21 Things I Keep Learning
Like the changing seasons, the work I do goes through phases. The classes and trainings I offer are popular for a while, then suddenly (or so it seems) they have no traction, nobody is interested. Or I get terribly curious about a certain topic or approach to the work and after a time of experimentation my interest wanes or I feel complete with my investigations. This is an organic process that I’ve often observed throughout 35 years of teaching, and it always leaves me wondering, what now? At first it is uncomfortable and evokes a lot of doubt and confusion. But I have learned to respect and recognize it as a necessary slowing down and reassessment of what could be called my “mission.”
I am in such a phase right now. Yet rather than anxiously worrying about it or furiously trying to figure out why it’s happening (like I used to do), I put on my Beginner’s Mind hat and asked myself, “What are the fundamentals of my work? What can I say truthfully with confidence, born of direct experience?”
Getting back to basics feels good, and I surprised myself with the number of fundamentals I came up with. What wasn’t a surprise was the fact that they don’t just apply to the work I do. They are all basic truths about what it is to live as a human being. So if I work to principle, as we Alexander teachers like to say, I cannot go wrong. I’m teaching and healing within the laws of Nature.
I also rediscovered that these are things I may know, but I only know them through learning and relearning about them as I move through my life day by day. So instead of definitive statements about what I think is true, I offer the list below as emergent foundations for living well. Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll take one or two and expand on them. You can follow on the WOW blog or on my soon-to-be-launched Substack (https://amywardbrimmer.substack.com/).
I welcome your thoughtful responses to any or all of them.
21 Things I Keep Learning
1. Life is dynamic. Like everything in nature, human life is defined by continual change and growth. We are here to learn. The world is a classroom, and every person you meet is either a teacher or a mirror. Sometimes both.
2. Life is finite. You’re not going to live forever. Your body will age (if you’re lucky), weaken, and die. You don’t know when this will happen.
3. Bodymind unity. There is no separation between the mind and the body. They don’t have a “connection,” they are two aspects of the same unified system.
4. Change how you think, change how you move. Move differently, feel better. Feel better, live better.
5. Everything is connected. Anything you can know or experience or imagine is part of one integrated force (for lack of a better term). Everything, no exceptions.
6. All success is shared success. Nobody accomplishes anything by themselves; we each have a community of support, both ancestral and current.
7. You are responsible for you. Nobody else can do it for you, we can’t assign our personal process to another person. It’s your life, and only you can live it.
8. People are inherently good, whole, and creative.
9. People are capable of cruelty, selfishness, and stupidity.
10. There are no “negative” emotions, just difficult or unpleasant ones.
11. There are no “positive” emotions, just easy or pleasant ones.
12. Stop trying. “Do or do not – there is no try.” Yoda was right. Well, Yoda and every wise person who has ever lived and shared this truth.
13. The body cannot lie, it is your best ally. OMG, is this not great news? What a relief! Finally, something that can be trusted as a guide, a barometer, a pal.
14. The human energy field is real and extends beyond the skin. It’s no less real than your breath, your blood, and your bones. It is substantial, can be measured, and is part of what connects you to everything else.
15. It is less stressful to be present than not. Even if what you are present for is stressful. Disconnection adds stress. Present moment connection reduces it.
16. Nature is trustworthy. Manufactured goods, systems, and ideas? Not always.
17. Flaws and failings are inevitable. You can’t prevent them, no matter what you do. But why would you want to? They are our best teachers when we allow ourselves to learn from them.
18. Curiosity can take you a long way. It may have killed the cat, but for humans it helps you stay open, aware, and connected. It is impossible to be bored if you’re curious.
19. Everyone is worthy of the life that has been entrusted to them. Everybody has the right to take up the space they occupy.
20. Happiness is an inside Job. Satisfaction from external sources is only temporary. True peace of mind is not dependent upon conditions being or staying a certain way.
21. What happens after we die is unknown. The best we have are guesses, and the mystery is what matters.