You've probably heard the phrase "repetition is the mother of learning" well apparently it's also the mother of teaching. Often it seems, Life ? The Teacher uses the tool of repetition to imprint into our brains the lessons it's needing to impart to us. At least this has been my experience.

It has become clear to me that life gives the same tests over, and over and over again until we demonstrate that we've learned the lesson by passing the test. This teacher seems more than happy to show us again and again why it may be a bad idea to take a particular action, or choose one direction over another. The good news here is that it works both ways. Like any good teacher choose properly and life smiles. Choose improperly and life corrects.

Sometimes I wish and think that it would be simpler and easier if the teacher would just make all of my decisions for me and let me know exactly what I'm supposed to do, but of course that's not the way it works. In this teacher role life is just an administrator, not an advisor or counselor. Life is there to administer and grade the tests.

Once you pass the test however, Life records your grade and moves on to the next lesson. But don't completely discard the lesson you've just learned as over because it's not. You may not see or have to deal with this particular thing again for quite some time but you can bet at some point down the road you will see it again. The lessons and tests we've passed usually return in the form of pop quiz's. Out of the blue one day an opportunity to display this lesson learned will pop up and you'll have to conquer it all over again. If you fail or don't score high enough on this little pop quiz you'll have to deal with it more and more often until you pass the test again. Like starting over with it. The trick is to score high marks on the lessons because the higher the score the less often life throws it at you. Show a mastery of it, and it is presented as a test with much less frequency.

So the question: What are you tired of having to deal with day in and day out? What lesson do you feel life is beating you up with?

Want to get rid of it? Show life (and yourself) that you get it. Do whatever you need to do to display that you've mastered this particular lesson. Life will reciprocate by giving you a break from it. But remember, Life is smart. You can't trick it. The higher degree to which you display a mastery of the lesson, the less frequently life will re-present it to you.

Anyway, that's my take. What's yours?

Live some. Love some. Learn some. Everyday.

C...

Clyde Dennis, a.k.a. "Mr. How-To" has been writing and publishing Articles and Newsletters online since 1999. Clyde's company EASYHow-To Publications provides "How-To" information on How-To do, be or have just about anything one can imagine. For more information visit http://www.EASYHow-To.com. Email correspondence for Clyde should be sent to: cdennis@easyhow-to.com