This is a guest post by Natalie Hunter. Natalie is addicted to learning and research, and grateful for the invention of the internet because it allows her to spend some time outside rather than just poring through books in a library. She is fascinated by the different methodologies for education at large today, and particularly by the advent of online schools. She also loves to travel and learn via interaction with other people and cultures.

Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune. — Jim Rohn

Image courtesy of photostock

Learning is one of the most rewarding joys in life for many people. The continuation of learning after its obvious necessity has passed can be very helpful for people looking lead happy, healthy and fulfilled lives.

Continued education can be done anywhere at any time, from online school to reading a book. It is not just an activity for young college students, it can be enjoyed by anyone with a passion for knowledge.

Boundless rewards come from learning. When new information is absorbed through either reading or auditory retention, a person feels accomplished and successful. One can never know too much; new information is the best gift in the world. Not only can a person feel proud of themselves when they learn something new, there are also proven scientific and economic results relating to happiness when people exercise their brains.

The Benefits

One obvious reason to pursue the joy of learning is for one to qualify oneself for better employment. Economic statistics state that educated workers with a bachelor’s degree in the United States earn around 60 percent more than those with a high school diploma.

Adding to the happiness of extended education, the economic benefits of doing so are limitless. While money is a positive thing, it does not always equate to happiness for individuals. Learning, on its own and the economic benefits aside, lead to many more stimulating aspects of a person’s personal fulfillment.

On that note, education comes along with personal fulfillment and pride. When one is educated, one had boundless opportunities for their professional lives. With an education, a person can pursue any vocational path they desire. The mental and stress relieving benefits of obtaining a job in a field that stimulates the mind are well worth the effort of continuing education. Such an achievement makes a person proud of themselves, and can allow them to attain their goals and dreams.

Pursuing further education has health benefits as well. Mental stimulation, just like physical exercise does for the body, prevents cognitive degeneration of the brain. Common brain problems associated with old age, such as memory loss and motor skills, comes with a lack of stimulation for the brain.

That is, if the brain is not used and exercised, it will lose much of its muscle and power, just like muscles when they are not regularly exercised. There are many exercises one can undertake to make their brain stronger and more adept.

Another great exercise for the mind and the spirit is traveling. It is thought that Homo sapiens became the dominant hominid species because of the fact that they traveled far from their comfort zones, which required our brains to be more creative in order to adapt to different situations.

Experiencing other cultures, countries, and ways of life increases one’s experiential knowledge and opens your mind up to different lifestyles and worldviews. It is important to stay resourceful when visiting an unfamiliar place, which keeps your mind attentive and creative. Besides, seeing beautiful sights, eating interesting food, and meeting new people can do wonders to refresh a stagnant spirit.

A sound education is one of life’s most rewarding and pleasurable activities. Mental stimulation opens doors to the possibilities of the world. The joy of learning is something everyone should undertake, be it for economic reasons, sheer pleasure, or for health related reasons. Learning brings joy to life in a multitude of ways that cannot be measured from any statistic.

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This is a guest post by Colleen Ludgate. Colleen is the editor of fun advice
As a child, I was mesmerized with the extraordinary ability my mother had to simply “tune things out”.

As she sat, nose in book, with the telephone resonating it’s urgent message, demanding to be picked up, and the dog barking through the window at the cat across the street,

I often wondered if her quiet mastery was somehow related to a hearing problem. It wasn’t.

I spent my years in quiet frustration as a student, trying to study with the distraction of my two sisters arguing, and the washing machine spinning, secretly envious of my mother’s special power and wishing I had inherited it.

I would eventually learn that the art of tuning out was a skill, long years in development with the requirement of specialized equipment – namely, children. I have three children. Noisy, argumentative distractions that have a keen sense of the perfect moment to hit me up for some money or ask for a privilege that would have normally been denied.

As I sit, typing away at my latest epiphany of a novel, I hear them asking me…something. Eager to finish my thoughts on the screen, I’m all too happy to give them whatever their heart desires, often to my own demise.

My mother had balance. That is what I was missing. She knew when to ignore, and when to really listen – an adroitness I failed to pick up. I spent hours in silent meditation, looking for the difference between perfect solitude and a general lack of reasonable thought process.

Meditation worked wonders for my inner sanctity and is still an important part of my every day life, but I still failed to find harmony in my chaotic life.

I recently spent some time studying my cat – the master of oblivion – only to realize that his little ear-jerks meant that he heard everything. It came to me then. I called my cat’s name and it went unheeded, until I shook the little pouch containing his favorite treat and he was at my feet within seconds.

The art of tuning out doesn’t mean that you hear nothing – you hear everything, and allow your mind to subconsciously decide what is important. All this time, I’ve been practicing the act of ignorance – the desire to be alone forces one to react in a negative way.

I have since detached myself of my desire for quiet (nearly), and have found that some things are better heard. My children are happier with a mother who takes the time to listen, no matter what daunting tasks build up before her, and I find myself a more patient person.

Accepting that life has it’s distracting moments has made me less agitated as I feel the gentle tap on my shoulder, accompanied by my husband’s voice in my ear, “Honey? Didn’t you hear the children fighting?”.

