Wednesday, July 20, 2016

THE LEARNING LINK




Do you remember when you first learned to tie your shoes as a child? 

Do you remember when you completed your first complicated math equation? 

Think back to the feeling of joy, satisfaction, and accomplishment when you realized that you could achieve what at first seemed challenging … it felt pretty good, didn’t it?

So the bigger question now is … where did that feeling go as an adult?

Why is it that this missing learning LINK within seems to have faded and instead for some it has become a feeling of being ‘overwhelmed’ or an ‘annoyance’ or ‘just one more thing to do’ that you don’t have time for?

While many SAY they are lifelong students, when it comes to ‘learning’ – it seems that the ‘willingness’ to learn something new is merely limited to the idealized “benefit” factor figuring out how many calories you believe you’re burning to justify your using Pokemon Go; or how much money you can save learning to make custom lattes at home. 

This is not to say that having benefit as an incentive for learning is a bad thing.  Hey, whatever gets you motivated to learn is always good.  But let’s take this to yet another level…

Maybe you were not a straight A student in school.

Perhaps PE was your best subject and the idea of learning calculus made your stomach churn.

Or maybe you were the person who figured you were going to get D’s and F’s so why bother trying to learn something new anyway? 

Believe it or not – THIS CAN CHANGE and so can your LEARNING LINK. 

Learning is a healthy thing for our minds, but many have missed the mark on the overall effects of what learning can do for our bodies on a physical cellular level and for our spirit on an emotional one.  

Mental and emotional health of course, have greater life term benefits for YOU than calories burned or money saved.  If we look at our LEARNING LINK through experiences as a continuous gift that contributes to our overall well-being as humans, we not only feel good, but we perform better in life both behaviorally and in daily endeavor/task application.

Although learning doesn’t always come from books and it does come from the school of life, perhaps expanding the idea of what learning is in itself, can come in another form of experience.



When it comes to difficult challenges and obstacles, it is a widely known fact that sometimes when you are ‘inside’ of a situation, you may not always see things clearly until you take a step back. 

It’s easy to evaluate another problem for a friend than it is for yourself even if it is the same issue, because many say that ‘you are too close to the situation’ to comprehend the tangle or knot.   

However, what if we were to acknowledge that sometimes your own solution is right in front of you and the logical problem-solving medicine you actually need lies within the example presented in your everyday life? 

Every encounter we have is for reason and purpose.  Words and actions, which educate and enlighten us are never an accident.  Neither is the nudge we get to ponder how we can improve or change any situation or be of assistance for others.  In essence, that instinctive act in how to help someone else is merely a wake-up call in how we can resolve the thought pattern process which opens us up to learning something new.  

Academic professors will call upon a film, supplemental educational project tool or a guest speaker to drive a learning point home which has already been presented many times in order to ‘awaken’ dormant learning within the brain.

Quite often reading chapters in books and having lectures from the same professor begins to become an ‘old tape’ and students shut off their brains to the cognitive learning process.

Though this is nothing new for the academic world, it is new for the everyday human to comprehend that if we apply this same tactic to our own learning, we can expand our capacity to learn more and embrace learning in a new way. 

The old saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is a myth when you apply the above learning principles. 

What is true is that a dog may tire of learning new tricks, because its brain is conditioned to believe that in learning a new trick will only produce results of the same old trick.  Watch what happens if learning is supplemented with the feeling of renewal with new and different stimuli like a fresh new toy or a completely new experience in reward.

This is similar to the ‘calories burned’ or ‘money saved’ tactic Pokemon Go players and latte strategists utilize.  

If the old dog could talk, it would tell you that it feels like a puppy again or more youthful and vibrant in learning a new trick because the stimuli impacting the learning process has shifted.
So if in your everyday life, you as a human are learning new things with this process, why can’t it work for the idea of your mind and body being more of the focus instead of merely your wallet or vanity? 

Think about this for a bit and look at the bigger picture of what this means. 

