EDUCATION . . .

When you hear the word 'education' what do you 'see'? Most people envision school - classrooms, teachers, books and homework. There's an inherent order of things - preschool, kindergarten, grade school, high school, college, grad school. We all know about tuition and diplomas and degrees. 

Even the most creative and open-minded of us have been conditioned to equate education with school.

But if you keep looking past the initial imagery, you'll begin to see that education involves so much that lies beyond the confines of a traditional classroom. Learning happens everywhere, all the time. And life is rich and complex, with puzzles to ponder, problems to be solved, relationships to build, and issues to inquire about, all of the time. 

Life is not linear. It has multiple dimensions. And although time does seem to go in one direction, learning can be both erratic and exponential - sometimes you connect the dots at the most unlikely times, and it can cause a fundamental shift in what you know and how you interact with the world. 

Here are a few things that we know for sure:

• We are all always capable of learning more. 
• There is no better time to start than today. It's never to late to learn something. Age is not an excuse not to learn something new.
• A well nourished mind and body make learning easier and more enjoyable - leave time to rest and relax and replenish. Your wits will grow sharper faster when you give them a break. Be sure to leave 10 - 20% of your 'work' time to exploring / playing. It will make the other 80 - 90% far more effective.
• Beware of the trap of comparing where you are to where you thought you would be at a specific age. As the late, great Julia Child said, 'I was 32 when I started cooking, until then I just ate.' (She was 36 when she attended cooking school, 49 before she published her first book).

Over the past few weeks, we collected a bounty of wisdom from you, and we've put your very own copy right here where you can access it easily, and share it with others. Print it out and tape it on your wall. Mail it to someone who needs to hear the voice of a friend (or many friends, in this case). Share and learn, and share again. 

To endless learning,

Taylor & Dorothy
Co-Founders, Good Food Jobs