One of my blog posts deals with how to deal with the "Head Full" syndrome - what to do when you're no longer able to learn anything new because your head is full. In it, I recommend to eliminate from your head hearsay, to retain only what you know from personal experience, and in this way to make room for new.

It's sane advice. But what about knowledge dispensed by your friends? Is it not the very point of having friends - to listen to them?

Living in the part of America that is referred to as the Bible Belt, it follows that some of my friends are, well, bible belted.

They insist what they do is not their work but God’s. Reminiscent of the Zen view that holds we're but flutes on the lips of infinite breath. They see God everywhere. Don't know how they do it. I see God in everything. I don't see Him, or Her. Mostly because I don't believe God that small.

Made my mind up to comprehend God based on what I know, hear, feel and see.

The oceans, mountains, forests and deserts. The wind, fire, clouds and rain. The December sky. This building, the room, the seat I'm in, the coffee cup and the spoon. The flowers, butterflies, books, and music. Languages, translations, the pursuit of right and freedom - my own and that of others. Truth, and the elusiveness of truth. Teachers teaching me to read, write, lace my shoes and find my way. Dentists, 12 step programs, schools and churches, shelters, money, roofs and tables. Light in the dark. Good people, and bad.

I know Him in everything, hear Him all around, feel Him inside and out - but I don't see Him.

Those who say they see God - could it be they're just pretending?

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Connecting to the domain of personal growth and self development, Chris Brogan, professional speaker, community and social media guru and author of the New York Times bestseller "Trust Agents", on his website has done a review of a book by Nick Morgan, "Give Your Speech, Change the World: How to Move Your Audience to Action." The reason I bring it up here on my blog is much symmetry between Chris' topic and the topic of recent posts here on my blog - learning and learning techniques.

Both speaking and learning we acquire and practice naturally, almost effortlessly. Therefore, learning to speak and to learn appears rather superfluous at first sight, or even an oxymoron when it comes to learning to learn. We are not sure what to expect of it, or we are outright skeptical. However, when we do give it a try in spite of everything, our reactions are frequently along the lines of Chris Brogan's reaction to Nick Morgan's book about speaking - "well, I took tons from it, and you might, too, either as a beginner or someone with some speeches under your belt."

By all means, read Nick Morgan's book, and at the same time give learning about learning a try too - you might find yourself taking tons from it. Yes, there is a difference between (just) learning and learning (consciously) - "Learn Consciously, Rock Your World: How To Move Yourself Confidently In The Direction Of Your Dreams."

Learning Is A Big Part Of Life.

All problems could be solved if only we bothered learning how to.

And if it weren’t for the fact there's variety - without which the world would be a most boring place. Variety makes that while some are busy learning how to solve problems, others are busy learning how to make them. Everybody is not interested in learning the same thing at the same time, which is a good thing! Luckily for us all, the problem-solvers learn faster than the problem-makers.

In the park I saw someone kick off the head of another flower with every other step he took. There were more flowers than steps and there will be new flowers again next year. I tell the more-flowers-than-kicks story because it illustrates the underlying principle that force always eventually succumbs to power, status quo always eventually succumbs to progress. Talking of which, I take comfort in the fact that progress is the great tendency of human kind that has survived all other tendencies combined. With gloom and doom the darlings of mainstream, I understand everybody does not agree. But what the heck, even giant Louis Armstrong got plastered for recording “It’s A Beautiful World.” The human kind is making unbelievable progress, but at the level of individuals, it’s a different story.

Does Learning Work?

While society as a whole is able to overcome any challenge, for many individuals of said society, life sucks. Some rise out of the ashes because, at some point, they are invested with a belief in the possibility of triumph over seemingly impossible odds, but by and large, learning doesn’t work too well for everyone. You cannot win them all, but some aren’t winning any of them. Relationships are marked by high divorce rates, personal finances by indebtedness, health by skyrocketing consumption of an ever-increasing variety of drugs (legal and otherwise), and spiritual-emotional wellness by addiction, crime, suicides, wars and skyrocketing consumption of sleeping aids and anti-depressants. So …

What If You Could Learn, With Less Effort?

How to get the most out of your learning? How to make progress the dominating tendency in your life? What if all of your problems could be solved if only you could learn how to? The study of how we learn has been instrumental in the development of the “Beattitude System Of Thinking And Doing.” Hence I know firsthand, learning is too vast a topic to address in a single blog post. Until such time that the book version is available, today’s “learning post” will be followed by many more posts. By all means, please visit again.

To get the greatest mileage out of what you learn, the first rule: Even more important than learning, is from whom you learn.

