our age. Your comment makes me think about how people tend to get set in their ways and not be open to learning from life after certain ages. Yet even when we as humans can get stuck in this way life still brings the learnings, that never stops.

  248. Being a ‘student of life’ allows us that step back to observe, and this is when we realise that nothing is personal and ALL is a game of energy.

  249. When our tertiary education finishes, this is for most the time of True learning, which is how to apply and grow with what ever is needed for work and if Love is put into this mix then everyones benefits are magnified.

    1. So true Greg. When love and people are first in life, then everything else falls into the place it needs to, simply because it is our quality and connection that have been the foundation.

      1. When what is true is “magnified” Johanna, may I add that everything that “falls” into “place” is because we have aligned to divinity and there is a magnetic pull, which puts all the pieces together.

  250. To fully understand and embrace the fact that I am a student of life feels deeply loving, deeply honouring and deeply accepting of who I am. And, it is so much fun, light and playful when I ditch the cloak of perfection.

    1. Control is a killer as is trying and perfection. In our reality they do exist but are unattainable as they simply are not of our natural innateness.

  252. This is a great blog to remember how to be understanding of myself and not judge or criticise myself for how I live, but to keep learning what works and what does not for me and everyone else around me.

  253. ‘Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.’ We have to move out of seeing ourselves as victims if we are to evolve and our willingness to learn opens up the whole world of reflection to us.

    1. We could see life as – A great many selection of presentations, choices and opportunities.

  254. I love this. I can be a little indecisive, wondering if opportunities that are on offer, like what job to choose etc. are the right ones. What if it’s not about making a one wrong choice, but about being open to learning whatever choice is made and knowing that the lessons needed are there regardless. That it’s about being open to learning and not guarded.

  255. The whole principle of right and wrong is intoduced to us from young. It is not in our true nature to be judgemental or thinking in right or wrong.

    1. Something that has been fed from the education system either through the way we were parented or how we were educated. And this is not to pass blame as it has been us as a human society who have created and allowed this system to be there. But this is to expose the cycle that keeps continuing unless we each start with how we are with ourselves and others and in our view about learning.

  256. To let go of what we think we know and want, and to let our lives flow naturally with the rhythm of the universe, allows for so many unexpected golden opportunities that would otherwise never present themselves.

  257. Pingback: More Than Meets The Student Number – The ABCs of Being U

  258. Perfection kills our innate and natural way of being in the world, of living life in full and with purpose.

  259. Being a student of life takes all the pressure off us – there are no mistakes, only perfect constellations for us to learn, let go and understand.

    1. And also when we bring awareness and understanding in we can feel and see what is going on – we bring love to our learning.

  260. ‘What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?’ yes indeed and this is a learning in itself.. to see what life is presenting as an opportunity. It’s something to work with and I have found to be enjoyed as it is embraced more and more.

  261. Sometimes I find myself wanting to have perfected life – to have really got it and mastered it and reached an end point – how crazy and disrespectful to the amazing opportunities we get to learn and develop everyday, and how much richer life is if we surrender and accept we are a magnificent work in progress.

    1. So beautiful Meg. And another aspect for us to accept is that we, each and every single one of us is from a magnificence and part of the grandness.

  262. “Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.” The constant learning as a student of life allows everything to make sense and the reality growth and expansion from this is very beautiful and allows a deep appreciation and love in our lives.

  264. Could the cyclical aspect of life bring an understanding that we are students? And the cycles evolve when we have come to understand the cycle we are in. So we never stop learning as there is always another cycle that will deepen our awareness.

  265. The more I learn the more I know, but how much of this is actually then lived and turned into the wisdom that it was meant to convey in the first place? Too many times we can take an amazing teaching and we sit with it and explore it from our heads converting it to knowledge that is flat and 2 dimensional instead of holding the learning and the teaching and allowing it simply to be felt by our cells and our body in a mulitidimensional way – so that we are inspired to move as the teaching and bring it to life in a true way as it was designed to do.

    1. Great point, there’s also such a big difference between learning an amazing teaching by reading and exploring it with our heads and the amazing lessons life naturally provides us with every single moment of the day – then the lesson is something we walk and move and develop, until it becomes something that we live consistently on a daily basis.

  266. One of the first lessons in my experience in life, is to be open, in terms of giving oneself permission to feel and be aware of all that is around.
    The second lesson is to seize Truth when we know it to be the Truth – not in terms of owning it but in terms of claiming that this is indeed the Truth.
    The third lesson is to appreciate deeply Truth that we have found in our life, in ourselves in others.
    And the final lesson (which really is the first lesson) is to go back to square one and start with the knowing that we are far more than the eye can see, that there is more to us than the mere physical, that we are inf act Sons of God learning to return the the grandness that we are originally from.

  267. It’s like we’re constantly looking to ‘graduate’ and be done with the next thing in life, be it our to do list, work, school day, boredom or suffering. But knowing that our 24 hr day is going to repeat itself again and again, and we are constantly offered the opportunity to deepen in all aspects of our life, what if this linear ‘graduation’ look on life was an illusion, and we were in fact forever students?

  269. We have often heard adults use the phrase; grow up or stop being childish. Why should we lose the wonderment and joy we have in discovering and exploring everything life has to offer?

  270. A baby never judges itself, and no one would judge a baby. So when in life we do not judge ourselves, we are judged less by others—at least it seems a good idea to test this out as we can’t change anyone but ourselves.

  271. When faced with challenging situations, remembering this blog and the title ‘being a student of life’ would support to step aside from the complication of the situation and have a more objective view about what is actually going on.

    1. Very true Johanne. Having an objective view of life does not mean becoming less involved rather, as a ‘student of life’, one becomes more involved as one does actually understand more of what is going on.

  273. Do we know what it truly is to be a student? Or are our heads full of this pursuit of ‘the right answer’. Our whole education system is focused on honing the skill of regurgitation, not on questioning ‘why?’. So to become a true student of life, we first need to renounce what we’ve been told as a lie. Thank you Johanna.

  274. I love this ‘What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?’ it feels similar to what I was pondering on this morning which was; why do I hold back so much in life? In my last breath am I going to look back at how I could have lived? or will I have a confirmation that I have lived soulfully as much as I could have in each every moment. The choice is up to me.

  275. Understanding that we are students of life invites us to be open, to never assume we have the answer, rather, that we know one way that something can be done. We have a curiosity for exploring new ways of doing things and an absolute joy in appreciating all the learning that is constantly on offer, all around us, every day. What a life 🙂

  276. ‘What if we saw ourselves as always being a student, a student of life, one that can never actually graduate per se, but one that was on a continuous journey of learning?’ – a great equaliser – seeing ourselves in this way brings us all together as being on the same ‘path’. A path where we can support each other and share our experiences and wisdom, in brotherhood.

  277. When we see everything that is presented to us as an opportunity to learn, it changes everything and words like blame, judgement, right and wrong hold no meaning.

  278. Seeing ourselves as students of life opens us up to not only be able to learn from our mistakes but to accept that we are far grander than what we ever imagined.

  279. Being a student of life is great! Exams are just markers of where we are. We can cut classes for years and never get expelled. There are no deadlines just lessons learned, no matter how long it takes.

  280. Life as an endless opportunity to master our own heart.. I love that – so simple, so pure. Simply re-connecting to who we are, through what we feel in our own bodies, and living from there. A beautifully simple starting point, that forever deepens as much and as quickly as we want it to.

  281. School and education teaches us to lose focus on the true learning in life and that it is not what we remember as knowledge, but how we are in relationship with everything. Do you hold yourself and all with Love? This is the truth to learn, what supports that is what we can be learning, is it useful and does it serve humanity?

  282. Being a student of life is the ultimate evolutionary tool, without it we stay in the same cycle for many a life.

  283. “What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?” This is certainly a different way to look at life than most of us have been taught, but how refreshingly simple and untainted by arrogance this approach would be.

  284. A child often falls a lot but never gives up, just gets up and gives it another go….we can definitely learn from toddlers.

    1. Mary-Louise watching my daughter do this and learn so many things in life is amazing, it reminds me there is not such things is wrong and failing if we are open to see life as learning and responding to what we learn.

  285. We tend to sit in comfort and surround ourselves with familiar things so as not to feel the underlying patterns that need to be dealt with if we want lasting change. To feel these can be extremely uncomfortable, but this is necessary if we want to come out of comfort.

  286. Embracing learning and not being in the rut that keeps us on the treadmill seemingly gaining when we are actually static, is what I feel is the reason for all great changes that have come about in society. Pythagoras is one great example.

  287. It’s a supportive topic, for me it’s about letting go of beliefs or pictures of where I think I’m supposed to be, so I can be right where I am and enjoy the learning.

  288. Great blog Johanna, and to add, being a student of life is mastering the ability to remain with the innermost essence of ourselves whilst fully surrounded by the demands of everyday life. How do we do this? Its starts with self care and developing the relationship within so you know who you truly are.

  289. A student of life to me gives such a grace to each of us, as we do to a child learning a new concept.

  290. The analogy of a baby standing and falling without judgment is a great message to take into our everyday… we have ‘oops’ moments, we learn, and we continue on our way with that understanding… very simple really.

  291. We tend to judge ourselves when we make a mistake and stall our evolution instead of accepting the learning from the situation and moving on to the next opportunity that is being presented taking with us the learning from the previous therefore continuing on our path of evolution.

    1. I feel it has a lot to do with schooling and how we learn the concept of wrong or right, we then take that reduced view into life and can feel we are getting it wrong when we are simply learning.

  292. Understanding that we are a student of life leaves no room for any arrogance of any kind that leads our minds to believe that we know better than anyone else about anything.

    1. Absolutely Sandra – or that there is any right and wrong. being a student at school we are imbued with the right and wrong paradigm and it henceforth thwarts our every move. But being a student of life we come to know that there is no wrong or no right, on an expression of where we are at in our evolution.

  293. Great to re-visit this today, Johanna, because I have just experienced a huge learning which in the past I would have beaten myself up about, but this time I am valuing it as an opportunity to claim myself and my authority even more.

  294. There is never an off time when we are students of life… every moment presents something to consider, ponder on, or reflect on. The trouble is wanting to keep up with it all!

  295. Sometimes lessons in life sit there in front of us waiting for us to confront them. While they go undealt with they can seem like huge monsters, but once confronted they do not necessarily seem so big. If we sweep monsters under the carpet they tend to get bigger, so it’s best to take steps towards dealing with them instead of pretending they don’t exist.

  296. Great question, ‘What if we saw ourselves as always being a student, a student of life, one that can never actually graduate per se, but one that was on a continuous journey of learning?’ We can master life yet always remain a student of it.

  297. Life could be quite different if we didn’t try to be perfect or think we should already know everything.

  298. The open attitude of being a student of life certainly helps to eliminate the arrogant stance of ‘I am here to exploit life and serve myself’!

  299. In the way I’ve judged people, opinions, emotions, life to be either right or wrong, I’ve then tried to bypass the wrong I’ve judged in myself by mentally talking out of feeling what is really there. Being honest without judgement is what heals the patterns.

  300. Having avoided school all my life it makes complete sense that I would avoid having to learn, yet what I am starting to enjoy about being a student of life is that every day I learn, I grow and I deepen. The thing thats changing for me is not having to get things right. It was my biggest killer.

      1. ‘Right and wrong’ definitely kills off our connection to universal intelligence and the impulse to grow and expand, as you say Mary-Louise. This consciousness is deeply ingrained in the psyche of humanity for aeons, and even when we feel free of it, it is so interesting how one often finds that there are still remnants of it lurking somewhere there. In my own case, I tutor students in literature and I know that when I am there with them, I do not lead the tutorial with ‘right and wrong’ as a response to the student’s expression. It is so great to hear them speaking what they feel even when it may be a view that doesn’t coincide with mine. But . . . a couple of days ago I was surprisingly bullied by a member of a group I was in, insisting I said something that I hadn’t said (and had a witness who backed that) – and even when I clarified what I had said to this person, they insisted on hanging onto what they had thought. I definitely exited that conversation feeling that in some way that person had acted ‘wrongly’ towards me (though I didn’t use that word). So I had to look at the consciousness around ‘right and wrong’ and ‘fair’ behaviour that was still subtly penetrating my psyche.

  301. It has been said that as we age time appears to fly by! Could, this is caused mainly by us judging time by events. When we were small, a day can last forever as we discover new things. As we age do we resign ourselves to, been there done that, do we get stuck in a rut and the sands of time slip through our fingers? Everyday is an opportunity to explore and discover something new. I love being a student life!

    1. Thank you Steve, this was so timely for me to read today. As we grow into adults a cloud descends over the joy of discovery and the wonder of life we naturally experienced as children. Imagine now as an adult being in the joy of what will be discovered and enjoyed each day as we learn, and feeling full the day when we go to bed? It’s very different to how each day usually feels for adults!

  302. Actually I would say that life is to re-learn how to live from the inner heart because we have lived this before as is clearly demonstrated by the Great pyramids and many other divinely built structures worldwide we have build in the past.

  303. The more I have accepted and surrender to what is on offer to learn and grow from, the more I love life. In every single scenario of life we have opportunities to learn and expand.

