Big Love

Confronting a time of humility and honesty

My young children play a game. They ask you your name. You say it. Then they point to their nose and say, what’s this? You say nose. Then they form a cup with both hands and say what is in here? And you say nothing. Then they say You know nothing. Then giggles ensue.

Lately, I’ve come to see how true that is. It is humbling.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.

Confucius

For someone who loves to learn, shows others how to learn in fact daily, I know so very little.

Navigating life as a single mom is humbling. I have learned that there is support for those in a transition such as mine after a separation. Life coaches and career coaches are one option which I am pursuing.

In a recent coaching session I was asked the question: “If you could take any course, money and time were no objects, what would you study?”

The first idea I had was a cooking class in Tuscany. Next would be studying with a Feng Shui master. Then a Master Gardener Certification. Then a course on interior design. Then a PhD in psychology. So it goes. . .

In search of knowledge, understanding, and at times distraction, I found that with an Audible subscription many Great Courses lectures are available. Once my father had a large collection of the Great Courses and he would lend them to me to play the CDs in my car. The courses remind me of and connect me to him and his interest in learning new things. Over the past two years I have listened to some interesting Great Courses:

• Effective Communication Skills by Dalton Kehoe
• Lifelong Health: Achieving Optimum Well-being at Any Age by Anthony A. Goodman
• Stress and Your Body by Robert Sapolsky
• The Art of Conflict Management: Achieving Solutions for Life, Work, and Beyond by Michael Dues
• Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality 2nd Edition by Robert Sapolsky
• Sex, Love, and Marriage from the Middle Ages to Enlightenment by Jennifer McNabb

These courses have both informed and entertained me, kept me company on lonely nights. I like so many, strive to make meaning, to know how the world works, and my place in it.