When I started viewing life more like a school than a battlefield or chessboard, my life, peace, and success have improved dramatically. In college you enroll in a degree or certificate program in your field of choice.  You have to first complete a core curriculum of general studies before you can advance to your major classes.  And within the core curriculum there are certain classes that require prerequisites before you can move forward.  An example would be completing Lit 101 and 102 before you can move on to 200 and 300 level classes.  If you don’t pass a required course you have to take it again until you get the passing grade. A mentor and dear friend Steve D’Annunzio shared the concept that life is no different than school.  There are lessons we have to learn to move forward, and when we don’t learn the necessary information, we have to repeat the lesson over and over until we learn what we need to know to move forward.  Have you ever found yourself in the same bad position over and over again whether it be the same kind of relationship, the same money problems, the same job issues, or anything else that seems to be attracted to you? Chances are that there is a lesson there that has not been learned that contains exactly what you need to know to move onto the next step of exactly what you want. When you look at life this way there are no mistakes, only necessary valuable lessons.  You can enjoy the times that are great and realize that when they are not you are in the midst of a pre-requisite needed to take you where you want to go. In summary, I would like to share what is posted on my wall in the office to remind me that I am in a school called life and that even the bad is good:

1. We live in a school called Life
2. There are no mistakes, only valuable lessons
3. A lesson will be repeated until it is learned
4. Each time a lesson is repeated it becomes more painful
5. The greatest lesson we can learn is choose Love over Fear