You cannot, not learn

Mindfulness

By Chris Akins / 14 years ago

If you love learning you are in luck, because there is simply no way you can avoid learning, every day, all the time. You have no choice because life is learning.  How so? In the most basic sense, all of our actions are adaptive. In other words, we behave with intent, with motivation. This motivation may be conscious, or unconscious, but what we do is not random.

What are we adapting to? Simple, we are adapting to things that happen inside and around us. That may sound confusing, but to clarify, every perception we have is interpreted by our brain. This interpretation is complex as each piece of information we receive through our senses passes through many filters that have been created over our life through our own, unique subjective experiences.

So everything that has ever happened to us, is happening to us, and ever will happen to us, adds to our subjective experience, and helps to create the filters we use to receive and process all that happens around us.

In addition to strengthening our filters, or possibly creating new filters, our subjective experiences actually create our maps of reality. They literally shape how we view the world around us.

And our perceived reality is what we are constantly adapting to.

So what are you learning?

As you can see, you are constantly learning. Some of the lessons you learn consciously, such as when you study for a math exam, or realize that touching a hot stove is bad. Other lessons you learn passively.

Information and experiences that you may not even be aware of are adding to your unconscious mind’s body of knowledge, and in turn are building and strengthening filters, adding to your map, and shaping your reality.

Be an active participant in your learning

You may begin to understand why it is very important to pay attention to the subjective experiences you may be exposing yourself (or your kids!!!) to. It is equally important to process your experiences critically and mindfully to ensure you are learning the right lessons from them.

Some ways to process your experiences are mediation, journaling, counseling, therapy, hypnosis, or simply discussing them with a friend or family member. All of these methods are great ways to increase awareness of the meanings your mind is assigning to your subjective experiences, and to possibly even change or reframe those meanings as appropriate.

By becoming an active participant in your life’s education you can direct your lessons, and create a map of reality that better serves your life’s purpose.