 Spiritual: January 23, 2008 Issue [#2187] |
  Spiritual
This week: Edited by: Puditat  
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Spiritual: relating to the spirit or soul and not to physical matter; intangible. Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus
This newsletter explores ideas of the spiritual nature that exists in each and every one of us in an open and non-judgemental manner.
Each editor brings to the newsletter their own backgrounds, experiences, beliefs and opinions. Whether you disagree, agree, doubt or applaud the views expressed, let us all show respect to each other. Together we can learn something about the many varied aspects of the spiritual self and enjoy our differences in true meaning of the Spirit of Community.
Enjoy! 
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 Being Teachable
Throughout life we learn. As soon as we emerge from the protective womb, our journey begins into a life of new wonders and possibilities. Have you ever come across someone who is unteachable? There are people like this, who don’t care, don’t want to care, and generally just live their life existing. How sad this is.
Life can plod for all of us; the mundane hum of life – eat, work, sleep, and the occasional play – becomes life as we know it. There is so much more. When we remain teachable it brings some excitement and impetus to our days. We open ourselves to a world full of mysteries, and sometimes, as adults, we can tend to forget about the exciting world around us. Even the younger of us can become weighed down under the required learning of school in subjects that they may not enjoy. This is a necessary step of our growth. The act of learning those subjects in itself helps us define where our natural interests lie as well as to build our determination to learn something even when we find it difficult. These are skills that will stand us in good stead throughout our lives.
Learning can involve things of the intellect – a new language, a degree in something or other, a new word or form of poetry. It can also be of the physical – attempting to ski for the first time, knitting a sweater, or strumming the first hesitant noises on a guitar. There is also spiritual learning – learning how to follow your God, learning how to live the way that your faith promotes, and so on.
A teachable person will also accept correction – acknowledging that they do not have all the answers. They will take advice and listen to those who’ve had experience in the same field. You must retain a willingness to accept when you’re wrong and the conviction to try again. This involves walking the sometimes tenuous edge between believing in one's own talent and having a precious ego that believes their own work is too perfect to require any amendment.
A critical part of being teachable is the willingness to try, accepting the high possibility that you’ll mess up, at least once. Failure is not failure, but merely an interruption in your path of achievement. Someone who is teachable will look at a negative incident/result and learn from it, changing their approach or putting more conviction into their efforts. An unteachable person will falter and usually give up and try something completely different, never returning to that task again. This is where we lose out -- when we give up too easily, and thus...fail.
Sometimes it is necessary to acknowledge that a certain activity is not for us, where we may lack a certain skill or aptitude. We also must recognise the difference between a passing notion of interest and a passion to do. They can seem similar at the start. When we hit a rock in our new-found learning, we must then analyze whether we have the drive to keep going, or whether the true passion was never present to begin with. If we give up something we really loved because it was too difficult, or we kept persevering at something we ultimately dislike, we will find frustration and disillusionment.
Knowing when to push forward and when to wisely resign takes a good deal of thought and self-examination. Being teachable helps us learn to recognise our own weaknesses as well as our strengths, thus allowing us to pursue that which thrills out heart, challenges our mind, and encourages our spirit.
If we have learnt to process our actions and futures in this way, we can drastically minimize any negative impacts associated with choosing to abandon a particular path. If we make such decisions with thoughtfulness, acknowledging our efforts are better spent in another field, then we have won. We have found out more about ourselves, and maintain the ability to give something else a go. Too easily our spirits become damaged when we believe we have failed, that we are just 'hopeless' because we couldn't get something. Nothing is hopeless, especially not you, or me...us.
Be teachable...open your hearts to the drawing of the new and be captured by this wondrous world of opportunities.
Until next time:
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The following are some items I found, each with its own perspective on growing and learning.
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 Nice exposition on "grace." I appreciate it.
Maria Mize 
Thank you! 
Ahhhh.... sweet, elusive grace. On the surface it seems so simple and easy, when in reality it's anything but.
It helps me to remember that I am a benefactor of God's grace, and should therefore pass it on. Sadly, it doesn't work every single time - I am human after all - but it does help.
Outstanding issue my friend, and THANK YOU for highlighting one of my poems! 
windac
I like your thought process. We can all stand to think about how much we have instead of how much we don't have, and thus be able to dish it out more readily. This applies not only in grace, but in time, charity, consideration, etc. Slipping up is very much human -- isn't it great God's grace is abundant! 
The write up on grace was very well done. However, you have dealt only with the human aspect of grace. The same issue of the newsletter showcases an item: By the grace of God. While it is fine to write about human grace, I wish you also write about God's grace in your next newsletter.
Dr M C Gupta 
Quite right! I have indeed focused on human grace in the last issue. God's grace is never-changing and a certainty, whereas humans is much less obvious and practised. I will consider tackling your suggestion in a future issue. Thank you!
You are so right. Grace is not a normal human reaction. We are conditioned to expect something in return for every good thing we do.
Fortunately for us, our Creator does have pure grace, and it translates into pure love and mercy.
Nice work.
Zeke 
Absolutely! I thank God that He knows our shortcomings and loves us anyway. 
What an excellent reminder, Puditat . Thanks!
Kenzie 
Thank you! 
Hello! My name is Grace and it's a wonder that your topic for this newsletter would be on Grace. I can not even begin to let you know how this name has impacted my life and so many others. When I was little I used to hate my name and wish it was different. The real reason I hated my name, as I got older and found out, is that my pesonality and who I am matches up to the Grace given us by God to give to others. Grace is a hard thing when under pressure from circumstances beyond my control. That is when I find grace available for me.
Gracious
Of all the beautiful feedback, each and every one of which I cherish, yours touched me the most. I think Grace is a beautiful name and it carries a wonderful heritage for you. I praise God that you have come to accept your name and what it means in and for your life. May you continue to experience the fullness of His grace, both in your own personal life and that which He gives you to share with others.
Hi Puditat
Without the gift of grace, I would be a miserable person. I like the point you make about dismissing yourself. My wife and I are both prone to moodiness. There are times when we just need to dismiss ourselves. We have learned to allow each other those times, knowing we will come back and communicate in a short time. As grace-receivers, we need to learn to be grace-givers also.
Thanks for your thoughts on grace.
larryp
Ai, I know what you speak of. Times of tiredness are particularly delicate for my husband and I. Isn't it great that our grace can continually improve to cover us and others at these times. I just wish it was more automatic, more natural in every circumstance. Thanks for sharing, Larry.
This article on grace was very helpful.You chose a perfect topic. I think we can all use a grace lesson from time to time. Especially, now at Christmas when we often find ourselves cursing sales reps at the local dept store while making a purchase to "bless" those we love.
I like that you show how if we just suck it up and show grace to start with many life's daily dramas can be avoided.
Merry Christmas,
Aleta
I love your timely example. Those shopping queues can be a great tester of our hearts, patience, and grace. As if that isn't enough, we then take our purchases out, get in our car and face the traffic!!! 
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