The-Seasons-of-Life

The Seasons of Life

In his book, Today Matters, John Maxwell speaks about the value of recognizing the seasons of our life.  He reminds us that our life has seasons that are representatives of what has come before.  He writes about three seasons:  Learn, Earn, and Return.

When we are young, we are in the learning phase, and we get anxious to get going with our life; we get impatient.  Some people like to get started right away after they graduate from high school or even before.  Others are content with learning a trade and then moving into the earning phase.  Still, others go to college and add years to their preparation phase before earning a living.  There isn’t a right way to do this; it comes from our family background, parental guidance, success in school, and encouragement from others.  I know this; the more time we take to learn everything we can for however long this phase is, the better the Return later in life.

The second phase John speaks about is Earn.  In this phase, we are using our trade, experience, college, or whatever we did to prepare and begin to build our careers.  During this time, all forces come into play; our integrity, character, values, and virtues, all of them from our childhood and the learning phase, are now in the whole game.  If something comes forth as a flaw in our character, we can likely return to our learning phase and find that we need to imagine a better concept. Having a vague idea can affect us later in life, as John  Maxwell reminds us.

The third phase is the Return.  By laying a solid foundation while we are in our learning and earning period, I have found that we can help others and give back.  Return can be in the form of money, assistance, advice, or coaching.  In doing this, you will find the payback tremendous.  I have made a concerted effort to write, speak, coach, mentor, and work in various social media forums to benefit others.  These blogs are an example of the giveback in our fifties, sixties, seventies, and beyond.

By using this framework with kids, you help them be patient and build their skills in each of their seasons of life.  It gives kids and adults a larger framework amidst the crowded clutter of life.  At times we can’t see further than the next hour.  There is great benefit in pulling out the telescope lens of experience to the 1,000-foot view or even the 5,000-foot idea.  It helps us to see where we are and what is coming.  Never give up, never, never, and continue to work to improve yourself as you move through the various seasons of life.  I want to thank John Maxwell for this concept that I have written in this blog.

A closely related topic to The Seasons of Life, is this linked Balance–Seasons & Kids – Dr. Rich Patterson (pattersonphd.com)

Please find a Yoga approach to balance and seasons here The Four Seasons of Life- How to Adapt & Thrive | Arhanta Blog (arhantayoga.org)

Yours for a Better Life,

Rich