Richard Wollheim

"Learning appears as a way of staying young, perhaps of staying alive, and also as a way of growing up, perhaps facing death."

— Richard Wollheim

British Author, Philosopher

1923 - 2003

Life-long learning is a powerful habit to develop.  Learning something new keeps us in touch with our youth and helps us to stay active and alive.  What have you learned in the last week?  Who has taught you something new about yourself or your art?  

We experience the world through our senses — hearing, seeing, tasting, touching and smelling.  And what we experience teaches us much if we are paying attention and alert to the possibilities.  Did you smell the wind today?  Did you hear the approaching storm?  Do you taste the rain on your face?

From the time we are born until we die, our purpose is to learn, to grow, and to change.  Most learning does not occur in school and we don't stop learning once we graduate.  Cultivate a learning attitude.  Unfortunately, many people do not learn from their mistakes.  They are not willing to change and grow.  To be a great artist or writer, you must be constantly learning about the world in which we inhabit.

And when we face death, it will teach us much that we have forgotten.  Do not be afraid of death.  Understand that it is a gift.  It is a door through which we pass, a gate that leads to another world.

Pam Shaw

"If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you'll find you've done it."

— Pam Shaw

When I graduated from college, I wanted to be a writer.  It took me four years to find employment as a writer.  My first job was writing policy and procedural manuals for a nursing home company.  I was very frustrated in those early years because I could only spend an hour or so every day writing poetry.  I wanted to be a full time writer of novels and poetry.  When I turned fifty, I realized that I had been writing my whole life and that I was a writer.  I may not be rich or famous or able to spend all day writing, but I still had written thousands of poems.  I believe that in the end we all end up doing what we are supposed to do.  At 61 I have spent 35 years working in health care and I know in my heart that is where I am supposed to be.  Yes, I am a writer.  I am a speaker.  And I touch people's lives.  So my advice to others is not to worry if you are not doing what you think you should be doing.  In the end we all do what we should do.  Pam Shaw, the author of the quote, was a school teacher before she became a top salesperson at Mary Kay Cosmetics.  I would change the quote to read:  Whether you are doing what you think you want or not, you are doing what you are supposed to be doing.

Ben Franklin

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."

— Ben Franklin

1706 - 1790

For many people learning stops after graduating from high school or college.  They stop investing in themselves.  While education will not cure all the world's problems, it will help us understand them and give us the skills to find the answers.  If you read a book a month, you are in the top one percent of the intellectuals in the United States.  When was the last time you learned a new skill?  When was the last time you invested in yourself?