A Valuable Lesson

    

We hear it all the time; "You just learned a valuable lesson".  If you're the one saying that, you're more that likely wrong. What you are probably observing is someone being taught a lesson. It's up to them how valuable it is AND you have absolutely no idea whether or not they actually learned anything.
     Two of my favorite words are opportunity and reflect. They don't necessarily go hand in hand, but they are words with meaning. I look at everything as an opportunity. I take time to reflect on a regular basis. I can't help it. I'm just wired that way. I met a wonderful song writer this past weekend (Jeannie) and she spoke the same language. She said, "I wouldn't know how not to". How cool is that?
     All lessons come at a price, even if "your time" was the price. Wrapping your car around a pole while drunk, and walking away without a scratch, is a lesson. What if the lesson you learned was that you were invincible? Valuable? Maybe. The opportunity is there, if you set aside the proper time and effort and  reflect, you may get closer to the true lesson. Perhaps, you learned nothing. See what I'm saying? We all think you learned a valuable lesson, but we are wrong.
     What is a valuable lesson worth to you? Can you put a number to it? It's sort of a sliding scale. I would want to know what the lesson was first. Sometimes we get an incredible deal, sometimes we pay full price. For some folks, over paying takes a back seat to oblivion. Like paying $1000 to walk through a gate from here to there. That's it, nothing more. Hmm. I'm always curious to whether we get better or worse at learning lessons as we age. When a baby touches the hot oven, he gets a lesson. It hurts and there is lots of commotion. If the baby never touches the hot oven again he learned a lesson. Valuable to him? A baby has no context of value, but yes is the answer. As we get older, we ponder "risk verses reward". A prepaid lesson opportunity?
     The older we get, we tend to loose sight of the cost associated with learning. We assume everything outside if the class room should be free. If you learned a valuable lesson, how much would it be worth to you? For this, there are no coupons, no prepaid vouchers. When opportunity knocks, answer. When it's all said and done, reflect. If you have ever purchased bottled water, never complain about paying for a valuable lesson. There is no shame in it and and no such thing as being scammed.