Life Lessons: The Stranger Part 1

Before I go into the life lessons, I need to give you all some background.
This past summer, Michael and I went to Sebastopol to explore and just walk around. In a bookstore, we met this man who decided to talk to us for a long time about life lessons. This was a complete stranger telling us about his world. This is some of what we learned.

Look at things carefully. The Stranger showed us this peculiar metal round thing which we later found out was a 1950s spy camera. He had us play with it to figure out what it was. We learned that even though some things we acquire don't mean anything to us personally, to others it can mean everything. We always get caught up in this fast paced world and we never stop and look at things more carefully. We judge people, judge books by their covers, judge the way a food tastes by the way it looks. I am still learning to slow down, and when I do, I notice things more than I did before.

Tell things from the heart. The Stranger asked what Michael and I's major. I mentioned that I wanted to teach. The Stranger was a professor. He taught psychology and physics. He felt restricted by the lesson plan and would rather teach from the heart because then it would inspire people to learn. He told me that if I want to become a successful teacher, I should teach from the heart. If I am not passionate, the students can tell and will not be passionate as well.

Adapt to the environment to live to your advantage. The Stranger has a son who wears a ponytail and have many piercings. By having those physical qualities, his son restricts himself. When traveling, you need to adapt to the environment and wear socially acceptable things. This can help ease communication with other cultures, etc. Although people say, it is the inside that counts, there are a good amount of people that judge you by the way you look. If you try to fit in to your surroundings, you don't bring attention to yourself and communication would be easier.

How have you lived these life lessons that The Stranger taught us? Tell us your stories!
Check out Part 2 here.

This post is written by Karel.
Adapted from: a peculiar encounter in our life together
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