  305. Life’s ups and downs will always be a part of life as we know it, and “it is how we are with those learnings that is important.” So good and or seemingly bad are all lessons that the student of life finds inspirational because everything is a chance for evolution.

    1. Awesome you highlighted this in the discussion, yes indeed it is how we deal with situations and life that either supports us and allows us to respond and grow from it, then expanding and moving onto the next lesson or to react and stay in a spin with it which then keeps us contracted and in circulation energy .. no moving forward and no true learning with this one.

      1. Needless to say the circle of life and death is one cycle that we Lovingly explore. With a response in this cycle of being in a “continuous journey of learning” so we expand into the next Life with more Love.

  306. ‘What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart? ‘ This is beautiful. Usually being a student is about focusing on what’s outside of ourselves, a measure of who we are in relation to someone else’s knowledge – the source of which is never usually discerned. This is about an understanding so relevant it is of immeasurable value. This is how we build rock solid foundations that cannot be knocked over.

    1. Karin, your words struck a chord with me
      “Usually being a student is about focusing on what’s outside of ourselves, a measure of who we are in relation to someone else’s knowledge – the source of which is never usually discerned.”
      While we compare ourselves to someone else’s knowledge and attributes, we have completely dismissed ourselves and the value we bring to the world.

  307. Our whole way of moving would change Johanna because we would not be so attached to outcomes, we would know we are part of a divine plan yet equal to that plan, therefore not waiting for life to come to us but to take ourselves to life.

  308. To be a student of life means to be open to life hence any preconception, judgement or opinion needs to be discerned astutely and eventually let go of; that is part of the study and lessons to learn.

  309. Some things we see, do and are a part of can really knock the wind out of you. Learning to be an observer and learning that all we need to do is nominate whats going on when we feel we have become invested in something has been a light-bulb for me. I still do get invested but I an open the what is the learning in the situation and I certainly know now that the learning is not about me giving myself a hard time, which happens with far less frequency than it did.

    1. Indeed Jennifer, being a student of life is not to have a hard time but is in the joy of returning to a way of being we have once lived before.

  310. It is interesting when sometimes people are very stuck in the patterns and accept that is how life is and it can’t change. They get a great surprise when I disagree and explain some of the changes we can make. It is entirely up to us whether we sit back on our laurels or make the changes to evolve.

  311. And it is a very beautiful learning to observe another in their learning without judgement or criticism but to hold them and see (or not) everything unfold naturally in the cycle of what is to be learnt.

  312. Being a student of life sounds pretty cool. It reminded me of when we are kids. WE don’t judge or criticise ourselves about how many times we fall when we are learning to walk. We enjoy the process, experiment with our body and hold steady in the knowing that there is always more to explore.

  313. I love reading this blog. It reminds me to not be hard on myself when I make a mistake or when I am learning something new but to be super gentle and loving in every way in my every day.

  314. ‘Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.’ When we are open to learning and can recognise that everything around us is a reflection specifically for us then we can choose to listen or ignore the lessons that are constantly being presented to us from our surroundings, our relationships and events in our lives.

    1. Some of those reflections we can be uncomfortable with. What I am feeling with those moments now is that the learning opportunities are the greatest because we are being given a blessing. We do have to walk back through all that we have reflected to others too. Not an easy thing, which is often where our own reactions comes from. But when we come back to observing and then appreciating these moments for what is offered. We move on the next moment more open to the next.

  315. I find this blog so uplifting and positive, so many of us can get stuck in our ways as we get older but this is the sort of thing that keeps us all young and active, we can just keep going and keep learning for there is no end.

  316. If we were to truly live as a student of life then we would embrace every learning that came our way, instead of resisting and often fighting the steps we are presented with. How much simpler would life be.

  317. “Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important….” Very true Johanna, and its mastering the choice to respond rather than react in situations, which naturally develops through the ability to observe life instead of absorb (taking on) that the learning is always ever present.

  318. When we bring self-responsibility we are always open to learning, without judgement of ourselves or others.

  319. In observing life and appreciating ourselves every step of the way, everything is an opportunity to be had.

  320. If we open up to seeing the possibility of forever learning and that there is a potential to learn and understand more in each moment, it brings a true sense of humility, not where we hold ourselves as small, but where we can see that there is always an opportunity to step up – to be more true to who we are in every area of life.

  321. When we are willing to go there, it’s amazing how many moments in our day, or week we can get a revelation about how we respond or react to life, and what we can learn about ourselves and others from this. It’s a forever deepening of observed, learnt and innate wisdom coming to the fore.

  322. Sometimes those difficult situations or conversations, can be our greatest learning. What I have learnt is not to react (and give my power away) but to keep feeling what is true for me and in this space I can respond without emotion or drama… makes life much simpler and clearer.

  323. This idea of graduating is particularly interesting for me… I think we all have something inside us that wants the learning to end and then ‘ah-ha’ we got it. But this is not my experience of the world and the life we lead; there is always something round the corner that we have not encountered before, a greater depth of wisdom, understanding and love that can be found. If we truly embraced life and the journey we are on they we would always be wanting to go deeper and for there to be more, not less.

    1. Such a beautiful way to move through life and to age. Perhaps this is the key to being ageless rather than ageing.

    1. In the past I always made problems bigger than myself, which meant I got stuck in them, felt overwhelmed and very, very heavy, like I was carrying the world on my shoulders, and then felt a strong pull to give up….So I love how you feel in life – yes just keep going, keep breathing, and with allowing support, (we do have to ask) we can move, even sail through our problems or issues.

  325. When I find myself getting caught up in life I realise it’s because I’ve stopped observing it as a lesson.

  326. Goodness there is so much to learn from life. How can we ever be bored?! An open and inquiring nature and a willingness to learn from our mistakes is how we grow. We can turn a blind eye to our issues, but this means staying in a stagnation that is less than pleasant.

  327. ‘a baby who is learning to walk – it stands, it falls, it stands, it falls and it keeps going.’ – A pretty good indication that it is designed with a divine hand already from the start… we are here to always grow and develop, it is all a learning – we just forgot somewhere along the way and instead we made it about perfectionism.

  328. The student of life can never outgrow the offer of what there is to be learned hence we all are ‘forever students’ of life.

  329. Life about purpose instead of self bashing would be far more productive on a grand scale.

  330. We use so much energy giving ourselves a hard time or trying to be better than someone else (competition)…what if we used this energy towards true brotherhood?

  331. I am not sure about never seeing anything I did as wrong. I have done plenty of things that are wrong and would not do them again.

  332. There are lessons to be learned everywhere and in every moment. Every little thing means something and is a reflection. We can either choose to numb ourselves and ignore it, or open to seeing and learning and embracing the lessons. The latter keeps us feeling alive.

  333. Being a student of life enables us to let go of being right or wrong and with less holding back allows a greater opening for learning. It takes the pressure off from having to be perfect!

  334. Yes, such an easy way of living, it takes all the complication we have made life to be out of the equation. The way to go.

  335. It makes sense to me Johanna, when you say that life is about learning, as I do recognise that I do learn every day from just living life, from the daily situations and from the people I meet.

  336. Forever learning. It is true we are all students of life for life and there is so much to learn with regards to who we truly are, the universe, the plan, .. I feel we haven’t even scratched the surface!

    1. Yes, the more you learn, the more you become aware of how much more there is in my experience.

  337. Truth is absolute and can be lived but first we have to start to acknowledge the lies we are living so we can get to honesty, which is on the way to absolute honesty. Then we start to get an understanding of about what Truth is on the way to being able to live with a Loving Truth. These are the evolutionary steps that all students of life go through and as you say Johanna, “as a baby who is learning to walk – it stands, it falls, it stands, it falls and it keeps going.”

  338. The surrender of the need to be right, and avoid being wrong opens up the space for learning and evolution.

    1. When I can let go the need to be right and the avoidance of being wrong, I feel myself more ‘raw and real’ as I call it, more the real me that I present everywhere I go, and opens up a way of life that is embracing every day as a new opportunity to learn from too. To learn how to live that which lives within, but was not expressed because I was trapped in the false world of being right and the avoidance of being wrong.

  339. We can refuse to be a student of life but life never ceases to teach us anyway and we cannot avoid to eventually learning the lessons.

    1. So true Alex. Life always reflects and brings exactly what we need to learn from how we have pathed our life to be.

  340. “students of life…” someone …”that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?…” We would most likely see an end to reactions such as self-abuse, lack of self worth, self criticism, and self-doubt… What a great approach to life, love and relationship it would be…

  341. “What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart? And with that there can be no ‘better than,’ or wrong or right, but only what feels true and then the learning of what does not belong with that truth” – wise counsel Johanna.. as i’ve been learning along the way on the path back to my heart, the biggest thing has been self-reflection before speaking. Because it’s the self-reflecting that gives us the understanding and it’s in the understanding that we open the door to our heart and in this too is a true way of living.

  342. The term perfectionism describes a way of living that is the antithesis of being a true student. When we seek perfection in what we do we lose ourselves because we are not ever perfect anyway. When we lose site of this we open the door to judgement seeing ourselves as wrong instead of being open to the learning at hand.

  343. “How would life be if we just saw it as a plethora of opportunities?” Very different I suspect! If we were to understand that whatever happens to us, or around us in life, whether it is on our doorstep or the other side of the world, there is always an opportunity for us to learn more and deepen our understanding about ourselves and life in general. Instead it is more usual to see our mistakes as a bad thing, and then give ourselves a really hard time about what has happened. It is time to take a wider view on life and see that everything is connected to everything, and whatever we do has an impact way beyond that which we can see, and therefore embrace the opportunities that this understanding offers.

  344. When we let ourselves be students of life then we are giving ourselves the opportunity to make different choices along the way and find a way that is lovingly supporting us to be forever evolving and exploring all that we are.

    1. Yes, I had a major groundhog day yesterday and I wanted to be so cross with myself, yet I actually stopped and asked how had I got to the point where it was even an option to make that decision. I took myself back to where the seed had been sown and decided to dig that out and then move from there to see if the same options were on the table for me. We shall see what unfolds! As ever I am an experiment in the making.

    1. Love this Steve, and may I add that we are like a ship that ‘slips’ down a slipway to start our journey and then we get recycled at the end of our useful life but we still have our integrity from all those destinations that are kept for our evolution in our next life.

  346. Reading this I can feel how harsh I’ve been with myself, thinking that this way was the way to bettering me and my life. Being a student of life and knowing I am already everything, which makes what I learn is how to be more of me in a world which isn’t encouraging of this. It’s not to be put off by superficial reactions or not giving my power away to how another may judge me and taking their perspective as truth. It’s about getting to know me and bringing this out to the world.

  347. The education system has made being a student into something about being good or not good at something. About being right or wrong and about becoming something, but being a true student is not about these things at all. It seems to be actually the opposite! It is about learning and not about right or wrong. It is about being ourselves and not being good. It is a forever unfoldment, not something we achieve, as there is always more to embody.

    1. It’s no wonder that so many are bucking up against the system and our behaviour issues, mental health have all escalated. Not being who we are does not work long term and definitely not on a grand scale. If we see being a student as simply forever open to learning the lessons life presents and accepting our responsibility in our life for our choices and that everything has a cause and effect – then the world and life is a completely different place to be.

  348. This makes perfect sense. When we look at the latest research it is that the heart responds to outside stimulus much faster than the brain, as the heart receives intuitive information approximately 1.3 seconds before the brain. So in “mastering our own heart”, our awareness will become much more aligned to what is felt in the body, well before the mind gets a look in.

    1. One day science will get a deeper understanding of Truth so the trying will be replaced by unifying rather than competition, which always has a one-up-manship to it.

  349. Yes, going into self-judgement or self-loathing is pure poison for our bodies and absolutely pointless, as God never judges or holds anything against us.

    2. I know that God never judges us, nor holds anything against us, that in fact, he loves us so much that he just continues to offer us opportunities but until I can do this for myself then I cannot let in Gods love in full.

  350. Being a student of life allows a detachment from it as it is and to bring more of us to it in truth.

  351. We can be far more gentle with ourselves when we realise life is an opportunity to learn.

  352. Thats the beauty Jane, being a student of life there is no pressure to perform or get it right. There is no right or wrong as we are always learning and unfolding.

  353. We can be so hard on ourselves, building up so much pressure and expectations that we feel we must live up to, rather than allowing ourselves the grace and space to learn, grow and make mistakes

  354. Seeing life as a great opportunity to learn takes away the illusion of life that we have to perform, be something, achieve something etc

    2. Trying and performing goes against our naturalness and being who we are. I find that it can be draining to go against who I naturally am and if I get tired one thing I look at is if I have been in my rhythm in life accepting what is there to learn.

  355. I learnt a lot today, it wasn’t one of my easiest days, in fact in many ways it was one of my hardest but the simple fact that I allowed myself the space and grace to learn without perfection meant that I now feel content at the end of it.

  356. Open your arms any-where in the world to greet someone and they will without exception expect a hug. There is a universal feeling that is recognised from hugging, and as a greeting it carries so much more than two people touching. Maybe it is we get to connect heart to heart, which is so easily felt as that deep connection, which we are actually looking for and missing?

  357. The greatest way to be a student to me at this point, is to be a student of my movements and the quality that I bring with everything that I do – for me this is the next stage in growth, deepening the quality that I do things with. This may look like nothing new from the outside, but the growth and expansion is inwards and powerful in its foundational quality.

