When was the last time you learned something new?

“With every step you move forward towards empowerment, you find yourself learning new things about life, about the world around you, and about yourself. When was the last time you learned something new, either informally through friends or reading, or formally by taking a course?”
By Kari Fulmek

I was in my 40s when I became a Certified Equine Assisted Learning Facilitator. I was in my 50s when I grew my business globally.

Every step I took towards empowerment and success, I had to learn new skills. I was often conscious that I wanted to take a next step, but I needed to learn some other skill to make that possible.

I often suggest to people seeking the means to empowerment to jot down all the formal and informal learning they have accumulated that helps them do their work and live their life.

Have you skills that you don’t use? Can you make them relevant in your life?

On the other hand, when you look at the sign points pointing you in the directions you should go in life, do you need more learning to be effective once you get there?

We should never hesitate to open our minds to the concept that learning more goes hand-in-hand with an attitude of empowerment.

This is such a practical concept but it amazes me how often we forget it.

That is not to suggest that we all need to be academics. There are many ways to learn and recent research into our programs at Equine Connection shows that participatory learning is extremely effective for many people.

Classrooms were never my favourite space, and that is one of the reasons I feel empathetic with clients who want to gain new skills but can’t imagine spending hours in textbooks.

I felt stupid all the time in school and I just didn’t fit in the classroom setting, even though I stayed with it to get through Grade 12.

But a summer I spent at a Christian summer camp opened my eyes to learning about life in a new way and filled me with a sense of empowerment.

I felt it again when I read certain books such as Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, which is still the most amazing book that I ever read.

It cemented to me that idea that life is going to give back to me what I put into it.

We all experience karma, the idea that what we put into things returns to us in equal measure. Life is an endless series of cause and effect experiences and all you can control is your empowered attitude towards it.

Kari Fulmek is the author of “Two Weeks to Empowerment: How to take charge of your life and find your true purpose” and the founder and owner of Equine Connection – The Academy of Equine Assisted Learning Inc. She is a Certified Master EAL Instructor and a Certified EAL Facilitator. From her base near Calgary, AB in the foothills of Canada’s Rocky Mountains, she travels the globe to empower clients. To learn more about Kari, visit her website at: https://equineconnection.ca.