Everything is Lessons

IAN SCHERLING is one of my very best friends, in whom I have tremendous admiration. He’s the type of person who makes everyone feel important and listened to and cared for. We have a lot in common and when we first met it seemed we had already known each other for years. We went to the same undergrad and studied in the same building. We have been shaped be iconic Designers in our respective fields. We love to draw, text each other songs and talk about life. In some ways He is a gentle soul, sage in wisdom and seasoned beyond his years. Beyond his immense professional contributions, he and his wife have been cornerstones of a DR missions’ program and leads a “Grief share” Support and Recovery group for those who have lost someone very dear to them. His compassion is clear.

He loves Wendell Berry, bespoke coffee, and Filipino cooking.

He loves soft pencils, neat Bourbon, and a great song.

If you ever hear him sing you will think you’ve heard an angel, and that’s just something he does on Sundays.

The wealth of talent and ability and kindness is almost too much to imagine for one person. I am so grateful to share life with him and his family. We live in the same town and are raising our family’s side by side – at least six feet apart. So it is inevitable that someone who inspires, encourages, and pushes me to exceed my potential as an Architect, a Father, and a Husband should start us off.

Here is Ian Scherling the first guest on the EIL podcast – and his lesson “set the bar”

Let’s see what he can teach us – HERE WE GO.

My name is Ryan Kurlbaum – I am an architect, a father, and a husband who loves to design, to teach and who loves wisdom. Perhaps now in these turbulent times – a global pandemic, a political insurrection, racial reconciliation. One could argue that wisdom could be our most valuable and unrealized asset.

Truth is I have always been fascinated by the wise – the people who have lived life well and shared their stories, knowledge, understanding – their wisdom with others. Perhaps this fascination began when I first read about Soloman who had everything and asks God for wisdom and God says he is pleased with his request. Or maybe its more recently when I came across the TS Eliot quote – “everyone gets the experience, but not everyone gets the lesson.” When I read that, it led to a fundamental reconsideration of hardship, of struggle, of pain. What if in fact these moments were not meant to harm, but to teach. What if Everything was a Lesson?

So for 2 and half years I have been collecting lessons. But they had to be different – not long, not essays, something memorable. Then I came across the famous tale of Ernest Hemingway at a bar. Supposedly, he is surrounded by his friends and they challenge him to write a compelling story with the fewest words possible. He puts down his glass and says “For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never worn”. And with that his bar tab is paid and he gets another round.

There is something about the brevity of that story – that I found fascinating. What if I could turn these lessons into 3 word prompts – something short, memorable, and meaningful. So for these past 2 years I have hundreds of 3 word prompts and I have decided to share the list with a range of people I find to be incredibly wise and inspiring to act as a catalyst for a deeper conversation about a lesson they have found in their own life.

I hope you will join us on this adventure to collect an inventory of wisdom and perhaps inspire you to look at your life in a different way. All of these lessons that you learn are really meaningful, really important. How would this thinking influence how you view success, family, ambition, love, and others? How would your life change if everything was a lesson?

This is the Everything is Lessons podcast.