Free Life Lessons

I seek to learn from any given experience without personally going through the hardship, the trauma or the adventure myself.  I call these FREE Life Lessons.

So I play the game of “what if”, as my imagination wanders into unbeckoned territory.  I create my own edited versions of experiences, switching in myself and pretending what I would do if it were me.  I don’t have to have my heart broken, finances ruined or my feelings hurt if I can learn from an existing experience.

How do you learn a lesson from someone else’s experience?  You try to imagine the outcome, the potential consequences and decide if you would ever want to go through those sequences yourself.

If I am close enough to the person, I empathize and try to understand their anguish.  I have a vivid imagination and can imagine the best and the worst with just a little effort.  Then I decide for myself if it would be different for me.

Most times, I agree that the consequences are much less attractive when someone we know is miserable or unhappy.

When I can walk away knowing I’ve gained something from an experience I don’t own, I am very appreciative of my FREE Life Lesson, because I didn’t have to pay for it personally.

I think of it as bargain shopping in Life’s basement.

OTOLI