  358. Being a student of life allows us to be a novice and a master at the same time – always open to learning and holding a humbleness in the realisation that the more you learn and the more you master, then the more there is to learn and master!

    1. Very true Henrietta, such a beautiful understanding to know we are the master and the student at the same time for we are claiming who we truly are yet forever open to more expansiveness.

  359. “Mastering our own heart” is simply the only way for us to all evolve. Looking outside ourselves for more or less than the True Love from our Inner-Heart, will only serve the energy that “does not belong with that truth.”

  360. I have found since choosing to become a student of life I have opened to giving things a go where as before I would be scared to, learning it’s ok to fall and make mistakes as I go, knowing I can get straight back up and continue to learn. It hasn’t happened over night but is something I have built on through giving it a go, and highly recommend it. Life opens up in so many ways.

  361. ‘What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?’ I feel an oppeness and expansion when I read this. This keeps it very simple and allows no excuses for being cruel or self-abusive

    1. ‘What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?’ it is really an welcome to being loving with oneself.

  362. Being open to learn in life allows us the grace to be in life, as opposed to life dominating us and telling us what we need to be in life. When we surrender to what is on offer and let go of what ‘should be’, we actually have a great understanding and know what is true, but if we cloud it to fit into to a box, then we can never be all of who we are.

  363. Recognising and appreciating every moment as a learning, supports us to evolve and return to the love we are. By holding on to moments with regret, we are living in the past and hence delaying our evolution.

  364. I have always said to my daughter, follow your heart, and when she has, it has always been the right choice. This choice I make too whenever I find I cannot decide, it is because I am tussling between my heart and my head!

    1. Sometimes our head can get in the way, so its always good to come back to our heart and our body which knows the truth.

  365. As a forever student of what is my Livingness and the many ways in which my body is learning to listen to what is being shared, my awareness is deepening. Then to become aware that the writing has been on the wall and all I have to do is re-learn to decipher what my body has always been telling me.

  367. The fact is that we are all students of life whether we see ourselves as that or not. It is much more fun and advancing if we embrace it, but even if we don’t we never stop learning and being shown the way – just that we might experience it in a less pleasant way if we choose not to listen.

    1. Nicola so true we are all students of life, if we embrace we advance smoothly else we may have a little bump ride, either way we are always learning all the time and being shown the way.

  368. I find since I accepted that I am a student of life, I feel so much more open, understanding, loving and feel more at ease when I make a mistake. There is no more harsh self-bashing or feeling sick in the stomach, but instead, I am appreciating life is a constant reminder for me to be more loving, more open to learning and be super gentle on myself and others.

  369. “What if we saw ourselves as always being a student, a student of life, one that can never actually graduate per se, but one that was on a continuous journey of learning?” And how awesome it is that we never have to enrol, pay school fees or go to a school building to be a student for life because our education is how we move, express and live life everyday. I say sign me up right now.

  370. Being a student of life eventually compels one tireless that this life is not IT – no wonder so many resist being a student of life, as there is strong undercurrent pushing us to preserve what is ‘safe’ and known – even though it is actually unsafe and unknown!

  371. ‘How would everything in life be for us all if we all chose to be this way in life, letting our heart lead the way, embracing learning and being a forever student?’ I love this question. I know I wouldn’t be so hard on myself and exacting for one thing. I am currently studying and getting used to what I write being challenged and taking each comment on its own merit, learning to let go of judgement of both myself and the tutor, and read what is at play. I have found it tricky to not get defensive or go into justification and realise the course I am on which is about my life and child hood is simply an opportunity for me to be me and let go of old beliefs and express from a greater connection with my Soul.

  372. To understand the whole, we must understand the workings of each and every part that makes up the whole, equally, to understand the parts, we must also understand that they are equal parts that make up the whole.

  373. Re-reading this again, I was struck by the ‘conditions’ we can have around learning ….. our current education system sets us up to have parameters such as; something is right or wrong rather than feeling what is true, only learning what I need to to get the tick in the box but not connecting with what it is we are learning, learning being a means to an end, learning brings me recognition and I can be ‘better’ than others – thereby making it about self promotion, rather than expanding our perspective to include everyone and all that we are a part of together.

  374. So often we identify our selves by our profession, what we own, what our ambitions are but seldom do we refer to our selves as students but it is what we all are. Students of our selves, of life, students learning about learning, students of evolution. All intangible qualities that cannot be defined in our normal material ways but speak volumes in the quality of humility, integrity, wisdom and grace expressed when we truly surrender to this immutable truth.

  375. No-one has life perfectly worked out, so true Johanna. And we are all working at it, some more actively than others. So calling us all students of life is so true, and there is a great joy in the learning to gain more understanding of what it truly is all about.

    1. Being a student of life feels absolutely beautiful as no perfection is required, we are constantly working at it, learning and gaining more understanding.

  376. No matter what point we come to, there is always another step to take and more to learn, expand on and deepen. To me this makes me feel just how important the quality of that journey is, as opposed to focus on any final destination.

  377. We are all students of life, it’s just a case of whether we are an ‘active’ student or not. Being an ‘active’ student of life makes life so much easier and oh so much more enjoyable. Bring on the lessons and the learning.

  378. Once I wanted to know and understand everything so that I would have all the answers to all the questions, but it was with the intention of owning the knowledge and thus be in control of life. Being a student of life is very liberating and joyous, no perfection or control is required or sought after, just an openness to deepen and expand one´s understanding and insight into the boundless abundance of the universe.

    1. I agree Alexander “Being a student of life is very liberating and joyous, no perfection or control is required” there is just abundance from the universe.

  379. This blog and many of the comments are a real blessing to read. They inspire me to a deeper level of delicacy with myself. I put myself under a lot of pressure.

  380. Most of my memories of being a student, or at school are influenced heavily by the pressure of exams. And so my historical awareness of being a student is one of doing what was needed to jump through the next hoop, which inherently imposes the notions of deadlines, destinations, pressures and ultimately and most imposing – judgement (in the form of the results of those exams). Thus, it is not surprising that many of us can easily slip into that judgement in adult life. So, it has been a challenge for me to really surrender to being a true student – one that will never be judged or examined, one that is not trying to get through the next door – but rather one that surrenders to the universality of our wisdom and embraces the fact that the more open, transparent and willing to see that we are, then the more we will know. This accompanied by the other true traits of a student; dedication, commitment, consistency and responsibility for our studies and movements.

  381. Knowing that every day is full of opportunities to learn and grow, starts us on a discovery of how small a moment might be, but how large an impact it can have.

  382. What a beautiful understanding of life being about mastering our own heart. So simple, real and understandable that changes everything in a world that’s all about right and wrong, with no allowing for learning, honesty, mastering and awareness and the expansion of all we are.

  383. Reading this blog at this challenging point in my life I said to myself “This is a situation I have yet to master” It takes the pressure off “getting over it” and I feel that the “getting over” something approach doesn’t allow for greater love to bloom from the opportunity.

  384. I agree, Johanna. Now that I am open to learning rather than merely coping and struggling through life, every day is packed full of observations and lessons that continually expand my awareness and deepen my understanding.

    1. Being open to learning is such a key to life, Janet. In school during my teenage years, I found that I shut down to ‘learning’ due to what was being taught and the way it was being taught – not a true school at all. It took coming back to Universal Medicine to re-member what true learning is all about. I sent my son an Albert Einstein quote the other day: “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”

  385. Exactly, Susan …. the only pressure that exists is firstly created by us. Without pressure, everything is an opportunity to bring love or not.

  386. ‘What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart? ‘ – a very beautiful way to look at life, forever deepening our relationship with ourself and, therefore, everyone else. Treasuring the joy in learning how to live the love that we are with an open-ness to be continually learning how to go deeper, to bring more to the all that we are all equally a part of.

  387. I think if we place judgement on ourself we can end up just focusing on something having been ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ and in that we’re holding ourselves in a past moment rather than attending to the quality in which we live life presently.

  388. “Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important” – what solid counsel Johanna, .. and the response, not the situation is everything.

  389. We will never stop learning as no two days will ever be the same so it makes sense to embrace the fact that we are all students without judgment of ourselves or others.

  390. Being a student of life means that there is no end goal, every day we are given opportunities to evolve and it never stops. As we become more and more aware there is more available to learn.

  391. There have been many hidden societies discovered, usually in jungles, that were untouched by the outside world, still being discovered late into the 20th century that were living as students of life naturally… and we thought we could improve their lives! Why do we have a history of trying to fix things that are not broken?

  392. If we were to let our heart lead the way and not our head, the world would be a very different place, there would not be any wars to start with, as love would win over any differences and matters would be sorted out in a manner that is a win, win for all.

  393. If we were to lead with our hearts and not our head, the world would be a very different place, there would be no wars to start with, as love would win over any differences, and matters would be sorted out in a manner that is a win, win for all

  394. With every movement we are asked to choose between the inner-heart and external impulses. Maintaining connection to the inner-heart and letting it be our guide is a constant unfolding.

  395. Accept being a student of life is so different from the concept of what I thought it was to be a student. For me being a student was only for the limited time I was following a study, and more so only at the premises of the school I was attending. Besides I was just living my life the way I had figured out was the best way for me. But being a student of life is a 24/7 job that never ends, gives a purpose to my life and an continuous growing awareness. What else can you ask for?

    2. Gabriele, being guided by our inner-heart changes the way we live in every way, listening to my inner heart, healing what was getting in the way of living and expressing what I felt, was the greatest investment I’ve made in my life.

    3. Yes, Gabriele, making my inner-heart the master of my life has been such a turn-around, and every day is full of opportunities to love more deeply and share it with others.

  397. There is so much to learn about in life and not just in the intellectual sense either. The way the Universe is continually expanding, so to are we, so in that there has to be learning. Being open to this and surrendering to what is actually on offer to connect to and learn, is a huge blessing that I am honoured to be a part of.

  398. “Mastering our own heart” is simply the only way for us to all evolve. Looking outside ourself for more or less than the True Love from our Inner-Heart, will only serve the energy that ”does not belong with that truth.”

  400. And what if we held each step with the same honouring and preciousness that a child receives when those first steps are taken? Now that would offer a shift of consciousness to everybody.

  401. From the moment we understand ourselves as being students of life the whole world opens up, we then realise how limited we have held ourselves and life in general before.

  402. When we approach the experiences in our day (life) recognising that we are learning, instead of coming from a ‘I should know’ or ‘I don’t know’, you can feel the the body open up and an adjustment of the posture, which then has enormous benefits in ‘bio-feedback’ – the body communicating back to the person, in such ways as reducing tension, protection, guard, and being more at ease, less self judgment, expectation. Automatically the self-care level has increased.

  403. Being a student of life is a 24/7 thing because we are living life 24/7 (even in our sleep!). I have been contemplating this notion of me time/work time/play time and at the end of the day, I feel have earned ‘me time’ to check out and do what ever I want. But this notion of being a student of life feels like it expands this beyond the sections of work/rest/play and brings more steadiness and evenness because there really is no sections, no on/off, we are always on really.

  404. It is so ingrained in most of us to feel awful and ashamed when we take a wrong turn and deviate from truth, instead of being open and understanding about this exploration of life lived in connection to our soul.

  405. Everything in life provides us with a reflection, from the tiniest ant to the biggest elephant, from the fleeting thought to a big congress meeting – everything is important, significant and a lesson for all of us.

  406. “a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?…” This is a great example of what ‘self-love’ is.

  407. It is our self criticism and judgement of others that can limit our ability to respond to life and lead to repeating familiar reactions based on our past experiences.

  408. Sometimes I make the same unwise choice over and over again until one day I don’t. This blog reminds me that judgement never works. We can only heal our issues with love.

  409. When we are raising kids, we don’t chastise them for falling when they learnt to walk – we encourage them to get back up and try again. When does this approach to making mistakes and learning stop applying?

  410. Mastering our own heart brings us a very different focus and awareness from how accepted systems teach and enslave us to be. These only keep us stuck in the lie of competition, comparison and the constant striving for perfection and external success – the different end of the spectrum to returning to the inner heart and our innate divine essence.

  412. “Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.” This provides a powerful key to how to increase the quality of our lives. If we can surrender to and accept our learnings and ourselves within those learnings, then we can travel far in our evolution.

  413. Having just started a new job, I’ve been very aware of how much I love to learn, however, this hasn’t always been the case. I was a recalcitrant student at school and what I’m realising is that it wasn’t the ‘learning’ I was objecting to, it was the way in which we were being taught, the ingrained competitiveness – we were only as ‘good’ as our last grade. I didn’t want to join in, so I opted out.

  414. ‘Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.’ If we embrace them like a child does when he/she is learning to walk then we will easily develop and grow with each lesson.

  415. It’s ironic that many people long to complete their school years and leave as they do not enjoy being at school and yet we are all living in a school for us to constantly learn, that we simply cannot escape despite how hard we may try with distractions, entertainment and the many ways we have developed to numb ourselves from it.

    1. Yep I was one of those people who couldn’t wait to leave school but I know that we never stop learning whether it is the hard way or the easy way.

