On Learning…

We spent the first morning of our learning course understanding the term ‘learning’ and how important it is in understanding the world around us. Learning refers to a process in which we understand something for ourselves. We are constantly learning throughout our lives and it is an infinite process. Sometimes we do not know how we learn, but each one of us has a unique learning approach that we use every time we want to understand something around us. 

We learn to understand life around us and to adapt to it. Learning is also a process through which we adapt to various situations. We apply our learning in most situations in life. We may learn the basics of a concept, but through exploration and questioning we can apply our learning of these fundamental concepts to any situation in life. We learn in order to survive and it then becomes a need. This kind of learning, of need, is universal. On the other hand, we also learn things that are relevant in today’s world, and may not necessarily affect us in any way. 

Learning is born out of a curiosity of things. Learning cannot be imposed on anyone. One must be motivated in order to learn. I think that learning is about understanding not just what is taught, but also through exploratory and introspective thinking. We also learn through failure and making mistakes. Thus learning is about being willing to think and explore; it is about bring motivated enough. 

For me, learning is about asking questions and understanding things by oneself not only through introspection but also through experience. Experience plays a major role in our individual learning. It gives us first hand information about situations. Learning through experience is unique to each person and thus everyone makes learning their own. 

 We each learn in different ways and methods. For some, visuals are effective and for others, understanding theory is equally effective. Whichever approach we take to learn, we benefit greatly from it. Sometimes, we tend to unlearn something. We unlearn things that we’ve learnt before. We even learn unconsciously. It is possible that one can apply their learning without the conscious act of learning taking place. We hardly ever think about how we learn or even that in everything that we do some learning takes place. It is a very important process, and once we understand our own approach to learning we can then seek to understand things with more clarity. 

It is amazing that we’re constantly learning new things everyday in our own unique ways.