Episode 6 of the 1Life podcast, titled "Be a Learner," draws inspiration from the biblical story of David and Goliath. The host, Behka White, emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and self-reflection as essential tools for personal growth and success.
The episode highlights David's preparedness for facing Goliath, symbolized by the five smooth stones he carefully selected. Behka suggests that these stones represent the lessons David learned through practice and experience, even if those experiences involved failures or setbacks.
The key message is that our current experiences, regardless of their nature, are preparing us for future challenges. Behka encourages listeners to embrace a learner's mindset, characterized by curiosity and openness to new ideas.
The episode outlines three practical steps for capturing the wisdom that life offers:
- Be a learner: Actively seek knowledge and cultivate a curious mindset.
- Practice self-reflection: Regularly assess experiences, both positive and negative, to identify areas for improvement.
- Suspend judgment: Approach self-reflection with an open mind, focusing on learning rather than self-criticism.
By following these steps, listeners can harness the valuable lessons embedded in their daily lives and continue to grow and evolve.
Welcome to the One Life Podcast with Becca White. I am your host and this is episode 6, Be a Learner. We are all familiar with the story of David and Goliath. Goliath was a giant Philistine who challenged the Israelites to a 1v1 battle with the winner taking off for the entire army. David was just a shepherd boy with no experience in war, but he had enough faith in himself and in God to believe that he could defeat Goliath. 1 Samuel 1740 says this, "David took his staff in his hand and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, and his sling was in his hand." So armed with shepherd's tools and his faith that God would deliver him, he went out to meet Goliath. It was 49 and 50 from the same chapter say, "David put his hand in his bag and took them to stone and sling it, and smote the Philistine in the forehead that the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face to the earth." So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone. David slew Goliath with one stone. It is a pretty miraculous story. But what about the other four? Why did he bring five stones if he only needed one? For me, the five stones represent the learning that David had to do in preparation to slay Goliath. As a shepherd boy, hurting his sheep in the wilderness, he probably had lots of unsupervised time on his hands. And since there was no such thing as video games or internet or social media, maybe he spent his time practicing slinging stones. Or maybe not. Maybe his dad Jesse was after him all the time to practice slinging and maybe David thought it was irrelevant. Until one day a wolf came and ate one of his sheep. Maybe then he decided to practice slinging stones. Maybe when the bear came, it took him 17 stones before he was able to kill it. Maybe 11 stones for the lion. How many sheep did David lose before he became an expert slinger? 12? 20? Zero? Who knows? We don't have any idea why David chose five smooth stones to meet Goliath, but I suspect it was intentional because of the learning that he had from his misses as a shepherd. We can learn many things from David, but today I'd like to focus on this. Whatever we are doing right now in life is preparing us for our next adventure, and we can be confident of two things. First, that our path is divinely led. Trust that all things are working together for your good. Second, we can also be confident that the lessons we need for our next adventure are being taught to us now. We cannot progress beyond our current state without elevating our thinking. So how can we capture the wisdom life is teaching us now, today? First, we need to be a learner. We need to adopt an attitude of curiosity and openness to learning. To contrast the point, I've heard it said that there are two kinds of people in the world, people who spend time entertaining themselves and people who spend time educating themselves. What kind are you? Second, we need to practice self-reflection. If we are serious about learning, we need to make time to reflect on our experiences. Here are three very helpful questions to ask at the completion of a project, a work assignment, a parenting session, or at the end of each day. Number one, what went well and why? Here we can identify the beliefs, the actions, and preparations that produced outcomes that we were pleased with. We need to make sure to be specific here. The second question is, what didn't go well and why? Again, we identify the beliefs, the actions, and preparations that produced outcomes that were not favorable for us, being specific. Then the third question is more of a statement, fill in the blank, if you will, and this is how we redeem the negative. It is called, Next Time I Will Blank. Looking at what didn't go well and why, we take a look at that and make some decisions about how we would change our behaviors. Next time I will do this differently. The last thing that we need to do is to suspend judgment. Self-reflection is an opportunity to gather data to learn, not to condemn ourselves or anyone else, resist the urge to attach judgment. Judgment is the opposite of curiosity in that it closes our minds to possibilities and insights, and it holds learning. So to recap, to capture the wisdom, life is offering us now. We can #1 be a learner, #2 practice self-reflection, and #3 suspend judgment. We only get one life, let's make it our best. [BLANK_AUDIO]