  416. When we open our heart and mind to the fact that life is one continuous learning curve, it completely alters our relationship with growing old. Usually regarded as a process of diminishment, rather than the awesome journey it truly is that expands our awareness, keeps us alive and young at heart. Total game changer.

    2. I love it too Annelies! How absurd do things become when we substitute recognition for true Love.

  418. Humility brings such yumminess. No self-flagellation, no aberration or self-critique, but a lightness, understanding and a willingness to see more, feel more, connect more, let go of more and be more and more of who we truly are.

  419. A lot of our problems stem from the fact that we see life as lineal. It’s as if we are all constantly vying for position on the imaginary ladder of life. We are constantly ranking ourselves and others as to how well we’re doing and none of us want to slip down the ladder, we all want to keep moving up. So when we suffer a ‘set back’ (interesting how our words confirm our false beliefs) then we feel disappointed or frustrated as we think that that is exactly what has happened, we have been ‘set back’ but that ‘set back’ might be the most amazing opportunity to evolve; evolution being a ‘returning to’ and not a movement forwards or up.

  420. “Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.” a great point, it’s not what happens but how we learn and develop from those learnings that are key.

    1. Indeed DN, it is not about what happens in life but what we learn from it and how we can integrate that into our lives. This will eventually bring us to the point where we understand that as people we are all the same, walking the same path in returning to our natural way of being we all left long, long ago.

  422. Ha, this reminds me of when I had studied and passed all my exams, I remember thinking, I’ll never have to learn anything again..how much I did not know then! Was I arrogant? I don’t think so, but very naive.

  423. This is such a refreshing way to look at life. When I was growing up we were understood to be the receivers of life, and most of our efforts and energy were put into changing our circumstances to ones we preferred. For example if a partner cheated on us that would be “life sucks” and then the mission would be to go out and get off with as many as possible to prove that we are worth it. A student of life would look at the situation and say “what is there for me to learn here”, and with that there is no hole that needs filling within.

  424. Goes to show that self-judgment is a learned behaviour and not ever one that comes from our essence

    1. This is sad to note, how we are so hard on ourselves. However, we do have a choice to change this learned behaviour as we see from this blog.

  425. Yes, the more we connect to our inner-heart, the more we can feel the infinite depths of love and vast expanses of the soul’s intelligence, so there is no end to what we can learn about ourselves and the universe.

  426. If we view life in this way it keeps us open and enthusiastic and energised. Every so often when I feel overwhelmed I retreat and withdraw because it feels like it’s all too much. This feels so awful. I lose my passion for life and my joy disappears. Remaining open to the lessons in life and being willing to fall flat on our faces is so much better than cowering in fear.

  427. “Just as a baby who is learning to walk – it stands, it falls, it stands, it falls and it keeps going.” And never gives up! Sometimes we feel the ‘failure’ and judge ourselves against what just happened, but to take the baby’s natural unfolding instinct and not even pass judgement simply accept that yes, ‘mistakes’ are there for us to learn from, continue to grow, and develop.

    1. Rosanna a great point because we often think we have failed and very rarely do we appreciate the process as a constant learning, my feeling on it as I reflect on my life is that the more we see ‘set backs’ as learnings, the more we actually learn from them and grow rather than deny them and bash ourselves. Mistakes so to speak, offer us great evolution if we don’t hold ourselves the victim of them. My life has changed from hating to make mistakes, as I saw myself as failing, to being open to learning. This way if I learn from the little things I’ve noticed not as many ‘big’ things happen.

      1. I like the perspective you add here DN “if I learn from the little things I’ve noticed not as many ‘big’ things happen.” It’s like attending to a drip before it becomes a full-blown leak – both can be learned from but the former keeps it simple.

  428. Being inquisitive, exploring and experimenting with life feels far more supportive and loads more fun then having a picture of what we think life should look like and sticking to that at all costs, which many of us do.

  429. Life is constantly offering us opportunities to learn, the question is do we see them as just that, or do we let them pass us by, due to being so entrenched in the ‘right and wrong’ belief. As soon as we go into ‘right and wrong’ we miss the learning on offer

  430. I’m learning so much from my teenage sons at the moment, where I need to drop the perfect way of being and ‘I’ve got it all together’, because it’s not real. When I do share how I really am about something there is more openness and understanding between us.

  431. In societies and in families we put so much emphasis on education and being a student but can lose sight of the fact that we are ever learning, growing and evolving at any age. Getting the top marks at school isn’t everything.

  432. Seeing everything as an opportunity to learn, to deepen my relationship with my heart and what is true to this rather than getting it right, or wrong, is very freeing. It allows me to see and read more clearly what is there and if I don’t learn the first time it will come around again for me to have another go, no beating myself up about it but rather an acceptance that that’s ok.

  434. Great article! It behoves us as grandparents, parents and teachers to reflect this way of living to our grandchildren, children and students. Let our hearts lead the way, to truly appreciate ourselves, each other and the unique qualities we bring. This allows a spontaneity in learning that comes from honouring and appreciating what the heart reveals, instead of restricting learning to the structured, acceptable and recognised mental confines of ‘known’, ‘predictable’ or ‘controlled’ responses while our awareness is devalued, dulled or denied. Let us embrace life and learning at any age to express with an openness to feel first, before we engage the mind.

  435. To learn, grow and evolve is our purpose. Why are there things we refuse to learn? The list of things that are not good for our body and what we put in them and do to them is often appalling. There are professional sports people that wear out their body’s and cripple themselves. The endless list of things we numb ourselves with continues to grow. Why do we stop evolving and become black holes, by choice?

  436. Amazing, seeing nothing as right or wrong or good and bad but seeing the learning opportunity available.

    1. Yes Harry, it feels so much lighter taking the right or wrong, good or bad out of it and that it’s ok to make mistakes. Opportunity.. a great invitation to give it go..

  437. It’s so draining being perfect. Who wants perfect anyway. When we accept life more and ourselves for everything we are, then we can see it is happening just as it is perfectly needed.

    1. Yes Johanna, whilst we may not be perfect the way our lessons come to us are perfect in themselves. I have been blown away many times by the timing and the quality of the lessons (and confirmations) as they have come through at the exact moment I am ready or exactly when they are needed.

  438. Indeed Jane, we do not need to be perfect as that is just an illusion from the mind, a goal that will never be met and therefore when striven for, only will cause stress in our lives that otherwise would not be there.

  439. I think I have a sense of how life will be if we all would make life about learning and our way back to our soul from being in the Universal Medicine workshops and presentations over the last ten years with many of my fellow students.

  440. How we are with ourselves when life lessons are being presented to us isn’t just important for us and our own learning, we are also role models for our children and those around us, much is observed and learnt through the power of reflection.

  441. ‘Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.’ – I love this reminder. With every lesson we have a choice to be completely open to all the learning on offer, without any judgment on ourselves, or anyone else, or we can get caught up in reaction making it harder for us to learn from the wisdom being presented to us.

  442. Life is so enjoyable when we accept we are students and constantly learning. It also supports us to let go of judgment as we can see in another that they too are on their own path of re-discovery.

  443. It will be so brilliant when the education system educates us for life rather than for safety and security. It is only when we are truly educated for life, with the understanding that it is an ever -unfolding process that occurs as we deepen our connection to our inner-heart that we will evolve as a race.

    1. So very brilliant Lyndy. The more people chose this way though sends out an amazing reflection for other to also choose the same.

    2. The safety and security that our current education system offers us, plays a similar role to the lights that were used to lure ships onto treacherous rocks in the olden days!

    3. So true, Lyndy, currently so many of us are leaving school feeling as though we have already ‘failed’ before we have even started. What we feel we have failed at is such a tiny spec of the endless wisdom that is there for us to learn. This feeling of not being good enough can colour everything we do, moving forward, but only if we let it.

  444. It has been a very freeing experience when we allow ourselves to learn and sometimes it may take a little longer than others, accepting who we are and how we learn things is very amazing.

    1. And it’s so beautiful to feel the different areas we can each embrace or accept and learn from from others. I know my husband and I each bring a different flavour and have mastered different things/areas and are a constant learning and reflection for each other.

  445. We absolutely have the choice to master our own heart, connecting to what is absolutely true for us. Being open to learning is an essential foundation, and not learning with right and wrong, good and bad, beliefs and impositions etc. All learning can be a wonder and delight when shared and mentored with love.

    2. Too me Sandra you are referring to the magic of God when you say that
      “All learning can be a wonder and delight when shared and mentored with love.”
      Currently we are living so far away from this but there will come a time when we can all share in this joy of wonder and delight.

  446. There are never lucky or less lucky moments in life- EVERTHING is there for us to learn. By now, I see situations, “pleasant or unpleasant” if you want to categorise, like “ok, this just happened to me- why ? ” . With a playfulness I observe and read and as a result don´t get drawn into any emotional reaction.

    1. It’s so important for us to ask the ‘why’ and the why did this happen to me in that way in this moment ? When we are open like this always questioning then we support ourself to receive answers.

    2. This is brilliant Stefanie. I used to live life under a cloud of everyone else has it easy, I’m always unlucky. I never learnt a thing this way and constantly felt hard done by. I can feel the next step is to fully get out of the good and bad, the lucky and unlucky that I still run with – I want to learn lessons so as to not repeat them which is understandable but the outplay of this is being judgemental on myself and super hard – both aspects that don’t support the loving understanding that brings healing and true change. I realise I am still chasing good luck in the form of a solution. Much to ponder on here.

    1. So true kathleenbaldwin, the continuous cycles of life mean we are forever learning.

  448. We are forever learning and this is a natural part of our evolution and something we cannot stop, only slow down and make these learnings much harder for ourselves then they need to be.

  449. If I’m finding something challenging I find it really helpful to ask myself what is the opportunity for learning that is being presented or is on offer in that moment…

  450. That we are all students of life is something to be cherished and known for our entire life.

  451. The wisest among us know that there is no finite destination in awareness and expansion. Wherever we are provides a foundation, a starting point for us to go deeper.

  452. It’s interesting that in education we do all we can to complete our education, yet with that emphasis, we miss out on the fact that life is a constant learning and we are always a student. Perhaps we need to re-set the foundation of what learning, education and being a student is. Your article is a great foundation for that.

  453. A student of life – an ongoing experiment of who we are and how we are in the world and a leaning of what it is like to be ourselves. That sounds truly amazing.

  454. That’s beautiful isn’t? We are always given another chance to change what is not true – “No regrets or self judgement necessary, as another opportunity will be afforded to us at a future date.”

  455. It requires quite a turnaround in our thinking to know that we can do nothing wrong, we are students who are learning from everything we do. It means we have no issues with trying to be perfect, trying to get it right, trying to please another, in fact we have nothing to try for and everything to be.

    1. And everyone does it at their own pace. Without comparing with another, as we cannot compare ourselves to anyone else, as we all come from another background. So right or wrong- impossible !

  456. When we afford ourselves that understanding, that the ‘mistake’ – which feels like the end of the world’, is in fact an opportunity to look at what happened, see why it happened and so learn from it. When we make it all about learning, self-judgment or blaming others has no space.

  457. The use of the words ‘right or wrong’ immediately causes judgement, critique and self-condemnation, contracting the body. To be a Student of Life lets go of this vicious cycle and can then be viewed as mistakes or ‘oops’ moments to be learnt from and evolve.

  458. Contrary to pretty much every other school in the world, the School of Life tailors each individual lesson and learning specifically to each individual student and it does this in meticulous detail. It is the polar opposite to the learning by rote that is uniformly dished out in most schools.

  459. When we start to see life as a constant learning and growing from this it changes everything and allows an acceptance of ourselves and that we have the power to change anything if we choose to.

  460. “What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?” This is so interesting to consider. Having been someone who was so often ‘told off’ for doing what another perceived to be wrong, it is incredibly liberating to understand that there is something of great value to learn from our mistakes, however small or big they are.

  461. I love the point you make, Johanna, about how we would never judge a baby when learning how to walk, as it highlights how poisonous self-critique and judgement are for not getting things perfect first time.

  462. This brings CPD, continuous personal development to its true meaning, we will never be perfect so we have ongoing learning forever, which we actually have been doing since times as cavemen. Just as a child learns to tie her shoe laces, so we go onto the next thing to learn.

  463. We have made life about the accumulation/regurgitation of knowledge and side lined our grand ability to observe, discern and express what feels true, it is this power that binds us together.

  464. Being a student of life does mean you never get to finish, or to get to graduate. There is not a hanging up of one’s boots and saying that I’ve done my lot, or my time and now I can relax and switch off. There is a forever commitment to learn and to grow, a forever alertness and a forever being switched on.

  465. “What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?” What a shift in focus and much needed shift in emphasis away from academic achievement into learning how to fully express the love within us. No formal qualifications gained but an immense and vital shift in the quality of our lives and relationships.

  466. A change of perspective which allows for a detachment from all that which is not truly of us but that we are here to observe and learn from.

  467. I love the simplicity in this blog and the truth that is delivered. It feels a huge shift for us humans to go from making life about right and wrong to everything is a learning and an opportunity to expand and evolve. It immediately takes all the pressure off and allows you to remain open for all the learning life presents us with and to continually re-access and stock take.

