Today is Monday, and as such is reserved for a post about needlework, (don't worry, I'll get to that) but it got me thinking about learning. Why do we learn anything? Why is that important? Is it important at all? What do we gain from learning and what do we lose? What do we learn, from who and when? All those questions started popping up in my mind so it came as no surprise that I decided to try and answer them. Maybe answers will help somebody, maybe they will help you...Maybe they will help me...
Speading up a learning process by Clemens van der Linden
WHO ARE OUR TEACHERS?
We learn from everyone so everyone is our teacher in a way. Every person that we meet knows something that we don't and with meeting any person we will always know something they don't. Can you imagine how much we could benefit from each and every person on this planet? Every encounter, every book, movie and a play, every doctor, waiter and a musician, every friend and a family member has something that can teach us and help us grow.
"Everyone you meet knows something you don't know but need to know. Learn from them." C.G.Jung
Every moment in our lives is a new opportunity to hear, see, smell, touch, taste or learn something. We can read and we can talk to people, we can listen to lectures or attend various educational programs. This world is a huge place for us to THRIVE, EXPAND and ENRICH our mind and soul.
There will always be more things for you to learn, and there will always be so much that you do not know. Be humble. You are NOT the smartest person there is, you do NOT know everything, you NEVER will. Just imagine how boring your life would be if you did know everything. The journey is the prize, not the destination. With every little bit of information you get, you become a better person, a wiser person. If you stop, your growth stops, and if your growth stops so does your life, because... When we stop expanding, we start dying.
Lifelong Learning
WHAT IS THE MOTIVATION BEHIND LEARNING?
Let me tell you a little secret... You all have a natural motivation to learn new things, your curiosity is something you were born with. Remember when you were a child and you had ten questions every second? "Mommy why is this warm?", "Daddy how do planes fly","Why?", "How?", "Who?" That amazing curiosity is still in you, buried deep under all those "That is a stupid question." answers that you got. Do not let people with small minds discourage you.
You are an extraordinary being with a built-in mechanism for growth and expansion of your knowledge. If you weren't, if all people weren't we would never get out of our caves, develop science, art, music, architecture, we would never had all the amazing breakthroughs that we did. Our wish for improvement had always been there. Our wish for improvement is still here, inside all of us.
You WANT to be a better person.
You WANT to be smarter.
You WANT to improve your skills.
You WANT to learn.
It is ok for you to have preferences, not everything will spark your imagination the same way or in the same amount. We are all different, and what excites me doesn't have to be the thing that excites you. Our diversity is our greatest treasure. Follow your passion, learn about everything that you want no matter what it is. Seek those that already know what you want to know. Grow and leave all those naysayers behind. You don't need them. You need people who will say YES and who will help you on your journey. Those people will gladly answer all of your questions and share their knowledge, and those people will want you to share your knowledge with them. Find them. They are out there, looking and waiting for a person like you. Some of them are waiting specifically just for YOU.
Learing never ends
HOW DO WE LEARN?
The educational system is outdated. We make cars in a different way than we did, we grow food in a different way, we create technology differently, we have different clothes than before and we heal the sick in a different way. Everything has evolved. Almost everything. Our schools still look the same as they did a hundred and a thousand years ago. You have one teacher standing in front of twenty kids speaking to them and questioning them. Children are thought how to repeat things, not how to understand them and their creativity is not encouraged enough. They are thought how to memorize and not how to think and question the world around them.
There are different methods of learning. Some people are auditory types and need to listen, some need to write stuff down and the other ones have to feel the thing in their hands or see it in front of them. Expecting to learn something the same way as someone else is crazy. Find your own way. Experiment. Maybe you need music as a background, or you need to say the words out loud while you are walking in circles around your house, maybe you need to draw or write or sing it. Everything is fine. You are fine.
Learning styles
Have you discovered what style works best for you? Let me know in the comments.
WHAT DID I LEARN FROM NEEDLEWORK?
These past Mondays had been a lot of fun, I have read great posts and seen some amazing stuff people do with their hands. From sewing to crocheting, everything was lovely. The thing that I agree one is when people say that knitting is like a yoga practice for your brain. :) There is so much more I want to learn, so much more I have to learn in this area and it gives me so much pleasure to search for that #needleworkmonday once a week. Try it out for yourselves, the knowledge that awaits you is pretty amazing.
I did say at the beginning of this post that I will get to needle part, didn't I? Well... Thanks for sticking around long enough to see it :) Here are some necklaces that I've made out of felt. They are hand sewn, I don't use a sewing machine. Some of them are sold and some are still waiting for their owners. Hope you guys like them.
WHAT DO I WANT YOU TO LEARN FROM THIS POST?
My dear and lovely readers... You are amazing and you are more powerful than you think. You are smart and special, divine beings that need to grow, that want to grow. Don't let anyone stop you. You will always be hungry for more. More experience, more knowledge, more different people and more different situations. Never compare yourselves with others. Compare yourselves with you from yesterday. Are you better today then you were yesterday? Have you learned something new? Seen or heard something that made your day just a little better? Have you smiled and have you made another person smile because of you? The most important message I have for you is in the image below. Have a great day everyone. Have a great life. 💚
Quotes on learning