Continuing Education

I consider myself to be a lifelong learner.  It is an essential practice for me to continually learn something.  It doesn’t have to be of academic value or life-changing; it just has to feed my mind in the moment.

As a Registered Aromatherapist, I am required to participate in continuing education in order to earn credits to maintain my designation.  What a blessing that has turned out to be! In recent years, I have attended fascinating weekend workshops with gifted presenters.  One was Goddesses and Essential Oils, which dealt with different female archetypes. 

My favourite workshop was run by the dynamic Australian Aromatherapist Jennifer Jefferies.  I eagerly purchased her Aromatherapy Insight Cards, which are specially designed cards that can be used for life guidance, much like angel, oracle or tarot cards.   

Weekend workshops out-of-town can be expensive and inconvenient, so I explored the internet and found some pretty interesting online courses to help me to meet my commitment.  I love Google.  I just type in whatever I think about, and there it is, a list of a million or so ideas!  “Online Aromatherapy Course” led me to some very fulfilling learning.

Recently, the Aromatherapy association to which I belong (BCAPA:  British Columbia Association of Practicing Aromatherapists) sent out an email about Dr. Bruce Berkowsky.  His webinars, I was told, qualified for the continuing education credits I need.

I didn’t feel strongly one way or the other, but I decided to register.  I found Dr. Berkowsky’s website kind of confusing, with outdated information and circuitous routes that led to the information I wanted.  I didn’t have any expectations other than accumulating my credits.

I was in for a very wonderful surprise.  I found myself very drawn to Dr. Berkowsky’s teaching style.  He appeared to be an extremely intelligent man, maybe even a genius, and I soon saw his rambling style as a reflection of the rich and deep world inside this man’s head. 

In addition to presenting information on Spiritual PhytoEssencing (about which you will hear more from me in the future), he was recently a guest in a series of spiritual speakers.  We all have our favourite speakers, authors and leaders, and I have now added Dr. Berkowsky to this list, with the additional title of mentor.  He may not be as well-known as some of the others, but the few times I’ve heard him have already given me so much information.  And with this information, increased peace of mind.

Two things really stick out for me.  The first is quite profound.  In many spiritual works, I have read that this life or this reality is a dream or illusion.  I have even repeated these words, yet somehow they have never quite rung true for me.  Dr. Berkowsky reframed this for me, perhaps in a small or seemingly insignificant way, but it has impacted me deeply.  He speaks of the physical world and the spiritual world, not in terms of one being real and the other not, but in terms of how they are both real but parallel.  If we live purely in the physical world, if we don’t acknowledge the spiritual, then we are stuck in this world that is constantly changing and never complete.  This is a source of frustration, unhappiness and the feeling that something is missing.

To acknowledge that there are these two worlds, and to allow them to enhance each other and move toward each other and start to merge is where fulfillment lies.

Maybe this is obvious to everyone else, but I really needed to hear it worded exactly like this.  It makes sense to me on a deep level.  The struggle to make peace with this “illusion” is gone.  This life is real, even if it is temporary.  Dr. Berkowsky also warns that if we ignore the spiritual, it is like playing with half a deck.  So now my purpose is to experience my two worlds more fully and to bring them together until they merge. 

The second part of this wisdom is equally simple.  It’s okay to deal with physical symptoms on a physical level!  I have avoided the physical for most of my life, as it is not the plane that I feel comfortable with.  (This is another story!)  However, we do have to take care of the physical.  We do have to look at our lifestyle, such as eating, sleeping, fresh air, exercise.  Yet that is the beginning:  we must then move to the core or else a disease is just a disease that will kill us.  Once we move to the core, we can facilitate deep and lasting healing. 

Even as I write these words, I hear a chorus of “Well, duh!”  I am not sure why Dr. Berkowsky’s words seemed to clarify and solidify something in me the way they did, but I am very grateful for this experience.  He encourages us to use our intellect to access the higher reality, not to just stay stuck and survive in this one.

It’s great to get my continuing education credits for Aromatherapy, but I am pretty excited to realize I am also getting these credits for My Life.  What have you earned your credits in lately?

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