So many of us live lives that are good, fine, maybe even appear to be fabulous to the outside world, especially in terms of social norms. Every day I learn more and more that this life is so much more than I ever knew it was... so much more than the picture perfect lives so many of us seem to be striving to put forth for others to witness, for others to give their stamps of approval, to nod and validate our hard work. I'm learning that life is a true journey, and I don't mean that in a la la la, whimsical metaphorical kind of way. I really see it now- that life is a journey of self discovery, of worldly discovery, of Spiritual discovery. Like that's the whole point! All the stuff that we do during that journey- the family parties, the relationships, the education experiences, the traveling, the drug and alcohol binges, the time in prison, the participation in a civil rights movement, the wealth, the poverty, the highs and the lows... all of it- is how we learn. All of the experiences we have are our teachers.

As an early childhood educator, I always view the environment as a teacher in itself, and the same goes for everyone's environment, regardless of age or school status. Just as young children learn best by hands-on exploration of toys, sensory experiences, real relationships, opportunities to solve problems important to them, opportunities to resolve naturally occurring conflicts with peers... so too do we learn our biggest lessons, our deepest Truths, through hands-on exploration here on Earth.

When did we as a people decide to take this playful learning process and make it so serious? When did we as people decide that there was some end goal that was better than some other end goal? There is SO. MUCH. MORE. to this Life Journey, than I ever gleaned possible in my earlier years. I so bought into the rhetoric that one of the most important things to do is decide what I want to be when I grow up- choose what to study in college, choose a location to live, find a high paying job and climb that ladder so that every year I would move up, make more money, hit another "milestone" of marriage, car, house, promotion, babies, pets, vacations, etc. About mid-way through college I began to discover that this wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, and as an opinionated young adult, and I guess just as ME, I told people about it, beginning with my family. I became the rebel. I became the odd one. I didn't intend to not hit those "milestones," but look! I didn't hit any of them! And I look at that now and I laugh and I smile and my heart is so full! I am on my Life Journey. And I KNOW it.