Love of Learning and Another Next Step

“The present moment

is filled with joy and happiness.

If you are attentive,

you will see it.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Earlier today, I was glancing through my previous writings here on the Have an Optimal Day website. I've posted a writing piece just about every week over the past three and a half years (177 posts in 182 weeks, if you were curious). And this morning, as I glanced through the titles of these posts, I noticed that there is certainly a common theme to these writings.

A few months ago, I took the VIA Character Strengths Survey. My top three were strengths were Gratitude, Spirituality, and Love of Learning. As I looked over these previous posts, I could see these themes pop up over and over. So many things I'm grateful for. So many things I've been working through spiritually. So many things I'm learning and sharing.

I am a lover of wisdom and wonder. I love learning and exploring and trying things out that will make my life better and hopefully the lives of others around me as well. It seems that every few weeks, I'm sharing "something new" or another "next step" in my life. Today, I have another one to add to the list. I have another next step. In 10 days, I begin an MBSR course. It seems the perfect time for so many reasons.

This year, I received the Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant, The Writer's Contemplation. This is a summer renewal opportunity I will use to visit retreats and monasteries. The hope is to learn to quiet my mind and live my life more mindfully. I will use this experience to write and share the experience with my family, my students at the BC Schools, the inmates I work at the BC Jail, and those in my BC community.

I have many spiritual teachers I will be learning from, but I also wanted to add some evidence-based science to this spiritual, mindful adventure. I am a huge fan of Jon Kabat-Zinn, and I decided that his MBSR course would be a perfect compliment to this summer study. MBSR is "Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction." This is an intensive 8-week training in mindfulness. I am excited to begin this course as another Next Step to creating and living a great life.

As I begin this contemplative summer adventure, my hope is to share more frequently. Probably more for me than for you. I just want to be more attentive to the present moments because that is where we find joy and happiness. That is where we find real life. I just hope to be more attentive to the precious moments of life so I can see them and savor them. Gratefully. Spiritually. With a Love of Learning. With each Next Step.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash