…Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin
Education begins with an experience. It isn’t read, it’s walked through.
We must claim our role(s) in the stories we are experiencing, because it’s our experiences that will enlighten the chapters that are approaching.
When’s the last time you invited yourself to be involved in your life?
…the lesson(s) being taught are irrelevant.
Life constantly teaches us with ups and downs, sunrises and sunsets, waves crashing in and waves pulling out, shooting stars and those hung frozen in the cosmos and there is no pass or fail test. Only two requirements: look and listen.
Ask for openness. Whimsy swirls in fresh air.
Ask to be sponge-like. Soak it in.
Ask for availability. Open > Closed.
Ask, and it will be given to you.
If you ever get the opportunity to see the trees change from green to gold in Vermont, do it.
And take a copy of V is for Vulnerable by the great Seth Godin.
The changing leaves are falling memos if you’re willing to look and listen to them.
This will make more sense when you get there.
Burlington, Vermont October 2014
At all costs, be a friend.
We need this more than any other label you can earn, learn, choose, or become.
“Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .” C.S. Lewis
Few things are as effective for increasing empathy, obtaining enlightenment, and securing a plan of action for our lives, relationships, and businesses as swapping shoes with another.
Let’s not make this more difficult than it should be.
Ashton.Gustafson 
