Tag Archives: learning

Why Does This Keep Happening To Me?

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Some time ago I was watching an episode of a TV show called, “The Outer Limits.” For those of you who may not be familiar with it, the theme and plot was similar to a show that was very popular years ago called, “The Twilight Zone.” Well, this particular episode was about a young man who somehow got caught up in a “time loop!” He went go through the daily routine of going to work, doing all of the other things that people do on a normal day. However, when he woke up the next morning, much to his dismay, he discovered that it really wasn’t a new day, but rather the very same day that he had just went through! It got to the point that he could predict what would happen next because everything turned out the same as they had the previous time he had lived that day!

Well, in some cases, fact is stranger than fiction! Sometimes in life, we go through the same things over and over again, so much to the point that we ask ourselves: “Why does this keep happening to me?” Perhaps you are suffering from a continual string of bad relationships or successive failures. Whatever the case, it seems like it’s a repeating cycle over and over again! You keep getting involved with the same-type situations and with the same-type people! It’s the exact same situation that you were in before, but the names have been changed! It’s really the same (type) lady but she’s just wearing a different dress!

One reason for this is because most of us tend to live our lives in a closed-end loop! We never dare to venture outside of the circle of the familiar. You’d be surprised, but people who constantly find themselves in negative situations and circumstances, for the most part, actually placed themselves in those situations and circumstances by design! You see, subconsciously we will put forth more effort to stay with what is familiar to us, even if the familiar is bad for us!

Yet another reason for the closed-end loop is because many times, we fail to learn the lessons that life is trying to teach us. Unlike some educational institutions, life will not promote us to the next level if the lessons of the present level have not been learned and mastered. So, we keep making the same mistakes because we fail to learn the lesson that is inherent within the mistake! Once we learn the lesson, the mistake has served its purpose and we no longer make that “same” mistake!

So, when will you move to the next level? When will you break out of your closed-in loop? Only when you learn the lesson and understand the reason why this keeps happening to you!

The Learning Shortcut

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Many people have heard of the term, “the learning curve” but few people are aware of “the learning shortcut!” We have been taught from childhood, that experience is the best teacher! And it is true; practice has always been a more effective learning tool than theory! But what many people fail to realize is that all of the experiences you learn from don’t necessarily have to be your own! You shouldn’t have to learn all of your lessons from your own mistakes; you should also learn from the mistakes of others! If you see twenty people attempting to cross a certain street and every one of them is struck by a “Mack” truck, it would be a good idea for you to analyze their mistakes before you attempted to cross that street! Even the Bible advocates that we take the learning shortcut! The Apostle Paul, in referring to the error the Children of Israel made in the “golden calf” incident during the time of Moses, wrote: “Now these things occurred as examples to us, so that we might not desire evil as they did . . . These things happened to them to serve as an example and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the end of the ages have come.” (I Cor. 10:6; 11 NRSV)

You see life is too short for you to personally experience all the things you need to experience in order to determine what will and what will not work! Many people are living a life of frustrating defeat because they are constantly trying to re-invent the wheel! Whatever you are going through, you can be assured that somebody, at some time, has already been through it! My parents used to try to relate this to me by saying: “Son, we’ve already been where you are trying to go!” People today put it this way: “Been there! Done that!”

So learn to take “the learning shortcut!” You will get to your destination much quicker if you, not only learn from your own mistakes, but also from the mistakes of others! In fact, if you will be careful to learn from the experiences of other people, you will not make as many mistakes yourself as you would have otherwise.