We Never Lose Our Ability to Learn

Discussing how life is an experience which causes us to learn and adapt no matter what.  So it's not whether we stop being able to learn, but if we wish to engage in learning or have learning thrust upon us.

Transcript

We Never Lose Our Ability to Learn

One of the more sticky problems with Akashic work is our issues around learning. School teaches us getting an education is being told about a variety of subjects while simultaneously convincing us to ignore our own knowing and means of learning. It changes our focus from experience to almost solely intellectual information and mental understanding. This way we can learn a tremendous amount without ever truly knowing much of anything.

Jobs and careers follow this trend by focusing our attention on the task at hand, honing us into a tool which is useful for the company, but not really for anything beyond that. And Western culture enhances this by flooding us with information of so many kinds, demanding our attention at all times while never allowing us enough to comprehend what we're attending to, all the while calling on us to join in this or that. We're encouraged to be a part of things while never being truly clear what we are a part of.

This implicit bias of learning being a mental process has become part of spiritual community as well. Manifesting is seen as a matter of setting an intention, keeping the mind in alignment with the intention, and then being open to receive what is being requested. All actions and physical aspects of the process somehow are meant to flow from this. Ill health and healing are also seen as being products of the mind where once we "get our heads around" what is actually happening we can see clearly which thought process has caused it, correct the misaligned thinking and then set up a solution while the body can then come back into a more healthy state naturally.

And as spiritual community sees most of life as a series of lessons, meaning the trials and tribulations of life are meant to teach us something we haven't yet understood, then the resolution to most problems is in understanding the lesson. Once we have done so everything will straighten out and finally go smoothly.

The issue here isn't there's no truth to these things, but the weight and importance this truth is given. There are inherent problems in the absolutist concepts like never, always, everything, nothing, all of, everyone and no one. They are, for a variety of reasons, excluding some things while overly identifying with others and easily disproven by a whole host of exceptions which will disprove the statement. And having most things, including learning, be biased towards the mind and will power and thought is as imbalanced as a cartoon where the body is tiny, and the head is a huge floating parade balloon.

But it is from this bias many people approach Akashic work. That it is an intellectual enterprise and once they have the answer they are looking for, no matter what the question, then everything will fall into place, the problem will be solved and then they can continue on as they were, only better. When this doesn't happen, they become stuck and frustrated -or- they can't seem to understand what is being presented to them no matter how they experience it -or- they minimize the information into a sound bite, but then nothing changes -or- they simply cannot experience anything at all as it is presenting in what amounts to a foreign language, which they are unprepared to interpret.

Looked from a more balanced, less biased lens, the answer to the lessons we've come into this life to learn often aren't intellectual, they are experiential.  But not everyone is even here to learn lessons. Some come to practice and improve a skill or way of being.  Others are here to unfold new ways of being themselves which they've never had the chance to manifest into the world. For each of these and more, intellectual learning is a part of but not the solution to their path and the means to walk it successfully. Instead, the challenge is to become ever more fully themselves through experiential learning.

I say challenge because at some point in our lives people seem to become resistant to change and new experiential learning.  I'm reminded of this when I mention I learned to do things with my left hand midway through my career in high tech.  In my early 30's I was working full time reverse engineering computer software, providing technical support for computers, and providing computer training while at the same time taking a degree in American Sign Language interpreting, then later being an interpreter for children in middle school.

Because of all this I overused my right arm entirely: elbow, wrist, hand, shoulder.  I was told the only remedy was to stop the overuse and let it rest.  I wasn't in a financial position where I could just quit my jobs in order to heal so instead, I took on the task of figuring out what I could do with my other hand.  I learned to handle cutlery, brush my teeth, and use a computer mouse all left-handed. To the astonished bewilderment of my peers, I even switched the buttons on my mouse to have them make sense with the left hand (left click rather than right and so on). I did so much of this I eventually became ambidextrous and still am today.

The response which I get from people to this information, which you may be having right now, is astonishment and then a shake of the head which means "not me". Each time I mention this I can see them thinking through what it would take them to do such a thing and the rejection of it as too hard, too much, and not something they are willing to do because of all the negatives including the inevitable uncomfortable feelings they would experience. It's seemingly uncomfortable for most people to even contemplate.

And yet it took little to no time at all, was only awkward for a day or so, and has had many positive benefits for me over the years and continues to do so.  As do most things we learn experientially through our lives.

