Life is one big schoolroom. There are many subjects we must master if we want a good life—friendship, self-care, financial responsibility, healthy habits. The motif that underlies all these subjects is always the same…how I can imbue my thoughts, my speech, and my actions with loving awareness. This is the sole purpose of this school.
There are different grades in the school for love. Some of us are in grammar school, some are in high school and some are in college. No matter if we have just begun our education or are ready to graduate, we are all here as students learning how to love.
Your training about love isn’t limited to romantic relationships. Every person you meet, every experience you have, every triumph, every failure, these all offer you the opportunity to deepen and broaden your ability to love. Are you kind to your pet? Did you retaliate when you were frustrated? Were you helpful to your neighbor? Did you share bread with a hungry stranger? These are all tests.
You are tested often. Life tests you. How you fare on the tests determines whether you pass or fail, advance, or are held back. If you fail, (consistently choose unloving actions), you have to repeat the course. If you pass, you are able to move on to more difficult challenges, eventually graduating to another grade. Even failure is progress, but only if you are able to learn from your mistakes.
Great challenges in your school for love arise with those who are close to you—your parents, your children, your immediate family, and your intimate friends. These are people with whom you have close attachments. The greatest challenge you face, however, is with the person you live with, work with, play with, and share your bed. Day after day, you must try to resolve conflicts and create harmony with this being who has a different upbringing, different beliefs, different habits, different likes, and dislikes. Your partner’s needs must be respected. your partner’s voice must be heard. Your partner’s feelings must be honored. Your relationship with your partner is where you can be most easily frustrated. It is with your partner where your most difficult tests lie.
It is sobering to remember that you are not alone in loveschool. Your partner is also enrolled. Your partner too is tested. Of course, the most difficult challenges your partner must face comes in the process of living with you.
As you make progress in your classwork, gain a deeper understanding of love and apply the things you have learned to your everyday life, you will become a more loving and lovable person. Your relationships will become peaceful and supportive and your life will become filled with joy.
To help advance in your studies, always keep this in mind: I am enrolled in a school for love. Everything that happens to me is part of the curriculum. The things I learn will affect the whole of my life. Whether I fail or graduate, it is up to me, and no one else. Once you understand and accept this, you can sit down and get to your homework.
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