  468. The greatest education is being a student of life! There are no wrong answers, and you can never fail. The things to be learned are as numerous as suns in the universe; we just need to be curious! Why do children ask “Why?” hundreds of times a day and college students only ask a handful of times a day?

  469. To me what you are sharing with us all Johanna is a masterpiece, to give ourselves the grace to see and understand that there is no right or wrong just a constant opportunity to as you say grow, deepen, and to expand our awareness of ourselves and others? There is such beauty in this allowing.

  470. Well, if the wisest person I have ever met, still considers himself to be the forever student, unless we are very closed down I think that makes us all students forever and a day.

    1. Yes indeed, Kevin. How could we be so arrogant to think that we are no longer students, when we part of a whole universe of constant interactivity?

  471. Absolutely amazing and I totally agree, to be a student of life and to not see anything we do as wrong but an opportunity to learn and grow – well so simply amazing. Yet there is a barrier that can impede this, and that is when we invest in end results before we step.

    1. So true Harry, investment is like a road block to our learning and the opportunities available. Our investments keep us stuck in old patterns. When we let go of our investments, we can see and read everything much clearer and from that we can make clear decisions.

  472. Life does present many situations for us to learn from… and we can either react to these and complicate life, or we can respond, learn and grow – the choice is totally up to us.

  473. Being a true student of life means accepting you already know everything and so does everyone else too. Everyday is a class in uncovering this wisdom we have forgotten. Thank you Johanna.

  474. The world requires a re-imprinting, as when this word is used currently it sounds like a novice going through lots of mistakes. True we may go through Life not perfect, but what if we don’t see these as mistakes and there is no judgement, no marking scheme and no prize to obtain. We are just learning and it is always a process of deepening, nominating, discarding and re-imprinting.

    2. Adele, whilst reading ‘We are just learning and it is always a process of deepening, nominating, discarding and re-imprinting’, I could feel my whole body breathe a sigh of relief, which then made me realise just how much tension we must all constantly be carrying, due to feeling that we are forever being ‘appraised’, either by ourselves or by others or more commonly by both.

  475. Being a student of life is so different to how I was educated at school. Lessons are bespoke to us, so there is no comparison to another; we have lessons where we aren’t following someone else’s idea of what we should be doing but learning from within.

  476. When we try to avoid making mistakes, our movements can become more about this avoidance, rather than surrendering and feeling into what feels supportive in the moment. After years of trying to be in control, it’s ironic to now know true learning comes when we let go.

    1. I agree Alison… And the ‘Trying’ takes so much time and energy, and only succeeds in complicating things – it’s exhausting!

    2. Yes, so true Alison. I am learning to let go of control and trust what I feel more and more.

  477. ‘From opportunity comes learning and with learning we soon enough realise just how much more there is to learn, to master.’ … and if we remove competition and comparison from the mix, it puts a whole new light on learning, making it more about complimenting and supporting each other so we all evolve as a society together.

  478. Learning with willingness and openness ignites the natural wonder with-in and then learning develops it’s own fun and natural spark. Performance, pressure, scores and brains don’t feature, and the quality of the outcomes are inspiring for humanity.

    1. Beautifully expressed Sandra and I am inspired from what I have read to be playful and allow my natural spark out.

  479. Whether we like it or not, we are all here together in Earth’s classroom. We are of course free to wag class, not listen, ridicule what is on offer etc. but that does not stop the lessons being delivered. It only increases our time needed to learn what is on offer whilst we are here.

  480. I held this dear to me yesterday when I had a pretty full-on day at work yesterday. I had to deal with quite a few things that I had not dealt with previously and I made a couple of mistakes along the way. I mostly treated myself as a student of life, realising that I was here to learn and bring what I can to the table. It was so freeing to allow the day to unfold as a day of learning and mastering, and bring more self-love and understanding to the table.

  481. Sometimes being a student of life we can feel many ‘ouches’ and ‘stings’ on the way. In these instances, we have two choices… one is to recoil, feel sorry for ourselves and take a nose dive into self-indulgence, or the second is to appreciate the learning on offer, sit with the discomfort, change and move on.

    1. True. It really is all about how we perceive it. Our learnings are supports and a beautiful way we are looked after really. For if we didn’t have these corrections or adjustments in life then how far would we stray from our true and natural way?

  482. Learning that when making a mistake the sky does not come crashing down and that simply owning up to it and being open to learn from it from there on has changed my life in so many ways.

  483. “Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.” Absolutely. When we are willing to learn from our own, or even another’s mistakes, then we cannot but grow and deepen our understanding of life, and our place in it.

  485. If we gave ourselves the grace of being students, we wouldn’t put pressure on ourselves to be perfect and would allow for things to go “wrong”.

  486. Self judgement can be such a crippling thing, holding us back from really learning and growing from all that life offers us in the ‘good’ and seemingly ‘bad’ moments

    1. A bit like being on an emotional see-saw. Where as when we see life from truth, it’s a completely different ballgame that love is the foundation.

  487. With being a student of life and learning “.. to master our own heart” the learning is based on what feels True rather than the knowledge based system we have today, and this feels more spacious and brings with it a beautiful simplicity.

  488. There is great innocence, presence and dedication when you watch a toddler learning to walk. I love this reflection of a lack of pressure, drive or self-judgment. Just a clear dedication and perseverance while learning coordination and the use of muscles. It is a joy to witness the development of the mastery of walking, one step at a time. We could learn so much from this example.

  489. If we did take the perspective of just knowing that we are all students of life, it would certainly take the pressure off. We are so loving when it comes to babies learning, but we can be so hard on ourselves. At what age do we become no longer worth loving? Well, I cannot pin point when I began beating myself up, but I would love to pinpoint a day when I no longer do it. So thank you for the reminder that we are all here to learn, all at different paces, all in different ways but we are learning.

    1. Love the observation Sarah – why not take the same tenderness you see when a man or woman holds a newborn, or gathers up a toddler, and apply that to us as adults, perhaps repeating a mistake but still with the ever open opportunity to learn.

  490. Student of life means also forever student, for there never comes a moment where there isn’t more to learn, more love to share and wisdom to be tapped into. As long as I can’t say ‘I have given it my all’ there is more.

  491. “Being a student of life and truly seeing ourselves as such, makes it all about learning” the key part here for me is how life then becomes something that is enjoyable, that each step is something we grow and learn from rather than constantly needing to get to the end result to feel we have made it, the end result with perfect was the way I approached life which meant I constantly felt I had failed.

  492. “What if we saw ourselves as always being a student, a student of life, one that can never actually graduate per se, but one that was on a continuous journey of learning?” Even when we return to being Masters we continue to learn, so we are forever students.

    1. Yes. There’s always more to deepen and it’s never ending but such a delicious journey when we allow ourselves to be with it in full.

  493. I love what you have written here, Johanna, as it is such a beautiful antidote to self-judgement and self-loathing.

    1. Thanks Janet. I find seeing ourselves as a student of life just takes a whole load of pressure off. Acceptance, appreciation and confirmation I find when embraced, dissolve the kid truths in life.

  494. When we give ourselves the grace to learn then we automatically give this same grace to another. Being in senior management this has been an essential learning process for me and how much this supports the team to grow together.

  495. Two of the biggest obstacles to drop to become a true ‘forever student’ of life are judgment and ‘right and wrong’ – both of these delete all joy, all beauty, all love.

  496. The sense of equality in this blog is palpable, how deeply unifying to explore the truth of what we feel.
    Indeed, is this the connection humanity so craves?

  497. So true it is how we are with the myriad of learning opportunities that life offers us that is key.

  498. As students of life we allow ourselves space and understanding of what has no need to be complex.

  499. Johanna what I so admire about your blog is that you have the qualifications that society recognises
    “Bachelor of Education (Major Special Needs, Minor Psychology), Graduate Certificate of Early Childhood, Studying Diploma of Counseling, Esoteric Complementary Health Practitioner,”
    And yet to me you are saying this is not enough there is something missing, yes you have all the qualifications but there is so much more to life. However, it seems to me that we get to a certain age and for most of us that’s it; we don’t want any more opportunities to grow and evolve and we start to stagnate and cement ourselves. I have many friends at my age who are looking forward to retirement and I feel I’m just getting started I can’t retire there’s so much more to do, and I believe that we are always given opportunities to grow and expand ourselves, we just need to become aware of them.

  500. ‘What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?’ beautiful simplicity in letting go of having to achieve anything else and it being a byproduct of this instead of one in many perceived expectations on us in what we have made life to be.

  501. Getting things right, correct or perfect creates too much pressure, but holding ourselves as a student gives us the space to explore, experiment and be playful.

  502. Life is about perpetual growth, inwardly and outwardly, so when we truly take on the fact that we are all students of life, it means that we never retire and there is no magic point at which we stop learning.

  503. It is totally mad what most of us humans hold dear and aspire to in life, material possessions , money, houses, land when it all should first be about mastering our own heart, then whatever we need will follow.

  504. Hahah Johanna I love it – I am for sure a student of life as I am loving life and all what comes with it. “Being a student of life and truly seeing ourselves as such, makes it all about learning, and with this, judgment on self or others has no space.” And I have to add that joy is another ingredient what comes with it.

  505. Holding yourself as a student is humbling as you are always open to learning, seeing and feeling more..

  506. In the last two days, this blog has supported me on a very practical level to remain super gentle with myself, when self doubt and self critique have tried to creep in, I have been able to say to myself that I am simply a ‘Student of Life’. Wonderful practical, revelatory stuff Johanna.

  507. I simply love the fact that I am a forever student, a student who is open and willing to embrace the “plethora of opportunities” that we, humanity, are presented with every day. Life to me is a classroom, a classroom that has no walls and no rules that diminish my value as the person I truly am, but is overflowing with opportunities to learn a little more about me, my life and my fellow beings in every single moment.

  508. ‘What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?’ Forget school, forget trying to achieve recognition, public acclaim, status, etc. I’ve tried all that and it has felt empty. Today I realised a long standing pattern that I’m now saying yes to clearing so there’s a clear path, without this old stuff in the way. Perhaps this is what is meant by letting life unfold? Being in life to know what’s next to do and let it unfold for you without effort or force.

  509. Can’t agree more that every moment is precious as we are always learning, there is so much to learn and then discarded rather than hoarding knowledge, we let go of what we don’t need.

  511. Knowing we are a student of life means there is no perfection, no right or wrong, only opportunities for each of us to learn and evolve… and therefore there can be no judgment of ourselves or others – no-one is perfect.

  512. We are forever learning about life, whatever our age, profession, religion or gender, and we can spend lifetimes doing so.

  513. We are sold so short that learning happens mostly in schools, universities, colleges, etc… We learn everywhere, everyday and that even if we think we ‘know it all’, there is always more to uncover on a certain subject. I love what you are bringing through here, that we are students of life.

  514. It would be great if we were to change our school systems from ‘right and wrong’ to developing and having areas that need more or less attention or training. We are set up in this consciousness from a very early age.

  515. When we see ourselves as a student of life, we also begin to see that everyone else is a student of life too, and this supports us to drop any possibilities of judgement and begin to recognise that we are all here to learn,

  516. Are we ever to old to learn, as a humble student of Love ?… my answer is No. Seeing it took me nearly 50 years of searching to get the answer to my question, ‘what is love?’ And my relationship with Love is still one where I am learning even though I have found a foundation that allows me to understand the true meaning of Love unequivocally. So to explore this question more, have we ever incarnated enough to understand life to the full?… my answer is No. Then life has to be about learning and never about the imposition of our ideals and beliefs as we are always learning and the answer that another has, may be evolutionary for where we are at?

  517. When we focus on the things that are ‘going wrong’ and forget to focus on the things that are amazing and supportive, then we know we have lost our appreciation of self and others and life. Life is an on-going school, a constant learning experience, and yet it is about realising that we are already all knowing, right from the start, and in the all-knowing we are re-learning how to return to the all knowing in full.

  518. Being a student of life means we can drop the criticism and stay open to the learning.

  519. ‘How would life be if we just saw it as a plethora of opportunities?’ Life would be super simple and joyful, the complete opposite of our current experience in life of complication and problems.

  520. What I like about this Johanna is that the existence of truth means there cannot be any ‘better than,’ or wrong or right. It brings it down to the one common denominator, against which we can know any aspect of life and whether it is of that same quality or not.

  521. It seems to me that judgement is a form of arrogance born out of the illusionary belief that there is only one life, one chance. When most of us have been going around and around making similar “mistakes” for many lifetimes, it is laughable that we should judge ourselves.

  522. “How would life be if we just saw it as a plethora of opportunities?” This is an absolute gem to keep in our back pockets. A moment before reading this blog, something happened through my work and once again the choice is presented; react and resist or, see the opportunity to deepen, become even more transparent and further let go of any remaining investments. Great timing!

  523. This is a beautiful invitation Johanna and something that I have been exploring with joy and fun recently. In the past I have associated being a student with discipline, hardness, having to get somewhere. I am now feeling such a novice as there is always something to learn or to deepen and consolidate what we’ve learnt already. It has been remarkable to experience being a student like this – I have been patient and understanding with myself like I have never been.

  524. Being a ‘student of life’ adds a richness to every day in my experience. Constantly on the look out for the next ‘golden nugget of wisdom’ life is offering. And it is to be found in the most unexpected of circumstances, even what we may consider the mundane. And this of course means that there is no mundane, for there is gold to be uncovered in every moment.

