As a college student getting my bachelor's degree, I devoured American business magazines like Inc., Entrepreneur, and Fast Company. The dreams, lessons learned, potentials and, successes on every page were life-giving. They inspired me to pursue my business dream and work it well. The only kink was that I wasn't studying business full-time; I was in the apparel merchandising program at the School of Family and Consumer Sciences. I managed to tack on a minor in business marketing but ultimately felt like I was missing out on the real business stuff. The stuff that I could use to build an empire or get a corner suite supporting an existing one.
Years later, as I prepared to start a new business, a friend who works in the college prep and admissions world, told me that I'd be an excellent candidate for a Master of Business Administration (MBA). Given my background, he was confident that he could get me into whatever university I wanted — with a full scholarship.
His offer was tempting. I’d had a persistent curiosity about pursuing an MBA beyond my marketing minor and Bachelor of Sciences but also, a lingering hesitation that it wasn’t for me. Regardless, his words validated any MBA potential I believed I might have.
Several more years later, and several months after moving to South Australia, I was ebbing and flowing with the joys and challenges of a new adventure when I journaled this:
“Last night I solidified my long-standing desire to get an MBA, the degree that would make me feel like I had mastered something and was capable of great successes and satisfaction with what I did in life.
An MBA represented the discipline of a chosen topic, one that would lift me to the greatest heights of a world I was meant to be a part of: the business world. To be a business woman. An entrepreneur. I valued the value of a good business person — someone who knew their shit and knew their worth. Yet, with all the ample opportunity to go for an MBA at universities around the world, the desire ultimately fell flat.
The paper degree wasn’t what I was after. I was after something else. I was on a different path that didn’t involve corporate suites and devouring business magazines. My path was, and is, about learning how to live our best lives.
I am working towards a different type of MBA and it’s at Earth School. This MBA is for Mastering Being Alive. A Master of Being Alive.”
You can imagine how alive I felt after writing the above. The realization, on top of previous reflections and observations, was LIBERATING. I realized that what I'd been after was so much simpler and within my immediate reach. It’s this simplicity that many of us miss while we’re looking outward to validate who we are and our worth: our successes and satisfactions are ultimately an inside job.
Gone were the external reasons that had previously made a formal business degree feel important to me. I was on a new path to understanding that self-reflection, self-love, self-worth, and self-determination are tuition-free, open classes, and our teachers (higher-self, guides, angels, ancestors, god) are always ready and eager to support.
This new personal meaning of an MBA was like seeing life in a new framework — a framework that turned me into an even more eager student, especially during a time when I was struggling to be my best self for myself and my family.
This framework helped me make sense of what being alive even means for me.
The fact that we exist, create, and evolve on this planet boggles my miiiiiind. Like, what is this giant experiment we’re all a part of when you consider the incomprehensible scale and possibilities of the universe?
If you follow a religious doctrine, then you may have your own answers to this question, but as someone who believes in a higher power and pulls from different sources to form my belief system, I couldn’t help but wonder if season one of the TV show Miracle Workers hit the bullseye, in theory. (The show is a hilarious take on planet Earth as a project/experiment with angels guiding us. I watched the first season on a long-haul flight but can’t speak to the following seasons that look totally different).
Since we’re just a tiny tiiiiny blip on the cosmic timeline, it tracks for me that our only purpose for existing is to enjoy being here. To enjoy having all of the emotions, senses, and experiences available to us through our human bodies living on this plane. Of course, it's all easier said than done when we consider the tragedies and terrors that exist because of some human behavior — war, hate, and violence are all a piece of the same pie — but I always think back to where we started: from caveman just trying to survive to later civilizations that filled stadiums to watch men fight to their death as a form of entertainment. Our species has seen some barbaric times. But even in those times, I've gotta believe that there was love. Just like there’s still darkness today (with barbaric actions), there’s SO much light, too. And for what it's worth, I truly believe that we’re getting better with all we do, create, and learn. Humanity’s dualities are like pendulums that we swing on to see how far we can push ourselves, individually and collectively, one generation at a time. Consciously or not.
So, in practical terms, what does getting a Master's in being alive mean? I'm obviously still figuring that out, and maybe when I’m 99 years old I’ll have a more comprehensive list of ideas. But for now, as a freshman student, here’s a non-exhaustive and evolving list of what it means to me:
It’s learning what makes us tick and tock; what makes our light shine bright and what dims or burns it out
It’s learning to practice presence so that we may enjoy being alive now. And now. And now.
It’s learning to love others (humanity at large), and yourself
It’s saying I love you to the people you love, often, and to yourself
It’s being curious about topics like psychology, philosophy, science, religions, mythology, spirituality, mysticism, etc to learn more about our humanity
It’s learning to recognize that we’re all on different paths, timelines. Go your own way at your own pace
It’s reflecting in all that’s been yet not letting it dictate the present or future
It’s learning to keep promises to yourself
It’s learning to keep promises to others
It’s learning to accept that we’re all wired differently and learning to work with that knowledge vs. against it, individually and collectively
It’s learning to get support for growth through counseling, therapy, coaching, mentorship, and peers
It’s celebrating mundane magic like rainbows and butterflies
It’s smiling when you start to believe that everything is magic, actually (ahem, our existence on this planet at all)
It’s defining what god means to you
It’s learning to catch your thoughts to observe them versus immediately internalizing them
It’s being in gratitude for the little things on the daily. ie. Thank you dirty dishes piled up in the sink, you demonstrate that my family had healthy food to eat in the comfort of our own home. We are so fortunate.
It’s learning how to get quiet and feel peace with your own presence
It’s discovering what modalities and practices for connection to source, god, the universe, the divine, et al works best for you
It’s not being afraid to chase your YES (Your Energetic Spark)
It’s learning to get out of your own way
It’s learning to revere the beauty that nature gives us across species and varieties
It’s learning to revere and respect our planet
It’s learning to check-in with yourself to ask “how are you feeling?” “What do you need?”
It’s learning to listen to your body to give it the support it deserves
It’s learning to prioritize fun and play
It’s learning to make art for pleasure
It’s learning to tune out what doesn’t serve you and tune into what builds you up
It’s learning to honor the simple moments that are fleeting and not take them for granted
It’s learning to see ourselves the way god sees us: perfectly imperfect just the way we are
It's learning that god means love
It’s learning to relish and play with all of the senses humans we're blessed with
It’s experiencing the dark and choosing the light
It’s learning to see that “we’re all spirit just with different coats”
This is the stuff we learn in Earth School and internalize and embody as we spend more time on campus.
A Master of Being Alive is available to all of us at all times. And unlike the hesitation I felt about the business administration version, working towards this cosmic-level MBA is definitely for everyone. We're enrolled by default and we may never actually graduate, but that's beside the point — it's up to us to decide how we show up to class and do our best to pay attention, take notes, and expand our horizons.
