“Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.” — Chinese Proverb

Thoughts on Today’s Quote

Teachers take many forms in our lives. Our parents and siblings are our first teachers as they show us how to do the basics like walking, talking, early social skills etc. Then teachers come into our lives when we start school. Later, people and experiences continue to teach us in a less formal way than teachers.

Teachers, regardless of the form they are, can only present us with the information. They can challenge our understanding of the material and how it can be applied in our lives but, it is each of us who has to take what is presented and form the understanding.

When we do poorly at learning a subject, it’s easy to blame a teacher for that poor outcome. It’s easy to claim the teacher doesn’t do their job and isn’t teaching right. It’s much harder to face the fact that we’ve not applied ourselves to learning the subject.

I know I’ve heard people around me tell me they ‘don’t get’ this subject or that. They can’t learn this or that.

I do it myself. It’s expedient. It lets me let myself off the hook for learning something I am maybe not particularly interested in. It excuses my ignorance and places no responsibility on me to change my knowledge level.

There are other subjects, I can’t get enough information about. I have a genuine interest in the subject and will just keep on learning about it.

So, instead of just learning from teachers and others, we can be our own teacher.

Only if we actually take responsibility for stepping through the door opened by the teacher and learn the subject.

What have you learned today?

Who is the Author?

The author of this is quote is unknown. Some sources attribute it to Confucious but the more common attribution is that it is a Chinese Proverb.

*I will try to find information on the author of the quotes I share. I wont always be successful.

Don’t know about you, but I find it interesting to know who the person was that anyone took the time to record or quote that person.*

About Coffee Time Meditation

I love being inspired by other people’s quotes. I thought I’d start sharing some quotes that inspire me along with my own thoughts the quote evokes within me. So, think of someone, like me, sitting quietly with the first fresh coffee of the day and mediating about the words of the quote. That would be me, or it could be you.

I invite you to share your own thoughts on the quote in the comments.

If you like this series, please upvote it and share with others.

Have a great day
Path to Success