  525. Yes life would be a lot more fun if we developed a relationship with being a student and stopped always trying to get it right which is already wrong ha ha!

  526. To be a true student right and wrong is left out of the picture, with an openness to only what is true or not true. When we go into right and wrong we can quickly fall into self bashing, self condemnation or self-justification.

  527. This is a great attitude and way to look at life, Johanna. We are all learning, whatever age we are, because no two people tread the same path as us. It feels so supportive that there is no right or wrong, but only what feels true.

  528. It’s gorgeous what you’ve shared about being a master of our own heart, something we can do from the inside out and that makes up who we are, rather than putting all our focus on perfecting skills taught from the outside.

  529. Yes feeling what is true in our hearts is the learning that is there for us, and the more we embrace that, the less space there is for judgement or comparison of how we are doing in relation to others. Letting go of the arrogance that I know what I need to learn, and joyfully partaking in all the opportunities that I am offered, is a lifetime’s education.

  530. Sometimes I over look the power of being a student of life, which really implies learning and re-learning new ways of being form day to day. If we never make mistakes, how on earth can we understand what it is to deepen within our whole being. Forever deepening and forever allowing and appreciating a new level of truth as it shows itself to us.

  531. “How would everything in life be for us all if we all chose to be this way in life, letting our heart lead the way, embracing learning and being a forever student?” now this is an amazing way that life could unfold and be for us, ready to be open to whatever is next, not needing to be one specific way or another but open to the heart.

  533. I’m learning to see everything as an opportunity to learn and find it takes the pressure off and opens me up to life and everyone much more than if I am trying to get it right. An opportunity to learn stops it being a big deal and keeps it light with a willingness to give it go.

  534. Asking the question, what can I learn from this? What could I do differently next time? Has allowed me to be far more accepting of situations that arise which I have little or no control over.

  535. ‘What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?’ – it would revolutionise our education system and allow students to once again enjoy the wonderment and joy in expanding their learning, but in every aspect in life.

  536. For many of us when we first hold our babies in our arms we can feel their preciousness and tenderness, we are so gentle and caring. Then something seems to come over many of us parents as our babies grow into young children. We start to ask them to conform to the rest of society and in our current society, lets be honest and say, there is no way most people can be precious or tender. We have fashioned for ourselves a ‘dog eat dog’ society – our current way of living reminds me of being in an Amphitheatre of life and the last person standing is the winner. So the preciousness and tenderness we are all born with gets crushed. I wonder how our society would be if we nurtured our babies and supported them to grow up with all their precious tenderness not only intact but deepening; I feel our society would be one of deep care and nurturing with each other.

  537. We are both teachers and students. Students for-ever learning and also teachers connecting to and listening to the wisdom within.

    1. Well said, Kehinde, we are constantly learning how to find our way back to the absolute truth of who we are and where we come from, and at the same time sharing with others what we have discovered along the way.

    3. I have often had moments where I have been in an emotion and a thought has popped in that counters it with total common sense, cutting the emotion completely. In those moments I have no doubts as to the wisdom I can access and the healing I can arrive at simply by staying present with my body and not judging whatever I am in. Being one’s own teacher is incredibly empowering as our awareness deepens and grows.

      1. A powerful example Michelle, we heal ourselves with awareness and by listening to the infinite wisdom we hold within,

    4. ‘We are both teachers and students’, I love this Kehinde and if we were truly able to embrace this, then we wouldn’t have our current mentality of trying to continually present a face to the world of a person who is forever coping and on top of their game. In fact we would be able and willing to share all of our struggles with others, knowing that others can support us, as they too are both teachers and students and also that in our sharing we fill both the role of the student and of the teacher too.

      1. ‘in our sharing we fill both the role of the student and of the teacher” Yes we do Alexis and in doing so reflect that it is OK to be open and intimate with each other. We become stronger when we dissolve guards to our inner-most selves.

  538. With this understanding we can learn to be detached, whilst being more engaged with life, observing what happens and bringing more of ourselves to it.

  539. Beautifully shared. For what is spoken here is true, whether we embrace the learning or fight it. The only guarantee is that it will continue to be offered, over and over again. Here in lies try love, as we are never given up on. No matter our previous living ways, the way to evolve and grow is constantly offered.

  540. A student of life never stands still and stagnates but is for-ever learning and expanding.

  541. “Being a student of life and truly seeing ourselves as such, makes it all about learning, and with this, judgment on self or others has no space.” Such an awesome way to knock out judgment, to see and understand the learning curve we are all on and the varying stages of learning we are all at. It certainly is a game changer to fully appreciate that our learning, expansion and evolution never ceases.

  542. If, we were all students of life, would we then become a colony with a purpose for all? Would we fit like a jigsaw puzzle piece, just like other living things on this planet that all co-exist in harmony?

  543. The old saying, ‘you learn from your mistakes’ is certainly from the true stack, but if we keep on making the same mistakes over and over again like some of us continually do, that’s when it starts to get a bit ridiculous.

  544. “What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart? And with that there can be no ‘better than,’ or wrong or right, but only what feels true and then the learning of what does not belong with that truth.” To see life through this lens is clearly underlining our acceptance and surrender to it.

    1. Irena, this question stood out for me too: life as an opportunity to master our hearts. Humbling, supportive, inspiring, certainty, trust.

  545. Being a ‘student’ of life brings in humbleness where we raise that we are always learning and deepening with everything – we ARE everything and yet we know everything in detail that there is to know. It is beautiful to be an open student – ever willing to be honest, observational and understanding of all that is presented.

  546. There is no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. There is only all that is true and all that we put in place to not live it. The ‘student of life’ dedicates their life to the purpose of revealing all that is not true, so that we can return to living and expressing all that is of the truth we each in essence know to be.

  547. I often take life too seriously and become fixated with mistakes or problems, but what this blog beautifully presents to me, is that it can be treated as a fun journey where we have the grandest support to learn and evolve.

    1. Straight to the back of the class for you Michael 😉 Yes we have serious work to do but we do not have to be so serious in seeing it through, as there is a lightness and a joy that comes from all that we learn in Earth’s classroom. Every lesson learnt takes us closer to home – the light of the Soul we initially withdrew away from.

      1. That made me laugh heartily Liane, Luckily this class has a “no student left behind” policy 😉

  548. I love to remind myself of how a young child explores and makes mistakes as it joyfully learns new skills when I feel I have stuffed up.

    1. ‘What if we saw ourselves as always being a student, a student of life, one that can never actually graduate per se, but one that was on a continuous journey of learning?’ – we would always be invigorated to grow, expand and evolve, rather than just accepting where we are as being enough, wanting instead to stay comfortable, when in fact we stagnate as life passes us by.

    2. I don’t even feel children are aware of ‘mis-takes’, unless they are told they’ve made one. To them they just enjoy playing, trying doing things in different ways and seeing what feels ‘true’ to them, with no awareness that there is a right or wrong way. Today it may be one way, then tomorrow another way depending on how they feel.

  549. It’s disappointing to fall over and sometimes we get a bump – but if we understand that nothing ever occurs by accident and each twist and turn is there for a reason, then we can see that we have been given the key to evolve and grow. Thank you Johanna.

  550. Not only does the toddler not judge himself or herself for falling over but neither do the adults; it is not deemed to be wrong or dumb. Why do we then change this attitude later, when we grow up?

    1. We don’t really “grow up” if we start judging ourselves and others because there is no expansion in that – perhaps we grow down or off!

  551. Being a student of life makes us realise there is no perfection, no right or wrong, only a constant learning and re-connection to who we truly are.

  552. “How would everything in life be for us all if we all chose to be this way in life,letting our heart lead the way, embracing learning and being a forever student?”Yes this feels like what is necessary for me in my life, as all too often l have high expectations of myself and others and judgement reigns. Being a student of life allows for me to have more self-acceptance and mistakes become simple loving lessons along the way. I can stand tall, claim my space on the planet and step up and out in confidence.

  553. When we see life as a journey of learning then there can be no mistakes… only another opportunity to learn and grow, to bring understanding and to evolve.

  554. This is lovely because it brings being studious to life, with purpose and with the intention to learn from experience.

  556. It is a great reminder that when we are feeling the pressures of life, or if we have made a big mistake. Just like the toddler, we learn from it, dust ourselves off and up we go again, and when life feels too overwhelming, it is fine to stay sitting and take some space to take stock and reassess.

  557. I agree and there are no mistakes in true learning, it’s just forever learning. So no need to rate or cast a view on what’s been done, just a constant opening up to what has been learnt and then an application to what is next. It’s a growing of awareness consistently, and always, an opening up to see more in all we are moving to. It really puts how we are into a spin and opens up a new way to be and a wonder what this would do to our true quality of life? How this would support our bodies if we were to live this way as our way.

  558. So simple and yet so true and refreshing for this day and age. How much freedom does this give us in the way we move? The baby walking is a great analogy for us to view how we once saw the world. A place to grow and learn without judgement, critique or perfection and yet, it seems to me, we have now walked ourselves into a very tight hallway, that brings with it a rigidity that you could say is killing us. A simple article like this allows us to see that there is another way to view how we are and not hold ourselves so, so tight.

  559. Wisdom in it’s pure form: simple and clear: we are here to learn, this earth is just a school with us as students of how to be ourselves again.

  560. I think there can be a beautiful openness and humility that comes with recognising that we can always keep learning and understanding more about life and each other.

  561. ” Just as a baby who is learning to walk – it stands, it falls, it stands, it falls and it keeps going. Never does that baby judge itself about the fact that it has fallen, but he or she is constantly part of the learning to take steps. ”
    I wonder does a baby see it as falling or is that just us as ” adults ” judging a babies ” progress ” . I wonder.

  562. We are the student, the subject of study and the knowing all in one, but it is in the livingness of being a student that all three unfold to full bloom.

  563. I remember once doing something for the first time and feeding back to a Universal Medicine practitioner in an exchange what went well and what I could have done better. The practitioner replied, that there is always more, forever a deepening and expanding. I loved what they shared because it took the pressure off in having to get it right, and ALL of it, in the first go. There is always more to life for us to learn from and deepen our understanding of.

  564. Learning that there is no ‘right or wrong’ is one of the most challenging lessons, I find. When we see life through only our eyes it makes sense that right and wrong exists. But when we begin to sense that there is more at play in life than what we can see with our eyes, we see that there is only things to observe, understand and learn or unlearn about ourselves and others.

  565. The pressures off you just have to be honest not perfect! Open not closed. Connected not unconnected. Simple.

      1. Perfect addition Irena. That to me is the key – commitment. A willingness and dedication to see, learn and then evolve that learning through the dedication of putting into practice what we have learnt. Knowing it is useless unless we are doing it – and in truth, it isn’t ‘known’ until it is done.

  566. I would say that I have considered myself to be a student of Life for a considerable amount of time, perhaps twenty five years or so but there was one ‘lesson’ that changed everything. And although the lesson was a very simple one, it took me quite some time to understand it and more importantly to come to know it in my own body. The lesson/teaching was that there are two types of energy that impulse everything in life, one is constantly looking to dislodge our connection to God and the other is always seeking to shore up our connection with God. The pranic consciousness, which is the energy that looks to disrupt us, loves to set up it’s version of the fiery consciousness (the energy who’s purpose is to maintain our connection with God), so as to trick us away from God and I spent most of my years as a student of Life, sitting in the wrong classroom!

  567. What gorgeous simple presentation of a huge fact, that we ARE students of life and after lifetimes of abandoning our true qualities – that of God – we are returning, needing to clear up a lot of our mess on our way back. The cyclical nature of life is there to support us.
    When we make out life about controlling everything and refusing to acknowledge that we have plenty to learn, as I did most of my life, we completely miss the point and end up chasing and being judgmental about what is quite insignificant in the scheme of things.

  568. Being a forever student of life keeps an openness, a curiosity, a liveliness and a forward momentum… rather than a hanging up of one’s boots and a withdrawal or giving up from life.

    1. So true Rachel and I am loving it, being a forever student of life. I realise this is what life is all about, a continuous journey of learning with an open heart.

  569. It is super interesting that the ability to fall down and then get up and take the next step as we learn to walk then turns into a situation where we have failed and got something wrong. We can only look at our environment that we let influence us to believe otherwise.

  570. I am still learning that all in life is a learning and that yes there is no right or wrong, something my mind finds very hard to fathom! Yet in my body I feel it is true and it makes life way more simple and more enjoyable too as there are less and less moments of beating myself up about something I did that was not the most supportive thing I could have done.

    1. And what I notice Lieke is when I don’t take the responsibility with moving my body from my heart and natural way, then there becomes an opening for the kind to have its way and bring in untrue thoughts and critics. When I stop and surrender to the love and quality I know I truly am, I can feel the false thoughts and patterns dissipate. And I then appreciate another learning and adjust as I feel.

      1. Yes it is true, it is just a choice that governs all we feel after that. If we surrender literally all the negative feelings that were there before are gone. Just as when we choose to be hard everything and anything comes flooding in and I find my self frustrated or even a bit angry even though I didn’t have that before.

  571. I feel one of the keys to being a true student is to not live in the past as best as one can and embrace whatever the future holds as something that can be lived now.