Learning is critical to your success, but who you learn from makes all the difference in the world. Closely related, the fastest way to success is learning  from someone who is doing successfully what you’re seeking to do with success.

Easy Said, Easy Done…

“More important than learning, is from whom you learn” is easy to apply in practice – if you know what you’re learning for. How to identify the right person to learn from, implies you have a clear learning objective. But when asked about the importance of learning, most people initially respond with generalities – to be able to read, write, hold a conversation, speak languages, travel, or to get jobs. If pressed, they realize these are but means to an end. The end might be to take care of their family, make the world a better place, make a contribution, volunteer, or to fulfill a lifelong dream. When pressed further still, it becomes evident there’s an even bigger end. The real end – the ultimate ambition – in most peoples’ lives, is fulfillment or completion of their purpose.

The hierarchy of means and ends can be important to understand. If your reason for learning is at the level of generalities, change can be fast and furious. You risk to find what has been learned has been replaced by technology, transferred to another location, regulated beyond recognition, or made illegal. In this case, the loss of work can mean the loss of end, and can result in despair. By contrast, if learning for work is but a means to a greater end, the end remains and will likely result in the search for a different means.

Much Learning Remains Just That

There is vastly more learning happening, than action resulting from it. Every bookseller and seminar provider knows a large percentage of books sold and seminars attended never grow bigger than the brain cells they once fleetingly occupied in the minds of the clients. Peoples’ uncertainty in purpose leads to uncertainty in whom to learn from and what to learn. When the time comes to put the learned into action, understandably trust is not present, and the process aborted.

What's Your Reason For Learning?

If you know the answer, you may want to skip this paragraph. If not, learning how to find your purpose is actually rather easy. Just remember the first rule of learning: more important than learning, is from whom you learn:

If you desire to find your purpose, seek to learn how from someone who has.

If you need help to recognize or locate someone with purpose, contact me via comment or email. I’ll do a special post or answer directly.

QUOTES

• "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn to do it well." - Anonymous
• "You don’t learn so that you can then do. That’s an anxiety reaction and an avoidance behavior. You learn by doing, or I solemnly declare, you’ll never learn at all - or worse, you’ll abandon your calling altogether." – Nick Murray
• "Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom. How do they learn it? They fall, and falling, they're given wings." - Rumi
• "Kids - they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music." - William Stafford
• "Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught." – Winston Churchill
• "The learners will inherit the world. The learned will be beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists." - Anonymous
• "The wise learn from personal experience. The happy learn from the experiences of others." - Anonymous
• "Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other." – Benjamin Franklin
• "Experience helps you recognize a mistake when you make it again." - Anonymous
• "Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils." - Hector Berlioz
• "Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lesson afterwards." - Anonymous
• "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." - Anonymous

You're a baby boomer with more time than money. You dream of being debt-free again, and financially robust. Throughout your life you followed trends - from jeans to long hair to disco to investing in the stock market - but  now you realize it's not about trends and fashions anymore, it's serious business. Your money is decreasing at the rate your predicted longevity is increasing. Every other day science is adding another five years to your predicted life span. You need to be making money again. Not just for a month or two, but for many years. But the landscape has changed. What you've learned is nearly worthless, and what you must learn seems like a mountain. You worry. You Can Do Better Than That!

Many of the things you now take for granted were once impossible. Luckily, your mind didn't conceive of impossible back then. Learning - your very survival depended on it - occurred naturally rather than memorably. It's what allowed you to upgrade yourself from the sippy cup to the cocktail glass.

Therein lies your answer to today's challenges. Simply return to your roots. Reclaim your right and freedom to learn the way you were meant to, by trial and error, or as I like to call it, by the awesome power of zigzagging.

Learn From Kids. It's Easy. You Once Were One Yourself.

The best minds for learning are the minds of children. When kids are beginners at anything they ask questions at the beginner level. They make mistakes - not deliberately, but naturally as part of the process. They don't mind not knowing, they only mind not learning. Always looking for people who already know what they are in the process of learning, they spend time around them and ask them questions. Kids instinctively know there's no need to (re-)invent the wheel each time a wheel is needed. If a child were to build a telescope, s/he would look for some with telescopes, hopefully someone who understands people love to learn much better than being taught. Kids, like grown-ups, can make much progress when mistakes are made, best in rapid succession. Kids just know, anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn to do it well. Why, they even learn to dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.

You don’t learn so that you can then do. That’s an anxiety reaction and an avoidance behavior. You can't get wet from the word "water." The doer alone learns. Birds are given wings by falling. You, too, learn by jumping, or you’ll never learn at all. Or worse, you’ll abandon your calling altogether. When you learn, if you "fail," you cannot learn less.