I was about ten years old, walking up my street, when a younger neighbor named Tom came out from the wooded empty lots and said he’d found an enormous turtle. “Come see it,” he said, and of course, I followed.

Seeing a child’s eyes light up is a wonderful experience. When they finally understand something, grasp a concept, have an insight, or finally see what was hidden, they are a step closer to reaching the fullness of their life. For me, their most touching Ah Ha’s are those of the heart. 

After a lifetime of learning, you find yourself with a wealth of knowledge—perhaps even a wealth of wisdom. One of the natural fruits of living and learning is that we deepen and expand our worldview. Every new insight expands our comprehension of existence itself.

When I was nine years old, I met a set of my grandparents for the first time. It was a wondrous adventure sailing to England, my mother’s homeland, and meeting all the relatives I had only heard about. There would be hundreds of new things my brother and I would learn during the summer in and around Northumberland, with Mom and her family. 

As we live and learn, many of our most meaningful lessons are enlightening and heartwarming. They often turn into our most cherished memories. Perhaps your mother or father once pointed to a breathtaking sunset, and from that experience, you learned that the world turns. Maybe you watched birds build their nests and felt wonder stir within you. Or someone special may have taught you how to ride a bike or drive a car, and your world grew larger that day. Living and learning are not always about difficult experiences. It can include all the happy surprises and the Ah Ha’s of life. 

I learn something new every day. Many of those lessons are not pleasant, yet each one brings me into a deeper fullness of my humanity. We are all on a lifelong journey toward self-actualization, the unfolding of our true selves. But this “apex” of our identity is not a fixed peak. It continues to expand as we grow in consciousness, drawing us ever upward.

One of the first things we ever learn in life is trust. Our first course in trust might be called Nourishment 101, and we took it as infants. From our first breath, nourishment was essential, but we were helpless to provide it for ourselves. Our caretakers held our survival in their hands. We had to learn to trust them for food, warmth, love, and care. And food was the very first practical lesson. The feeding process itself became the laboratory for Trust 101.

We invite you to join us for this week’s series of Daily Reflections: “You Live and Learn.”

The old saying “You live and learn” has been around for centuries, appearing in English writings as far back as the 1500s. Its meaning is timeless: we gain wisdom and understanding through life’s experiences, especially the difficult or surprising ones. George Gascoigne wrote in 1576 in his play, “The Glass Government,” that life itself is a kind of school, and according to our teachers, our mistakes become lessons.