Second chances

In yesterday’s post I mentioned that the day was a semi-frustrating one for me.  The quick back-story is that I attended an adult education/continuing education class at my alma mater, and the experience wasn’t very good.  I’m going to skip over all of the negatives (there were several), but I will state that I’m not completely blameless in my perception of the experience.  Very soon after the class began I realized it wasn’t going to be stellar, and my demeanor shifted from interested to hopeless, from semi-curious to closed down.  So while the instructors could have done a better job, *I* also could have done more to hold my attitude in check.  Had I assumed more responsibility for my own experience in the situation, the ending outcome might have been a bit less painful.

Alas, I’m human – so I will display skillful behaviors some days, and unskillful ones on other days.  I’m working to increase the former (and mercifully the tide has shifted rather dramatically!); but I still have my moments – and yesterday was one where unskillful thoughts and actions came through.

One bright spot in yesterday’s experience was that a cool older lady sat next to me, and we engaged in a brief-yet-interesting conversation.  Though she was at least 30 years my senior (if not more), I felt a ‘click’ with her; like she could be a lively person to have coffee with every now and again.

But by the end of the two-hour class yesterday, I was nearly overrun with annoyance and irritation; so as soon as the session ended I bolted from the classroom, made a furious dash to my car, and sped down the freeway to flee campus and return to the ‘safety’ of my own home.

It was only later last night that I fully realized I had missed an opportunity.  And I was kind of saddened by that.  But the only thing I could really do now was to learn from it, try to behave better going forward, then forgive myself and move on.

So I did.  I reflected for an appropriate amount of time on how I could have acted better and what I might have done differently; then I committed to really trying to improve my thoughts and behaviors as future situations present themselves; and then I let yesterday go.  Today is a new day.

Interestingly, this morning I returned to that same alma mater, to attend a second continuing education class.  Today’s topic was completely different from yesterday’s session, and I made a very conscious effort to enter the experience with peaceful, positive thoughts.

After I checked in at the main desk, I walked to the appropriate classroom – and recognized the same cool woman from yesterday!  We were both a little surprised to see one another; but we were also both pleased by the encounter, too.

I feel like today I was handed a second chance, an opportunity to correct all of my ‘failings’ from yesterday.  And I reveled in the occasion.

Stef

P.S. As today’s class was about the visual arts (drawing in particular), here are some images to add a bit of visual interest to this post.  🙂

This is the walkway to the main campus building. It's lined with a huge variety of different flowers; a visual delight.

Amid one of the clusters of blooms is a tiny patch of peppers - and I love how a spicy, fiery little number is right in the middle of an otherwise docile plant. Like a saucy student amid timid fellows... 😉

(A close-up of the peppers)

In the building where the class was held was a HUGE tower of oragami cranes.

It was a visual delight.

Here's the final drawing I created in today's class. While this may seem simplistic, it's truly an astonishing feat for me. (P.S. It's a pot with plant stems coming out of it.) 🙂