Life experience enhances you. Opens your mind, expands your horizons, makes you a better person. Well, that’s a possibility anyway. You can also face life’s experiences with through a fixed lens. Old people are not always wiser, well traveled folks are not always open minded. Growth and change go hand in hand. Some fear change and thus stagnate and in the end turn to stone.

Some people can paddle all day and never notice the reflections in the water as anything other than an excuse to put on sunglasses. Some will see rain as a reason to wait, cold as an excuse to stay in.

Some mornings I have to remind myself of these things. It seems silly for sure. To let one side of your brain lecture the other before heading out for the day. The voice of the internal guru asks; “Are you ready to soak in the world today? Can you see past your own reflection? Is your mind open? Are your opinions locked away? Are you going to learn something from someone else? Are you going to see something in a new way? Will you try something different? Are you going to be. . . good?” I pause for a moment before answering my other self. . . “I think so. But on the other hand, my coffee’s cold and I’m feeling a bit stubborn!”

Well, I’ve got to run. I’ve got a class to teach!