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This is a guest post by Courtney Phillips. Courtney is the owner of Rated Colleges
It’s basic human nature to judge and be judged by our successes or lack of them; it’s a trait that we’re born with and one that’s passed on to us by the adults around us from the time we’re old enough to develop reasoning skills.

Usually the children who are good at something and talented are lauded and feted by society; there’s no room for the also-rans and the jack-of-all-trades in a world where you have to excel academically, have a flair for the arts, sing like a bird, dance like a peacock, play like a jock, and so on and so forth, to be able to say that you’re a success.

This is exactly why we grow up fearing failure. What exactly is failure? In the eyes of society, it’s the act of not being outstanding at anything you attempt. Your parents expect you to top your class when you’re in school; and when you grow up, they expect you to get into the best colleges and land a high-profile job, one that will allow them to be proud of you.

Most people end up failing for this very reason – they’re not able to live up to the expectations of their loved ones. And that my friends, is the root cause of failure – EXPECTATIONS. When we don’t expect anything, it’s easy to be content with what we have. And when we are content with what we have, we’re in that elusive state we refer to as happiness.

Overcoming failure

Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street. — Zig Ziglar

So if you’re looking to overcome your fear of failure, here’s what you need to do :

1Adopt a never-say-die attitude. If there’s something you want badly, (the operative word here is YOU), there’s no shame in trying to achieve it even if you fail repeatedly. After all, if your happiness depends on it, why should you worry about what other people think or say?

History is replete with stories where success comes after multiple failures – we only have to look at the legend of Robert Bruce and the spider and Thomas Edison’s failed inventions for inspiration.

2 Think of the worst that could happen: Very often, the worst that could happen is that you suffer varying levels of embarrassment. Sometimes you also end up losing precious time, money and other resources. But if what you stand to gain is much more valuable than what you could lose in the process of trying, it’s worth making the effort.

3Think of the best that could happen: What if you end up achieving your goals in a spectacular manner? You’d never know how it felt unless you tried. Albert Einstein, one of the greatest geniuses of all time, said that genius was 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. So if you try hard enough and put your heart and soul into attaining your goal, you’re definitely well on the road to success.

It’s always the first step that’s the hardest to take; once you get past this, you’re definitely going to gain courage with each and every further step that you take. So if you’re able to muster up the strength to take the initial initiative, you have nothing to fear but fear itself.

In this video Phil Van Hooser explains more about the fear of failure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvtOMLocVeg

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This is a guest post by Natheya. Natheya uses the Language of Light to heal.

Beyond the new frontiers, unfamiliar but wondrous, there is so much to discover and experience.

We are basically seekers and are using the pieces of truth that we discover as building blocks, stacking them up, sometimes taking one out but mostly adding and expanding.

Why do we do that? Because deep down we know that truth is expansive, it is limitless. Beyond every question lies the potential of a different one. Beyond every answer there is the promise of another layer of truth. We incorporate truth in its presented form, work with it and play with it until that moment when we feel there is yet another, broader vision possible.

It might still be imperceptible or unclear but we can sense it is available and that through this other perspective we might reach a fuller understanding. What is our next move as we gradually acknowledge this intriguing process, this fundamental quest to understand at a deep level? For some of us, this desire to expand our knowing is welling up from deep within, tantalizing us, nagging us, and propelling us to go ‘further’.

As the prevailing answers do not immediately unlock the presence of this larger viewpoint, we start asking ourselves different questions, each new answer bringing an additional piece of the puzzle which is growing more and more intricate and ever more colorful. Meanwhile we keep searching and digging until at one stage the answers seem to fit, they come together and start giving a hint of unraveling a larger picture.

We experience that well known ‘aha’ feeling as something appears to finally click and fall into place. We get a greater insight. Is there a next step, you may wonder? We do tend to stop right here and reach no further, at least not for a quite a while. This is not all that surprising. After all, we did a lot of ‘work’ and we did not give up our search quickly.

We did not simply go along with what was presented to us. We were not swayed by the superficial and obvious. On the contrary, we prodded diligently with passion and dedication until – at last – we discovered and unveiled the hidden treasures of truth.

We got what we were looking for. So it appears…What has occurred so far in our process of understanding and knowing is that we have taken a photograph – possibly even a number of them using a wider lens and from a different angle, but the same scene nevertheless. And holding it in our hands we then cut it up in small pieces, scattered them all around and subsequently started the process of putting them back together again.

Once that is seemingly accomplished, we sigh with relief and a sense of accomplishment. We relax and savor our newly found truth, in the same way that we put our feet up at the end of a long journey and ease into the enjoyment of a well earned rest and quiet reflection. However, we are the ones that selected the picture in the first place – based on our individual judgment, preference and understanding of what is or should be displayed in front of us – and it is the only one we interact with.

We pointed the camera. We chose the scenery. We took the photograph. Sealed, signed and delivered. The result is that we have kind of predetermined the framework in which the pieces could fall into. What if we made it too small or we were looking at the ‘wrong’ angle? What if there is an even grander picture available, a bigger panorama, one that is more revealing and displaying a clarity that enables us to see things that were not noticeable before? Would we even recognize it?

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