“If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” -Pema Chodron  

“Teachers open the door… You enter by yourself.”

Good teachers can teach all day long, but if no one is there to hear it, does the message get conveyed to anyone?  Obviously if we are not physically present with the teaching, we are unable to hear or learn from it.  We must also be mentally present as well, or we are unable to truly hear or learn from a teaching.

Teachers open the door to opportunity, to knowledge, to betterment of one’s self.  They cannot, however, force us to listen or learn; they cannot force us to walk through the doorway they have opened.  We must decide this on our own, we must enter the doorway with our mind and body equally.

With this in mind, let us also remember that anyone and nearly anything can be a great teacher.  Do not think you can only learn from those you deem worthy, or you are also closing your mind to new opportunities to learn, and closing your mind to true awakening.

Realize that you can learn valuable lessons from the homeless, from the sick, from children, as well as from nature.  We can learn from crickets, from alligators, from water, and from mosquitoes.

Open your minds and your hearts to this realization.