Learning

2020 may have been a year of radical shocks, disruptions and dissonance. It was a year of endings. Much of our normal way of life ended. Our ability to travel, hug each other and feel safe being in public ended. The entire globe was thrown into a transition of massive proportions.

When something becomes “second nature,” it’s instinctive and natural. And, to “nurture” is the process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something.

Oh, how I wish I could be a BuSu: a Buddhist Surfer. One basic tenet of Buddhism is that comparison equals suffering. I realized this is why I took to meditation in my twenties, but yoga eluded me. I meditate with my eyes closed so I don’t compare how I’m doing with everyone else, but put me in a yoga class with a bunch of able, limber bodies and I become “Conley, the critic”...not of them, of me.

Change is good, right? Rather than offer you a book review each Friday as I’ve done since Wisdom Well began more than a year ago, I’m going to offer you a book a month post twice a year. Here’s my list for the first half of 2021.

An MEA alum recently asked me, “What could be my most powerful resolution for 2021?” I told him that “learning how to learn” would offer him huge collateral benefits. The magic of our MEA workshop curriculum is just that.

These four beautiful words have been attributed to Michelangelo as the last sentence he ever uttered. It’s also been said that the same mantra appeared above the doorway to the entrance of his studio. What a full life this human lived.

When I was in fifth grade, I had my first geography class. I remember pointing out on the map my hometown and feeling pride. We went on to learn about the next bigger town, the capital of the region, the capital of the country, other countries and their capitals, and eventually about the towns, cities, and countries of other continents. Learning about all these places excited me.

Recently, I was asked on a podcast about what someone my age could learn from someone half my age. Here was my spontaneous list, all of which is terribly generalized. Take what’s valuable to you and leave the rest:

Crisis and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. This past year, a series of crises have predominated. Yet, all kinds of trends - that were already gathering steam - have accelerated due to the pandemic. Here are five that I’m particularly intrigued by:

She was one of my best friends in my dermatology residency, the period of a physician’s education spanning three years after completing medical school followed by a one-year internship. Wickedly smart and unabashedly quirky, Dr. L had graduated from Princeton and earned an MD-Phd degree from one of the most prestigious medical schools in the United States, Johns Hopkins University.