    1. That feels like an invitation to being responsive to what is so abundantly on offer, everywhere and anytime.

      1. Yes when we just stop and allow ourselves to be, then we get to feel what’s available for us to live and the very real opportunity that is there for us to have our most divine quality working through, and emanating from our body, our movements and everything we do.

  572. “Letting our heart lead the way” rather than by our mind brings simplicity and clarity to living life.

    1. This is a beautiful part you highlighted Jstewart51. I was reflecting on my life and recognised how I have created and accepted a lot of complications that were not supportive. Now, I am learning to allow my heart lead the way and learning to discard these complications a layer at a time,

      1. I am finding refining and simplifying my life is so joyful and it is because I am increasingly managing to allow my heart to lead the way.

  574. If we all truly saw ourselves as students of life there could be no judgement of others as we would know everyone one of us is learning therefore who are we to judge.

  575. Self bashing and aiming for the unachieveable perfect is rife in society and it’s beautiful to feel another way is not only possible but very able to be lived if chosen.

  576. I love being a forever student, it means nothing is set, we have new things to learn every day, the lessons never stop, like the Universe continuously expanding…

    1. And no stress or point that we have to get to. I love how the deeper we go within, the grander our openness and expansion outwardly is. Life is just a heap of moments for us to learn and take responsibility for how we are and what we bring through to life.

  577. Yes. We do seem to have a blanket belief in society which feels as false and similar to ‘that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ – we think that elder people need to be ‘stuck’ in their ways because that for the most part is what we are reflected but this is not true. Many many elders have made truer choices, questioned life, let go of old patterns that simply do not serve their health and healing. Every moment in each life is a learning and choice, no matter our age. We can always choose to be open to question and to feel for ourselves.

  578. It is very humbling to realise we are on a continuous journey of learning, it snaps us out of that consciousness and pride that we’ve ‘made it’ – or that there is even something that we can make it to!

  579. This is a great blog Johanna! It is great because it is true . . . we ARE here to learn.

    1. Yes, I agree Kathleen. When we see life ‘as a plethora of opportunities’ and we are here to learn, we also start to see that our whole world is a playground and not a dumping ground where we leave a trail of mess from undealt hurts, conflict, war, from resisting why we are here and from living in an irresponsibility and disharmonious way.

      2. I agree chanly88 and being playful with what we are presented to learn from is certainly the way to go.

      1. Yes Johanna, and this is precisely why we are here and once we learn something we then can pass the learning on to another through our cells for as we are all one our cells are interacting all of the time. If I stand next to you we are exchanging cells, so without even opening our mouths we are exchanging our learned wisdom from one to another. It is fascinating really and it also calls us to greater responsibility for what we are passing on to another.

  580. I love being a student of life as it takes off the pressure of always having to understand things instantly and allows us the freedom to understand things in our own time.

  581. We spend so much time obsessing over getting things right and not failing, making mistakes and we cut ourselves off from what is presented in a moment for us to learn from. Sometimes it is hard to let go and embracing the offering but it is so much better than fighting it.

  582. This is very true, especially when we find the sources of our mistakes and deal with those sources.

  583. What I love about this ‘we are all students of life’ philosophy, is the humbleness that comes with it. Feeling humbled is not always easy, but it does offer openness to other possibilities. I do not find humbleness to be a meek state of being, but one that supports a sense of equalness with others and in that equalness there is access to deeper understanding and wisdom.

    1. There’s a great deal of acceptance – and wisdom and understanding in humbleness I feel. Definitely not meek at all.

  584. “Being a student of life and truly seeing ourselves as such, makes it all about learning, and with this, judgment on self or others has no space.” the settlement I feel in my body when I read this is divine. To go through life open as a true student is – no perfection – no judgement, changes the very way that I am with myself and others.

    1. Just makes life a whole lot lighter and embracing of love, seeing the appreciations, able to confirm in the moment and more about the all of us in this world rather than the individual.

  585. We aren’t expected to get everything right from the get go when we start learning anything, so why in life do we entertain thoughts that our mistakes are the ‘be all and end all’ when, if we learn from them, they are all part of the process of being a student?

    1. And the reality is that these things, these so called mistakes or issues are actually one percent compared to the grandness we truly are, yet we focus on them and make them the be all and end all, rather than just receiving the opportunity to learn.

  586. A continuum of learning providing the precise lessons we require for our own evolution.

  587. I found school very difficult, it was as though I had been put into a straight jacket and left full time education as soon as I could. Finding the workshops and presentations of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine, are exactly what I feel true education should be and true education is what is missing from this world.
    You have captured my sentiments in this blog Johanna, to always seek the truth of any given situation and move from there.

  588. “What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong, but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?”
    What I noticed as I grew up, was that older people seemed to cement themselves in their ideals and beliefs as they grew older and became very resistant to change of any sort. What you are suggesting here, is a completely different way to live where we continue to expand. This makes far more sense to me, and I now live surrounded by older people who just seem to go from strength to strength as they grow older. This is so inspiring.

  591. Being a student for life offers us expansion and allows us to explore, discover, learn and appreciate our movements made everyday, as we not only deepen our understanding of the all, but also evolve and grow as we move with life too.

  592. ‘What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?’
    If we applied this opening statement we would all grow and develop exponentially and it would change the world dramatically.

  594. This seems a simple enough proposition but try it out and pretty soon you get to see how deeply ingrained ‘being right’ seems to be. This leaves us dwelling on what we did wrong instead of the beautiful things we have learnt. Thank you Johanna for this beautiful sharing.

  595. Life should never be the destination because that is a stop. Without motion can there be life? Life will always be an adventure, and we get to choose where the journey takes us.

  596. When we make life about learning, learning to live life that corresponds to the essence of our being, the world would look very different from what it now is. As in general, I do not see that connection with the essence of our being being expressed in our societies. What is see instead, because of this missing connection, is the aiming for personal recognition and reward and the struggle for our existence. Life indeed can be so different if we consider life to be the classroom, we can learn how to evolve back to the divine beings we once lived before, with all its practicalities which are needed to live human life on this planet, until the time we are ready to move on to other planes of life.

  597. I love how when we see ourselves as ‘a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand’, then we do need to try to be perfect or anything like that rather can simply express what we feel without the incessant need to be right.

  598. It really opens up to what life is about, ‘being a student of life’. it’s not something to get through, tick our life boxes (school, university, married, babies etc), but it assists us in the way we see life and how we are in this life. It assists us in seeing that life in itself is a cycle rather than as a straight line. It helps us see that we can learn, change and grow in life and that we are not meant to remain stagnant.

  599. Being a student of life is fun – with this as the foundation I’m appreciating and discovering learning anything (especially IT) is much simpler.

  600. One of the best choices I ever made was totally giving myself permission to be ok to be learning. Such a wonderful feeling to let go of the pressure around the perceived problems of ‘making a mistake’, all imaginary or imposed from young and all totally unnecessary.

  601. “What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?” If we can do this we can increase the quality of our lives because we would stop judging ourselves and putting ourselves down.

  602. ‘only what feels true and then the learning of what does not belong with that truth’ .. no right or wrong just an openness to learn and be with the outcomes with honesty and truth, yes this feels so much more expansive than right or wrong, and it provides a platform for a truly harmonious way of living.

  603. I love what your blog is saying and offering. It is awesome. But it is also, by default, extremely exposing of our education system, which is innately designed to deliver the opposite of what you are presenting. We need to re-design our whole education system from the absolute core, so that the number one overall modus operandi is the nurturing, expansion and evolution of the absolute gold that is already within each and every one of us.

  604. Though this isn’t always the case, as academic students we are supported by our teachers, peers, colleagues and friends to learn, evolve and expand. We have tools and reference materials; we research, we experiment, we question and we discuss. We are constantly growing and evolving; we embrace and challenge new ideas. Yet as students of life, it seems that many of us are doing the exact opposite – our lives becoming more blinkered, lineal and reductive; at the same time as we become more stubborn, intractable and defensive of whatever choices that we have made. And so, for almost all of us, the life we are in finishes with us in an infinitely less aware than when it started – hardly a good school report for a student who has been studying life for 80? years!

  605. A succinct but very powerful message – we are constantly being offered the opportunity to learn and grow in every moment of life, teaching us how we can be our all and see that our issues do not own us. We are showered with these lessons all the time, but do we always clock them and allow ourselves to be a student of life in full?

  606. Thank you Johanna, being hard on ourselves is common yet as you say it’s quite pointless because the learning in life does not stop. It’s not realistic to not make mistakes as each new learning is like a toddler learning to walk, so until we find our way with that area of life we will have our ups and downs.

  607. It is possible for everyone to be a students of life, constantly learning throughout our lives, with an openness to embrace the opportunities to grow, to deepen, and to expand. Every life time would then assist our evolution and be very purposeful.

  608. The fact we have this attitude to life when we are babies shows it is an innate quality one that is dulled down by societal pressures. Being innate means we can reconnect to this openness and willingness.

  609. Having just read this oh-so-powerful blog again, what struck me was the understanding that if I saw others as the ‘forever students’ that they are, then it would help to lessen my imposing and judgemental ways of being with others, because I would understand that it is Life that brings us all our most perfect learning and at the most perfect time.

  610. Because there is no limit to the extent to which the Universe is able to expand, there can be no limit to our potential learning.

    4. Brilliant point Alexis, I feel expanded when I embrace that we are all students of life, and with no perfection needed.

  611. I love being a student of life as it not only takes the pressure off an end result, it also offers us a world of exploration via our every movement, expression, spoken word and so much more. Life is to be lived, loved and explored for the depth and learning it offers. Thank you Johanna.

  612. We are made to continually expand and if we saw ourselves as the ‘forever students of life’ then this would lend itself to expansion, as opposed to how most of us are currently choose to live, which is in self imposed contraction.

  613. I love this reminder to be a student of life then there can never be .. I got there moment! because it is an continual unfolding journey with many wonderfull lessons and choices to make .. very humbling to see life like this as well.

  615. Living this way I would really learn, there wouldn’t be the faltering there can be now in the fear of getting something wrong and being shamed for it or feeling the shame of past mistakes. How much embracing of life we would be. Well worth appreciating this way of living and giving ourselves permission to learn.

  616. Beautiful nutshell article Johanna. I love the idea of being a student of life, and it is in fact the most interesting study of all. In fact when I think of it, even my major study at University which was English Literature was about the study of life because that is what literature is – a looking at the way we live – though I do certainly acknowledge that this was at a mental level. Being a true student of life is about studying and learning to read energy and to continuously bring more awareness and love to the world.

  617. I just read another blog where it talked about the pressure of having to have the answers. Being a student of life, means that we are open to learning all the time, and it does help to remove the pressure of having to know it all as we are always learning.

  618. There is simply no end point to learning… we are forever students.
    We cannot deny that we learn something new every single day – whether that be about ourselves, others, life, the list is endless.

  619. As we travel through life as a student we are forever growing in awareness through the experiences and relationships we encounter. These can be moments of expansion or contraction according to our responsiveness.

    1. Definitely. One possibility can be an initial expansion followed by a shrinking from that expansion.

  620. This is a great one for teachers as so often we think we have to have all the answers but this openess to life as a learning takes that pressure off and allows you to be more real.

  621. Being a student of life removes all pictures and expectations that we can layer ourselves and others with. There is freedom to explore and an acceptance and understanding that we all will graduate in time.

  622. “What if life was all about the many opportunities to master our own heart?” – This sentence alone, takes the focus away from the doing, and brings it back to the being, and the quality that we can bring to each and every situation.

  623. Johanna, this is a gorgeous approach to life, and is so allowing and so supportive – an approach I would love to integrate more deeply into my life! I certainly find it hard to not be critical about myself when I make mistakes, but when you see ‘mistakes’ as part of the learning process and a natural part of it too, then it all becomes one beautiful experience to allow as an unfoldment and as a ‘bonus’ there is growth and evolution. How could this be anything but beautiful?

  624. No judgement can enter if we are a Student of Life, a constant learning and like you say with no right or wrong, just a keep on going and never get tired. I love your example about a baby ‘Never does that baby judge itself about the fact that it has fallen, but he or she is constantly part of the learning to take steps.’ It is just what we are doing in life; taking steps to evolve in the rhythm we choose.

  625. Life would be a whole lot simpler and more enjoyable that’s for certain. If we removed judgment from our daily beingness, we’d simply feel freer and naturally accept everyone all the time. The world would no longer suffer the tension it’s under at the moment.

  626. I love observing toddlers, like really love, observing them! In their utter naturalness they have not taken on right or wrong or I made a mistake.. when they fall down they simply get up again allowing the impulse to move, to keep going, to learn – their curiosity insatiable. Their desire to learn is not a desire but an impulse that hasn’t yet been messed with the concept of ‘need to do better,’ ‘need to be different/other than I am’. To return to this way of being in the world would be truly liberating!

  627. We can become so caught up in right and wrong, good and bad, obsessing over mistakes we’ve made and spending so much time berating ourselves, rather than allowing ourselves the grace to grow and learn.

    1. This is so true, and those thoughts can be harsher on ourselves than what we would ever have dished out to others. That it makes me wonder what we get out of it – what’s the point?

