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‘We carry within us the wonders we seek without us.’ Thomas BrowneI Read The Book, I Took The Classes Now What

It was 1997, I had just finished a graduate program in acupuncture, and it was time to take off the student cap and really look at how to apply what I learned to my business. At the time, I just thought to myself, “I read the book, I took the classes now what?

Looking back, I realize now I had begun using my Knowledge before I finished the class.

Turn Knowledge Into Action

If we don’t, we end up right where we started. A few weeks ago, I was at a conference and a woman came up to me introduced herself as one of my classmates of that time. She hadn’t done anything with her degree and she was hoping to find others to help her. She lingered stuck saying to herself, “I took the classes now what”? She didn’t turn knowledge into action.

We often do this in others areas of our lives too. If you apply what you learn each day to your life whether it’s a book you read or webinars you attend nothing happens you’re still stuck; unless you use what you learned in some manner.

As business people, we sometimes just read books or take the classes expecting a change that can’t come without action on our part.

There Is No Going BackKnowledge

There’s a story of a man who was walking in a lovely forest. As he moved deeper into to covering, his eyes saw a beautiful golden stairway leading up into the sky. It spiraled upward and the sun peering through the trees glistened off its gentle rising climb. The man chose to begin walking up the staircase. As he did, he noticed that as he stepped off each step it dropped off dissolving into the forest below.

There was no going back. When we begin a new journey or decide to change something about our career, our relationships, or health, for instance, it’s the same. Once we begin and experience the delight of this new slice of our life, we don’t want to go back.

We Have The Knowledge To Create Incredible Things

Our world is what we make it. We each have an incredible opportunity and obligation to continue forward. It’s in our personal growth that all things manifest. Many times, we just carry within us the wonders we seek without us, as Thomas Browne said. We have the knowledge to create incredible things within ourselves yet we do nothing to allow the wonders to burst forth and exist without us.

As an acupuncturist who specialty is baby boomers wanting to re-center their lives, I see people ‘get’ stuck and forget they’re in control of everything. When we finish a class or a ‘how-to’ book we know that what comes next is applying the knowledge or we end up right where we started.

This is true with everything. When we begin to use our education or even our natural skills, there is a layer of excitement. If we don’t later, we say it was a waste of time or money.I Read The Book, I Took The Classes Now What

I Read The Book, I Took The Classes Now What?

Many years ago the magazine, The New Yorker published a cartoon of a man standing at a crossroads with 2 signs. They read….

“To heaven,” the other, “Workshops on how to get to heaven.”

If you keep saying to yourself, “I read the book, I took the classes now what? It’s time to step into life and do the work.

 

 

 

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