Remaining Four Life Lessons 剩余的四个生命教训

In the last article, I have started with the first six lessons that I have learned in my life. In this article, I am continuing to provide the remaining four lessons that have helped me in my professional career before my retirement.

Lesson # 7: Constantly upgrading our skills.

I find out very early in life that I am climbing up a downward moving escalator all of the time. This is because of the fact that technology is moving too fast these days. https://youtu.be/ocheuUVteI4

So I adopt a policy of reading new topics and new ideas every day. For an hour a day, I google random topics and I scan for topics that I am interested in, and then for a period in time, I make it my aim to master the new technique as best I can. At this moment in time, I am concentrating on the Maori Culture and the Maori Language. Before this, I was on to topics like Chinese history, modern mathematics, the environment, and new religions.

Lesson # 8: Never take on God’s role.

The current situations on how countries in our world are handling COVID 19 is one clear example of how human beings are trying to act as if they are Gods. We, collectively, fall into this trap of taking on God’s role.

The arrival of the coronavirus, so suddenly, is a reminder to us that we are only humans. Our capacities to react to a pandemic are limited by the knowledge that we have. Come to think about it, every time we have a vaccine to control one flu epidemic, another stronger virus appears further down the timeline to threaten human life.

So, where will this cycle of virus-vaccine-stronger virus- end? No one knows. We need to look up to God and to pray for Him to intervene.

Almighty God, we know that everything is in Your sovereign control. We ask that You keep this new coronavirus from continuing to spread. Give government officials the ability to safely handle people arriving from other countries. Help people decide to stay home instead of traveling or going out needlessly. Holy Spirit, remind us to wash our hands properly.  And while it may be heartbreaking, comfort families as they decide to keep their distance from elderly or other high-risk family members. 

from world vision: https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/prayers-people-affected-new-coronavirus

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea … 

—Psalm 46:1-2 (NIV)

Lesson # 9: Teaching is actually learning.

It is always satisfying when we see enlightened faces as when we share our knowledge with them.

In fact, every time I teach a topic, I discover new angles and new methods of imparting that knowledge to others. And often, as I teach, I am actually learning new and more up-to-date materials myself.

Lesson # 10: Constantly practice those tasks that we find uncomfortable, and this can reduce stress.

Stress is mainly due to a perceived threat in the brain. We perceive a threat when we are doing an activity that is totally strange to us.

To reduce stress therefore, we need to keep our mind thinking over those awkward situations that we may face. We need to practice in our minds how to go about dealing with such situations. If possible, we need to actually rehearse those situations physically.

For instance, we are naturally afraid of the water as we may be drowned. So we learn how to swim and by constant practice, we can eventually jump into a swimming pool on the deep end and survive by threading in the water, keeping our faces above water.

Driving is another example. Before we could drive, we were fearful of accidents and therefore we learned how to drive and we practice driving every day since we got our driving licenses.

The same can be said with public speaking. We perceive an uncomfortable activity, and we practice to get ourselves out of our nervousness and out of stress.

在上一篇文章中，我已经说过我一生中学到的前六课程。在本文中，我将继续提供剩余的四节课程，这些课程对我退休前的职业生涯有帮助。

第7课：不断提高我们的技能。

我很早就发现我一直在爬一个向下移动的自动扶梯。这是因为事实上这些天技术发展太快了。

因此，我采取了每天阅读新主题和新思想的政策。每天一个小时，我会随机搜索Google主题，然后搜索感兴趣的主题，在一段时间中，我将尽我最大的努力来掌握新技术。此时此刻，我将专注于毛利文化和毛利语言。在此之前，我讲过中国历史，现代数学，环境和新宗教等话题。

第8课：永远不要担当上帝的角色。

当前世界上有关各国如何处理COVID 19的情况是一个清晰的例子，说明了人类如何努力像神一样行事。我们共同陷入了承担上帝角色的陷阱。

突然，冠状病毒的到来提醒我们我们只是人类。我们对大流行作出反应的能力受到我们所掌握知识的限制。仔细想想，每当我们有一种疫苗来控制一种流感流行时，另一种更强的病毒就会在威胁人类生命的时间范围内出现。

那么，这种由疫苗到强病毒的循环将在哪里结束？没人知道。我们需要仰望上帝，并为我们人类祈祷。

全能的上帝，我们知道一切都在您的主权控制之下。我们要求您防止这种新的冠状病毒继续传播。使政府官员能够安全地处理来自其他国家的人。帮助人们决定留在家里，而不是不必要地旅行或外出。圣灵，提醒我们正确洗手。尽管这可能令人心碎，但在他们决定与老年人或其他高危家庭成员保持距离的同时，安慰他们的家庭。

来自世界视野：https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/prayers-people-affected-new-coronavirus

上帝是我们的避难所和力量，是我们在麻烦中永远存在的帮助。因此，尽管大地屈服，山脉落入大海之心，我们也不会担心…… 诗篇46：1-2（NIV）

第9课：教学实际上是学习。

当我们看到开明的面孔时，以及与他们分享知识时，总会感到满足。

实际上，每次我教授一个主题时，我都会发现将这种知识传授给他人的新角度和新方法。通常，正如我所教的那样，我实际上是在自己学习新的和最新的资料。

第10课：不断练习那些我们觉得不舒服的任务，这样可以减轻压力。

压力主要归因于大脑的感知威胁。当我们进行对我们完全陌生的活动时，我们会感知到威胁。

因此，为了减轻压力，我们需要保持思维，思考可能面临的尴尬情况。我们需要在头脑中练习如何去处理这种情况。如果可能的话，我们需要实际地对这些情况进行排练。

例如，我们天生就害怕水，因为我们可能淹死了。因此，我们学习了游泳的方法，并通过不断的练习，最终可以跳入更深的游泳池，并通过穿入水中而生存，将脸保持在水面之上。

驾驶是另一个例子。在我们开车之前，我们担心会发生事故，因此，自从获得驾驶执照以来，我们每天都学会如何驾驶并练习驾驶。

公开演讲也可以这样说。我们感觉到一种不舒服的活动，我们努力使自己摆脱紧张和压力。