The Art of Learning and Teaching
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”
Alvin Toffler
The whole of life is a school and learning is life-long. When we accept that everything we are presented with, teaches us something, this keeps us humble, and gives us an opportunity to grow and excel. Staying curious about life and interested in our own growth is essential for learning. Failure is then not seen as the end of the world, but as an opportunity to develop.
To do this it is important to stay relevant and adaptable in our ever-changing world. Many a huge commercial enterprise has collapsed because they did not have the ability to stay connected to what was relevant. They failed to see what was coming, what was happening on the world stage and their own previous success blinded them to the winds of change. Our world is changing fast, and to keep pace with it and develop strength of character and resilience, we need to be constantly learning and adapting. This in and of itself is a great motivator for learning, but self-respect is also a driving force. If I am not growing, I am at a standstill. Life is offering me opportunities to discover more and more about how I deal with the world and with other people – if I am at a standstill and happy just with the success so far, then I am not learning anything from life’s lessons. Spiritually, I am not embracing the changes that are needed. It becomes a form of complacency. This is similar to someone who has always lived in one country and considers the way that things are done there, is the right way to do things. Only when they travel to another country do they realise that people in other parts of the world are also handling life’s systems and challenges very well, and they are doing it very differently, but equally effectively.
Learning keeps the brain alive.
Learning keeps the brain alive. Without challenges, the brain slows down. Learning something new sharpens the memory, increases creativity and delays cognitive decline. When we have the attitude of wanting to learn something new, we keep on the lookout for where we could grow, and what new ideas and approaches might make our own challenges easier to deal with. When we put in the energy to learn something new and implement it, our confidence increases, we feel less intimidated, we develop self-trust and can face challenges with more power. Learning brings freedom; transferrable skills open more doorways and options and hence we have more freedom. Learning helps us to understand ourselves and what we are good at. It also highlights what we are not that good at, but we can always put in the effort to become a little better in those areas. It is all about self-discovery. The things we learn about life and ourselves are never lost.
Learning fires up new neural pathways in the brain. The Harvard Medical School conducted a study about gratitude and neural pathways. They found that writing down, 10 things one is grateful for once a week, over a period of 10 weeks resulted for those taking part, more optimism, better feelings about life and fewer physical complaints. They also noted that over time, the brain becomes wired to notice and focus on blessings in life and not the problems.
Meditating every day and more than once a day is a way of creating new and powerful neural pathways.
Meditating every day and more than once a day is a way of creating new and powerful neural pathways. Meditation is actually paying attention. Paying attention is vital for learning. Contrary to popular belief, we cannot actually do more than one thing at a time. If we try to multi-task, we are constantly losing concentration and loss of attention. It takes mental energy to create a new neural pathway. Whatever we want to learn we must give it focussed attention. The key to retaining what we learn is to make the learning meaningful, relevant and emotionally engaging. Along with meditation we need to study spiritual wisdom because the deep thinking required to make that wisdom our own, is emotionally engaging and likely to stay with us for all time.
The way to learn is through repetition but with built in spaces of time to let the knowledge ‘settle’. Learning is enhanced through sharing the insights we have gained. It helps someone else and brings clarity to the self. We need a personal reason for putting all this energy into learning and we are likely to continue when we make small improvements every day.
Teaching is simply the art of inspiring understanding, cultivating curiosity and sharing what we know, based on love and trust. We do not actually teach anyone anything. Our own example is the way to teach. Developing a strong, resilient, virtuous character through learning and application, through meditation and spiritual study is the way to face the challenges of the world we are now living in, and through that we can be an example to inspire others.
© ‘It’s Time…’ by Aruna Ladva, BK Publications London, UK
Loved the article so much. Yes majority of us are very convenient at their space like a tree all their life without even having the need of even an understanding of what is happening in the other part of the world. Every moment is a learning. Theres so much of experience that life teaches us. I loved the 10 things that one can write during the week for which we are grateful.
Thank you 🙏