Qualified with Courage

A long time ago I was told that you never really qualify in the world of self-development

When we consider who might be better qualified to teach us any form of self-development, what do we look for? Can an individual who can’t paint teach us how to paint? I feel that if someone has an interest in teaching us how to paint it would be because they wanted to know how to do this themselves. It’s said that in order to be good at something we must teach others how first. The question is: If we lack a certain skill ourselves, might we fall down in our ability to confidently impart our knowledge? I imagine it to be very difficult for the self-centred to teach self-awareness.

Just because we might lack the ability to do a certain something ourselves doesn’t mean we lack the knowledge of the processes involved in achieving it. Even if we can’t do something ourselves we can still teach the theory of what we must do

We must remember: knowing the theory doesn’t mean we actually understand it though. We can talk about quantum mechanics and not have a clue how exactly little things influence the large. However, the teacher who has a deep understanding of their subject, is far more likely to have students who go on to become masters. As the saying goes: He can talk the talk and walk the walk.

Self-discipline

It must follow then, that someone who lacks self-discipline, will struggle to impart how others can also achieve this. It’s far more effective to be taught how to give up alcohol by someone who has experienced it’s limiting nature and is now teetotal as a result. Further still, seeking to be a less self-centred adult, begins when we’re able to recognise this limiting trait in others. Often, self-centeredness, by it’s very nature, inhibits the sufferer to see anything at all outside of themselves.

And so in my view, the teacher is ready when he has the confidence to help students understand how it feels to walk in the shoes of a self-centred, undisciplined human.

This confidence is gained when he can remain hungry and fearful and simply see these things as something to endure. A period of endurance is then followed by the prize of the awareness of courage. For it takes courage to be a human in full command of the self. With this, any individual, can change their world for the better.