LESSONS FROM LIFE

Life is a learning experience, is it not?  You can learn something from anyone, and take a lesson from anything that happens around you. Not everything is learned from books! (And there are some people who can only learn from peeing on the electric fence; but I digress.)

For example, I learned from Sandra, a 16 year old girl who, for a brief time was my au pair 30 years ago, that if you add a squeeze of tomato ketchup and an egg to the hamburger mince, along with the chopped onions and black pepper, the burger is much more moist and delicious. Try it! My burgers are legendary (according to my youngest son). Thank you Sandra!

Tanya, a lady who comes swimming in my pool, said that if you cut a cucumber and rub the cut side over surfaces in the pantry etc, it will keep away ants. It does!

I even learned something from a gentoo penguin on the Antarctic Peninsula. I saw this little fellow toddle up from the water and slowly climb a rock face up to its nest. May I remind you that penguins have no hands. He just hopped up, one rock at a time, until he reached the top of this 5 metre wall. It was a lesson in tenacity.

I had an elderly patient many years ago who commented on how I had tension in my hands because I was interlacing my fingers and twiddling my thumbs, and she noted that this tension would make me feel more tense overall. She advised me to sit with my hands sort of cupped in my lap like this:

And it would help me find physical and mental relaxation. She was right! She wasn’t a yoga teacher or anything, just a nice old lady I was looking after in hospital. Oh man, can you learn a lot from your patients. Learning how to listen is probably the most important lesson. (Also learning how to write prescriptions legibly, after I nearly poisoned a patient with an overdose of medication; but that’s another story.)

From my sensei (I did karate for 3 years, back in the day) I learned that even when you think you have nothing left and that if you do one more squat kick, you will die…you can do it and you won’t die. And that the training session will end eventually! Goes for any sport really. If I ran marathons, (which I will never do, ever) I am sure the same lesson would be there. (Except I WOULD probably die, so that’s a reason not to run marathons. People forget that the Greek dude who ran the first marathon, Pheidippides, actually DID die after running 42kms from Marathon to Athens.)

From the Arabs, (yes, I SAID you can learn something from anyone!) I learned a saying:

‘When your son is small, be a father to him; and when he is grown, be a brother to him.’

I think that holds well with for mothers/daughters too.

From the Arabs also comes the saying, ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’ which sort of explains a lot of global politics, no? 

From my twin babies, I learned that boys and girls are born different, and from my difficult experiences breastfeeding my children I learned that everything I had learned in med school about breastfeeding was wrong. And then I made a career out of it as a lactation consultant. Is there a milky way to say ‘Lemonade from lemons’?

Of course, there is no end to what you can learn from raising your children. Patience and tolerance are up there in the top 5. (And sometimes there are lessons learned well, too late to be of use for raising children BUT most helpful for dealing with grandchildren!)

From my brother Marvin, z”l, I learned that a cynical viewpoint can shorten your life. (And that, if you can’t be a good role model, then at least be a striking object lesson to others.) There really is a power to positive thinking.

And from certain opponents in Words with Friends I have been taught a harsh lesson in humility (I’m talking about YOU, Rochie)! I really used to win 80-90% of my games, and currently I am being slaughtered and have won only 2 of my last 10 games! I’m hoping to make a comeback some time soon. But I am chastened. I’m learning.