They say variety is the spice of life and sometimes a singular shift from habitual routines can ignite a stale learning process within the brain.  

So what this does, is it can actually CHANGE or break you out of a process to help grow your application of learning perspective so that you no longer think of traditional learning as being ‘overwhelming’ or an ‘annoyance’ or ‘just one more thing to do’ that you don’t have time for. 

The next time you think you can’t become an expert at art history or learn a new language or even make an entirely new lifestyle or career change – THINK AGAIN. 

Reviving your LEARNING LINK is possible. 

Tweaking how you learn is merely the idea of finding a method that works better for you.
Keep in mind that not everyone learns the same way and that’s okay.  You don’t have to learn the exact same way as everyone else.  You’re YOU and maybe all you need is to know that learning – no matter at what level you choose to participate is GOOD FOR YOU… it’s good for you physically, emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually if you open yourself up to the idea of what is possible.  

Then disconnect and detach from the idea that you have to be an expert or be perfect after learning what you just tried.

That’s it.

Yeah… you may think “That’s easy for you to say and harder to do.” 

You’re absolutely right.  It’s hard to break an old mind set or conditioning when it comes to learning, because it all boils down to how you perceived it from Kindergarten on up through high school, college or beyond. 

But if you take the time to realize that when you learned how to tie your shoes – you didn’t give up.  You did not automatically default to slip-ons or Velcro as the option to learning how to tie shoes… and even if you did, you do know how to tie shoes now.

Somewhere along the way in your life, you learned – and your LEARNING LINK was open enough to do so.

So take heart as you re-examine your LEARNING LINK and see what you can do next to broaden your horizons and open up your world.  You just may surprise yourself… and if you’re walking this new pathway in shoes you tied yourself, you have extra reason to smile knowing what is possible! 

Namaste.
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Friday, July 15, 2016

LINKING TO RESPECT




The world has been through so much, right?

Communities all over the world have had so much hardship and every continent has had its heartbreak as all of us have ridden this horrifically painful wave together.  What is extremely alarming is the fact that it seems we have had far too many tragedies one right after the other to process, that we simply cannot humanly process so much, so fast, in such an extreme abundance simultaneously. It is just too much for the human heart to deal with.  But here we are. And we are not alone.

When it seems as though we are being thrown tragic news story after tragic news story, emotions are stirring worldwide in a way that many human souls are struggling with how to cope beyond comprehension.  

It’s difficult.  Some are trying to stay strong.  Some don’t even have the energy to stay strong. Some are so emotionally, mentally and physically depleted, they are not even sure they have the strength to be the pillar of strength for others... to put on that brave face to greet each day.  It's not easy.

Everyone has thoughts, feelings, and opinions… and everyone is feeling grief, heartbreak, and sorrow somewhere, everywhere, every single day. 

In times like these, some people express themselves to heal.  Passionate and emotion-filled conversation has a realistic duality.  Sometimes conversation has a way of comforting… while other times it has a way of disturbing/disrupting others stirring the pot that is already bubbling over  – depending on how the communication is presented/delivered and/or received, processed and analyzed... and whether or not it contains faux pas, errors, lack of judgment, lack of sensitivity or heart.

We all must be thoughtful with our words.

Read that again: We all must be THOUGHTFUL of our words. 

Intention can be confusing for many who are overwhelmed and experiencing a myriad of emotions all at once. 

Some cannot contain anger, frustration, or pain.  Others are so emotionally charged that even the most sensitive and loving words can be taken out of context because there is so much rawness happening at one time.  While others are swirling in chaos and words come out and they are not expressed as the heart initially intended.

In times like these, some people feel helpless.

Others use their voice.

Others sadly choose to attack others for using their voice and nothing gets accomplished but continued abusive conversation which is combative and harmful.  This needs to stop.

While there are some others who are so paralyzed to know the ‘right’ or ‘politically correct’ thing to say, do, think, feel, act or react because of all of the above and observing what has happened – they remain silent and stir alone isolated in their thoughts.  This is not healthy either. This needs to change.
  