It's this experiential, holistic, transformative learning which is key to Akashic learning.

Luckily, we can remember what it means to learn in this holistic way since we spend most of our early childhood doing just that.

We learn how to walk, hold a cup, hold a spoon, even use a fork without poking ourselves or anyone else in the eye.  We learn how to brush our teeth, hold a pen, text, email, throw and kick a ball, run, tie our shoes, dig a hole, and climb a ladder. Later on, we learn how to drive a car, ride an escalator, swipe/slide/tap a credit card, and take selfies without endangering ourselves and others. 

All of these things we learn even though they can be difficult, complicated, and/or come with a host of spoken and unspoken rules. We may come to them easily or have to put in maximum effort, but we achieve them which means there is plenty more we're capable of doing.

So, the issue is not "Can I?", but "How?". 

The Key is Positive Reinforcement

The pros and cons of intellectual learning is our brain is a problem solver.  Which means like a hammer looking for a nail, it looks for problems and then tries to solve them.  In the case of experiential learning the brain sees awkwardness, partial or repeated failures, uncomfortable moments, and change as problems which need to be avoided or solved in some manner.  So, we become avoidant of this type of learning.

To help avoid this, we need to remember what it was like before we knew how to walk.  Back in the day before walking, we knew we wanted to walk, we were going to try and walk, and we probably could because everyone else was.  We wanted it and so we tried.

And we failed.... repeatedly.

Did anyone around us give us grief about this? Nope.

Were we told we were a failure and needed to try harder? Nope.

Were we scolded and told to stop trying to be something we're not? Nope.

Instead, we were given encouragement. Sometimes backhandedly. Other times with concern because we could have toppled into something which hurt us. Mostly with a great deal of fanfare, approval, and literal support. 

As a side note, I love the expressions on the faces of tiny babies where an adult is holding them up in a standing position and then giving them all kinds of praise and attention and applause. They get this bewildered look, then focus on the adult with a sarcastic expression as if to say "You know you're doing this right? I'm not doing anything. Seriously!" Then they give in to joy and go "Yay Me!!!" It makes me laugh every time. 

Why would we, as adults, treat ourselves with less love and joy in the face of our becoming? 

In order to learn a new thing experientially, holistically, we don't need to succeed, we need to try. Try with the knowledge we're going to fail. Repeatedly. Until we don't.

Which means we need to applaud and approve, not just the final success, but Every Single Attempt as well. 

Did everything you could to be on time for your meeting? Were still late? Gold star in your appointment book.

Managed to remember to breath before replying to someone's text or email or conversation? Still knee jerk reacted? Time for a bit of chocolate or a cookie.

Said no when you meant no? Then had a panic attack and decided you were a horrible person? Then you get your favorite meal delivered while you relax in your favorite jammies.

And approval should not be some long-term carrot, no matter what corporations or educational organizations may wish us to believe. Approval is something we need to have in the moment. It needs to be physical, visceral, pleasant and leave a warm glow for a bit afterwards. Like with a baby or a pet, it needs to be associated with the activity, make us feel good by setting off endorphins in our body, and give us the desire to keep going regardless of what our brain labels as an insurmountable problem.

But What if I'm too old to learn?

There is no such thing. Life is an experiential event. Our bodies don't stop learning, becoming and adapting no matter how old we get. People start body building in their 60's and win competitions. Women have taken up sports as a midlife crisis and found it was their calling all along, despite hip replacements, arthritis, thyroid issues and so on. People at all ages learn to knit, sew, quit, crochet, sculpt, carve, build furniture, dance, skydive, fly gliders, swim, sail and so much more because they choose to do so, without or despite any and all limitations they might have or imagine.

When it comes to the Akashics, whether you're going there to understand the greater Universe, a particular culture, a healing practice, or more about who you really are or could be, all too often the messages you get doing Akashic work aren't about "getting it" at all, but instead exploring how to become. From the macro to the micro, we are offered a solution to our struggles and stuckness through being more of who we truly are in our physical lives. And we wouldn't be offered this wisdom if we were incapable of using it or going to be punished for trying. 

So, go ahead. Give that new thing a try. Do something the awkward and uncomfortable way which you know is the solution. Then approve the heck out of your awkward and uncomfortable first try. If nothing else, you'll have learned how to be good to yourself.