      1. I agree Julie – my inner voice is far harsher and more critical than I would ever allow myself to direct to other people

    2. If we put as much effort into ‘being’ and working together then we would have a completely different way in our society as a whole.

  628. So beautifully shared – I watch my young daughter experiment with life – no holding back – no delay. Just a constant expansion of what is next left to learn and discover. This wisdom is a great reflection to all of us who are also forever learning and refining and experimenting.

    1. We can learn so much from our children if we can move away from the mindset that they have to learn from us all the time. Their natural wisdom and zest for life is such a joy to observe and it is a great reminder that this is in us too!

  629. Living with the belief that if we do something wrong we are going to be punished for it, is so harming to the body. Yes, we all make mistakes, but when we do we have an opportunity to learn from them so that we won’t make them again, and if dealt with in this way then it is possible to accept that whatever we do is not the end of the world. We can then move on and not hold the guilt of making the mistake in our bodies. Whereas if we judge another and continually put them down for doing something wrong, this is going to have a long lasting and potentially devastating affect on their health and well being.

  631. Another aspect of being a student of life is the fact that it offers us the freedom to question everything, literally. There is so much we take for granted, so may we accept as jut being the way it is, so much that we never even once questioned the why or how of. Being a student allows to look at life with fresh eyes and ask: is that actually feeling true to me?

    1. Great point. When we look at just how much ‘information, patterns, ideals, beliefs, etc’ get handed down in society and in families we are born into. then we can begin to see just how much we almost blindly accept and never question. Great question that gives ourselves permission to begin to be with our inner wisdom – is that true for me?

  632. Boy did it take me some time to get the main lesson in life: that there is no right and wrong, only learning. I was deeply entrenched in trying to be good, get it right, be the good…what ever role I would put upon myself. This way of being doesn’t allow for feeling the huge support that is there from the entire universe which is saying ‘you are already everything, now just learn to live it’.

    1. Very gorgeous Carolien. And the beauty is that in every single moment we have the choice to feel, to choose to be with all we are or be ingulfed with the issues life brings. Our learnings are just us learning to our true selves and bring that to all of our life.

    2. I too took so long to accept, and it is on-going learning to live, that there is no right or wrong, just what there is, without judgment. With this change, and that one is already everything, brings such a difference to life – life becomes ever more expansive.

  633. Such a great read Johanna, seeing ourselves as students of life allows us to be gentle and understanding of life’s ebbs and flows.

  634. Ok, so I’ve had what I would class as a seriously bad day at work. The want to run away from the situation and judge myself harshly has been my go-to reaction. But what could this day be offering me to learn? Already I feel less tense and harsh towards myself by just asking this question.

  635. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to be hard on yourself in anyway. It is perhaps one of the greatest impediments to being a true student of yourself and life.

  636. Student of life takes the pressure of and it feels like you can breath. I know I have had hundreds of expectations that I should know things and not given myself the chance to learn. Once I registered this pattern it was so loving to let go of it and give myself the space to learn.

  637. Accepting ourselves as students of life prevents that malaise and giving up feeling that can happen in old age. We are here to keep learning till we die, and death itself is the ultimate lesson. Preparing for our dying begins as soon as we are born as the quality of how we live is how we die.

  638. I love how the word student allows for you to learn, it allows for you to make mistakes and discover things that may need changing. After all – we’re here to learn and falling down, mistakes, ugly discoveries are all part of what ultimately makes life magical.

    1. It is interesting to look a bit deeper to where the judgement comes from, as indeed, why should we judge if we know that everybody is the same, on his or her way back to a way of being we all once lived before. Could it be that judgement has its basis in the way we have separated form one another and in that, we do not recognise anymore we are all one and the same?

  640. “What if we saw ourselves as students of life – a student that never saw anything we did as wrong but actually an opportunity to grow, to deepen, to expand?” I simply love this, its the way we can be as students yet its so rare for us to actually live in this way, being open to whatever is next asking how do I grow and evolve from it.

  641. We were having a group discussion recently and what was presented was that actually if we just take a step back when something happens or goes wrong in our lives, if without out any judgment or self-critique and unpick the out play that happened, then we can get to feel that actually there is so much to learn and master about ourselves. I felt it was like being like Sherlock Holmes investigating the problem with no set outcome. See it all for what it is and move on.

  642. “Never does that baby judge itself about the fact that it has fallen, but he or she is constantly part of the learning to take steps.” – This statement sure puts things in perspective and makes any judgement we have for ourselves or others seem quite silly, really. The question is, why do we hold a different consideration for babies compared to us as adults?

  643. There is an amazing freedom in allowing ourselves to learn – to stumble, to fall and pick ourselves up to give it another go, without the crushing judgement that comes in when we think we need to get it right or be perfect.

  644. Perceiving ‘mistakes’ without judgment, as opportunities to learn, rather having got something wrong brings lightness, joy and love to and for life.

  645. This approach to life certainly simplifies things! Letting go of the judgement on ourselves and/or others gets rid of the distraction from just truly allowing ourselves to understand more and learn and grow with that. It’s not that we then don’t care about the quality of choices that we make or how others behave but we actually care more.

  646. An inspiring blog Johanna. There is a lovely open quality felt in the words of ‘being a student of life’ that has a sense of no expectations or end results required to better ourselves or become perfect, No exams or competition with another – only learning from our experiences through life in order to open open our heart more fully to return to the love we naturally are.
    “What if we saw ourselves as always being a student, a student of life, one that can never actually graduate per se, but one that was on a continuous journey of learning?”

  647. If there would be no right or wrong there could only be the moment itself and the consistent moments that join to make one life, there would be a sense of presence in and with oneself that needs nothing more than to be in the moment and to take each step as they happen. This way of living feels like freedom and a weight has been lifted.

  649. Great invitation to explore our relationship with learning: how am I with learning? Do I want to learn as fast as possible so I can graduate and get to the top of the class, and be just that bit extra special than everyone else? Or, do I appreciate that there is no graduating to be done, no need to justify my existence by being better than another.. that life is endlessly offering us opportunities for learning in each moment, and appreciate the richness of that. When I surrender to the fact that there is no graduation, my whole body relaxes and I allow the space to learn as I go. One thing I have learned – I learn far less when I put pressure on myself to get it all now, and to get it right. Learning requires space.

    1. I agree Bryony, learning does require space and like you, I have found the more space I give myself, the more I fully embrace and claim each step. It can be so easy to want it all now and not actually do any of the work to get there and then get frustrated for not being able to sustain it. Just like building a house on sand with no foundations, it is liable to collapse at any moment if we do not make each and every step solid with the love that we are. A friend said to me recently, how appreciation is like the cement in between the bricks, so it is an important element in building our house (our body) of love.

  650. When we consider that life is not about being right or wrong but about being true, which allows us space to deepen and learn without fuss.

  651. What would we be without this ‘student of life’ mentality? How much would we have made it based on ‘right or wrong’ , and how truly enriched or maybe even poor would this make us be? Hence, this blog shows us that we are never not students, only we can play smaller or grander than we are, but that only makes life hard, complex and pretending to be impossible.

  652. Every “challenge” is an opportunity but do we perceive it like this? Taking a 180 degree turn as you suggest and letting that be the case, we can lighten up and move forward and what is seen a mistake is but a mis take and every moment we have another opportunity to take and/or receive differently.

  653. Being a student of life takes away all the pressure to be perfect. Seeing each and every moment as an opportunity to learn from, to evolve back to living the love we are, that brings a whole new meaning and purpose to life. So knowing whatever is before me is exactly there for me to learn from, it takes the overwhem away and brings in ‘the bring it on, what’s next’ playfullness to life rather than the seriousness of wanting and needing to get it right.

  654. A very timely blog for me at the moment. Thank you Johanna for writing so clearly and simply about this subject. Self judgement can come in, but really this is just a tactic we use to avoid the learning we have on offer. Such a beautiful way to live, to see life as a bounty of opportunities to learn and therefore a loving supportive school, rather than a punishment or banishment.

    1. Well said Andrew – the moment self judgement comes in, it is simply a form of sabotage. The best word we could possibly use is ‘whoops’ if and when we make a mistake! I too can certainly put this more into practice!

  655. As I started to connect with this blog I had an immediate sense that there would be no ‘condemnation’ of others. If something went awry, there would be understanding, love and support for the learning that is required…but no judgment and blame. A life full of opportunity without condemnation feels good to me.

  656. “Being a Student of Life” – as I see it, is really learning to embrace the ageless teaching: that we are a student first and foremost and always will be this because our learning is infinite.

  658. I feel we all know we never stop learning about ourselves and life (unless we are a bit on the arrogant side) so the thing is to acknowledge this fact and roll with it.

  659. The hurts that come up are not bigger than seeing life as ‘mastering my own heart’. I get hurt but it is not a reason to see myself better than another and judge them. The hurt comes up, a wonderful opportunity to heal but never is it an opportunity to be hard and beat myself up.

  660. ‘How would life be if we just saw it as a plethora of opportunities?’ I love this question, Johanna. This would certainly change our outlook, our choices and our responses to life.

  661. Could it be that because we actually do know that we are already masters we are sometimes not so great at dealing with mistakes, we actually know that we do know better?

  662. There are many that are now back on the bus, on the journey back to who we all are. We did not lose our destination overnight and it will take time, but we all have seat booked to come back to ourselves.

  663. There is so much joy in the toddler learning to walk, it stands up bumps down, stands up bumps down, giggles, stands up bumps down, smiles, stands up bumps down and giggles again. We can learn so much observing the lightheartedness of a small child learning. When they make a mistake they say ‘oh dear’ or ‘whoops’ there is an acceptance which as adults we so often loose.

  664. Embracing this attitude of being a student of life is a wonderful approach to life. It takes all the pressure off when we perceive to have made a mistake, which in fact could be our greatest healing, if we have learned and grown in the process. This prepares us for our next opportunity and learning in our cycle.

  665. “Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.” I have spent many years of my life trying to be perfect to make sure I would never do something wrong or would be faced with a moment to learn from and I would feel crushed when this would be not the case. Of course I did not do this consciously but it was definitely how I felt about things going wrong and I felt like my image would come down. Yet we never can be perfect and as you say it is about learning to be with these moments of mistakes and learnings that will change how we feel about ourselves and will make true growth possible in life.

  666. I am all for “letting our heart lead the way” as it is pretty clear that when we let the mind lead we get led in directions that are definitely not in our best interests. Our mind tries to convince us that if we get this degree or that diploma that our learning will be complete but our heart knows that our learning will never end until our last breath in this life. The eternal student, that is what we are.

  667. Thank you Johanna. What an amazing journey of discovery awaits us when we are encouraged to throw out the many concepts we cling to about how life should be, and simply re-connect to the innocence commitment we had as children when we were learning to walk.

  668. An opportunity to learn from life as we live it that requires no text book because we already know the truth.

  669. What a great question you pose. All judgement and critique of self and from there of others does fall away when we are in the curiosity and wonder of of ourselves.

  670. How can we learn if we don’t make mistakes? The Oops book by Tanya Curtis and Desiree Delaloye is a beautiful example of how we need to be kind to ourselves when we mess up. Yet as an adult rather than see mistakes as opportunities for learning I judge myself more harshly than others with regard to ‘mistakes’. Subtle perfectionism is a killer.

  671. When we open ourselves to be a student of life or have the willingness to learn whatever there is to learn for us, much of the tension we feel dissolves simply because we don´t need things to be different than they are based on an expectation, picture and consequently judgment we otherwise hold over ourselves or others. In other words, we are willing to understand what is actually going on and from and with that understanding life is recognísed as the classroom of our evolution.

  672. Summed up simply – we are students of life. We wouldn’t be where we are at now without all the opportunities we have, and have not embraced. It makes sense to take stock as often as needed to appreciate what we have embraced.

  673. Learning is not about getting something right. It is about connecting to truth and living it. The classroom of life is a space that is constantly communicating truth.

  674. There can’t be any judgement in learning, as every supposed mistake is an opportunity to grow, discard or confirm whatever we need to embrace at each moment.

  675. When we see life as the constant opportunity to evolve that it is, it transforms the things that we previously saw as being ‘difficult’, into nuggets of potential gold.

  676. Johanna, if we adopted the approach that you have shared, then life as we know it would transform beyond recognition. If we all saw life as the constant opportunity to evolve that it is, then we wouldn’t get continually bogged down in the petty squabbles that we all do. Life for most is made up of a constant pushing and pulling, we resist and struggle against so many aspects of our life and each time that we do, another opportunity to evolve passes us by. Life IS a constant opportunity to evolve, that’s actually what it is and if we saw it as such, as you suggest, then we would be flying in no time, rather than dragging our sorry heels in the mud.

  677. There is something very beautiful and grounded about this line, “Life presents many situations to learn from and it is how we are with those learnings that is important.” To me it takes the enormous pressure off to have it all together and to be perfect, which is not true in the first place. We are here to re-connect to the truth of who we are. When we resist learning from certain situations, we hold back from seeing and feeling the depths of ours and others divinity.

  678. Being a student of life means seeking perfection is not part of the curriculum, and I agree Johanna neither is, say, graduation where we complete our studies, because the journey of evolution simply is a never ending process and we just keep learning.

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