Wisdom's Watching 10/06/09

Tomorrow hopes that we have learned something from yesterday.

John Wayne
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Let's go.
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Here I am on the cusp of my 8th decade and it seems to me that life is still about learning the rules. As I was working on one of my paintings yesterday I was wondering if I will ever learn how to paint. I was an actor for 50 years and one thing I learned during that time was that I didn't know as much about acting as I thought I did. That's not so surprising, I suppose. One can say that about any of life's ventures.

In my youth I gleefully and proudly acknowledged that I was an actor. Then, a few times, and an unfortunately few times, I worked with older actors who really knew their business. Those few times opened my eyes to what the potential was for really excellent work and set me to learning more. No longer content with what I was capable of I set out to gain more knowledge of my craft and my art.

Leigh, in her journal http://leigh-mythoughtshonestly.blogspot.com/, writes "Living a life of possibilities and new experiences. My life's journey has been, and still is a learning experience."

I applaud that. I think this is the truth of things. The journey is all about the journey. The question "When will I learn to live?" is matched by "What will I learn today?" What will I learn today about life? And when my today becomes yesterday what will it mean to tomorrow? What new experience will I have, what new horizon of possibilities will come into view for me? What experiences of yesterday can I leave in the ground as seeds for tomorrow's harvest? Not just what rocky roads might I find tomorrow and how will I deal with them, but what challenges did I successfully meet yesterday and what did I learn from them?

We are all capable of more than we do. That's true. But it is also true that we are all more capable than we think we are.

"Will I ever learn and, if so, when?" I like to think that Lawrence Olivier, Leonardo Da Vinci and Albert Einstein were asking themselves those question right to the end.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
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May you be swift to love.
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P. S. My leg has much improved.