While it may appear that everything has already been said before, there is always room for repeating words that can do the following:

LINK TO RESPECT.



These are three words that are not to be taken lightly, but when communication boils down to being simply words (with or without emojis), respect must always be considered when connecting to ANYONE AND EVERYONE.

Everyone has opinions and thoughts… But we MUST NOT FORGET that everyone also has feelings and that some of these feelings are still a work in progress in the present moment to where they cannot even be understood. There are consequences in hurting someone’s feelings from miscommunication.

We see it each and every day. 

Until you have walked through someone’s shoes yourself, while you may have all the compassion in the world in your heart, keep in mind – everyone’s journey is different.  Everyone’s footsteps and experience in those shoes or out of them … yes, different. 

Don’t forget that – EVER. It's important to know individual experiences affect everything depending on what the individual has endured and where they are coming from.

When we return to emotions – also keep in mind, everyone is PROCESSING THEM DIFFERENTLY AS WELL. 

There is no “correct order” to process emotions.  There just isn’t.  

Based on your own personal life experience, you were taught to react to situations very differently than your best friend, your neighbor, or relative.  Not everyone goes through the grief process exactly the same.  Different cultures, different generations, different individual families – every single situation is different.   

Some people remain in shock and are numb and have to digest what the heck just happened.   

Others are immediately angry and questioning.   

While others are so grief-stricken there are simply not enough words in their vocabulary to even express exactly what it is they are feeling, but they are sobbing uncontrollably and cannot even breathe.  All of this is normal.  There is no right or wrong way to process pain, grief, loss, and tragedy.

What we can all do at a time like this is simply LINK TO RESPECT and provide comfort and prayer, peace and love and be aware that every human suffers and struggles. It is in our own KINDNESS, GENTLENESS, OPENNESS AND GENEROSITY - that we can be of service. 

At the end of the day, our respect for each other has the opportunity to create a ripple effect when it comes to communicating and relating, healing and recovering – but more importantly understanding how to show up and even more importantly HOW TO LISTEN.

You see when respect is in place it provides fertile ground for listening to happen. PEACE can only have an opportunity to grow if there is A PLACE TO SHARE SAFELY WITHOUT FEAR to unite for solutions, carefully listening AND HEARING from a real place.

And only when you have that, do you have the foundation for ACCEPTANCE to actually be born.

When you have the foundation for ACCEPTANCE to be born, you have the opportunity for OPENNESS toward new vision, new perspective and no judgment for anyone or anything – rather you can connect from a place that allows acceptance to breed LOVE. 

When you have LOVE, it is so powerful that it can HEAL, COMFORT, ENCOURAGE, ASSIST, GIVE, GROW, NURTURE, SUPPORT and FORTIFY.  Only then can LOVE CAN SPREAD BEYOND its limitations and conditions with the potential to breed COMPASSION, CO-EXISTENCE, and UNDERSTANDING. 

But it all boils down to RESPECT from the start.  This is what we must all focus on. 
If you practice respect – it can be so powerful that it can grow beyond you, your friends, your family, your classroom, your work, your church, your playground, your differences, your neighborhood, your local community, your regional community, your entire state, and onto other states and onto other countries and suddenly respect has its own ripple effect.

It all begins with each of us.  RESPECT is the core component. 

Taking RESPONSIBILITY for CONSCIOUSNESS is key.  Where there is CONSCIOUSNESS…. There is SELFLESSNESS.  Where there is SELFLESSNESS….. there is UNIFICATION of people being on the same page.  Ego must be completely removed and instead, we must collectively look at SOLUTION-ORIENTED conversation that is rooted in a place where we can SHARE PEACEFULLY to RESOLVE…TOGETHER.  

So while this may have all been said before… due to the state of our world right now, this deserves repeating.

LINK TO RESPECT. 

It all begins with each of us if we are to heal together peacefully and strengthen our human connection. 

Namaste.
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