Life is a learning
adventure.
Learning is what
we do throughout life.
We learn to read,
write and count.
We learn geography.
We learn history.
We learn
literature.
We learn chemistry.
We learn biology.
We learn physics.
We learn algebra,
geometry, calculus.
We learn things
from books
We also learn
things outside of books.
We learn to do
things with our hands.
We learn to draw,
to juggle, to play the piano, to throw a ball.
We learn to do
things with our legs.
We learn to skip,
to skate, to surf, to dance.
We learn to do
chores.
We learn things
because we have to.
We learn things
because we want to.
We learn to swim,
to play basketball, to start baseball card collections, or play on our X boxes.
Yes, ABC and 123
is only the beginning of our lifelong learning adventure.
When the moment
arises and there’s something we need to learn, or the opportunity arises, and
there’s something we want to learn, we learn.
I grew up in India
in a middle class family. Growing up, my family didn’t own a car or a scooter.
We went to school
in a rickshaw and walked to school, and to our friend’s houses, as soon as we
were old enough to do so.
By the time each
one of us got to high school, we were given a bicycle and we were expected to
bike to school.
And of course each
one of us learned to bike.
Learning how to
balance and learning how to brake took some time.
We fell, we got
scrapes and bruises, but eventually, we picked it up.
Within the arc of
the opportunities available to us, we learned many different things.
My sister Rosie,
my brother David and I learned to swim, because we gained access to a pool which
was within walking distance of our house.
I do not remember
the details of how we were allowed to use the RSI pool, but this is where we
learned to swim.
Some memories
stand out from those days.
One was of my
sister Rosie almost drowning one day. My
brother David spotted she was in distress in the nick of time and rescued her,
even being half her size.
I also remember
the day David and I went swimming and our friend Christine Marley broke her
leg.
We went to her
house that day to invite her to go swimming with us.
But her mother, Mrs.
Marley said, “I am so sorry, dears, but I
can’t let Christine go with you. Knowing
how mischievous Christine is, she will do something foolish like venture into
the deep. I am sorry, but she will have to stay home today. She can go with you
another day when you have an adult accompanying you.”
So David and I
went to RSI alone, promising to return to play with Christine after we were
done swimming.
When we returned
to the Marley house, we learned Christine had been playing hide and seek with
some neighbors in a building that was under construction next to her house and she had jumped
off the roof onto a ledge to hide, but had missed the ledge and fallen to the
ground, breaking her leg in several places. Christine was in hospital and an emergency surgery was performed on
her leg. For the next 6 months, she would stay home recuperating.
Maybe Christine
should have gone swimming with us after all, David and I thought.
We learned biking out
of necessity and swimming out of a desire to.
Both brought us
joy.
Our natural
leanings would lead us to learn other things which would bring us joy.
Me and my brother
David learned the basics of the guitar from our friend Janet.
David and his
guitar became a staple of all our family gatherings starting from that time. Singing at
family gatherings is a Lobo tradition, and certain songs such as Hawa Na Gila have become a staple, as you learned from my post Family Songs.
As for me, as soon
as I had learned the basic chords of A, B, C D and F, I was drawn to composing
and I composed 30 songs during what would and should have been my first year of
college.
I was not some
super kid who was able to juggle college and freelance writing and composing
songs and giving English language tuition to foreign students all at once.
Something had to
suffer from my lack of focus and scattered energies.
It was college.
The arc of our
opportunities during our teen years also included caroms and badminton.
We were given a
caroms board and a badminton set and we learned caroms and badminton and became
quite addicted, especially to caroms.
There was a six
month stretch when David, Janet and I played caroms every single day, heading
out to eat pani puri on M.G. Road after.
Also, when I was a
tween, I was given a British Council Library membership and a scrabble board for
one of my birthdays.
I was delighted
and lost no time putting them both to good use.
I have played many
great scrabble games over the years with different opponents.
Two opponents
stand out.
One was Eugene
Titus who worked with me during my MAA days, a scrabble whiz if ever there was one.
Pitted against
each other in the finals of an MAA match, I discovered him to be a superbly
crafty player, whose strategy was to use the least number of letters and create the
smallest possible words on each turn, to limit my openings.
I followed suit and we ended up playing a cat and mouse game.
I had never
encountered anything like that before and I have never encountered anything
like that since.
Another scrabble
opponent who stands out in memory is Mira Prabhu.
She and I would meet
up every few years and have these scrabble marathons.
We were a great
match for each other, playing 7 letter word for 7 letter word, but she was
so much faster than me.
In a timed match,
there would be no contest. Mira would win. Luckily, we did not play with a timer.
Games are a
good test of character.
We have to learn how
to win and we have to learn how to lose.
It is always
interesting to watch different people’s reactions to winning and losing.
We should be able
to win like Joshua Waitzkin does in Searching for Bobby Fischer – to win without
gloating, that is.
And we should be
able to lose with our sense of humor intact.
When we are very
young, some of us can’t do this.
“Play the game, again” we will order, each
time we lose, unable to stomach our losses.
Our losses cause us to have a fit, go into sulks, or burst into tears.
We have to learn
to grow out of this.
Learning takes on
a great importance as we become responsible for ourselves.
We have to learn
to look after ourselves.
We have to learn
to become financially independent, put a roof over our heads, put food on the
table, clothe ourselves, pay our bills.
If we get married
and start a family, we have to learn to do all of this for our family, juggling
family obligations to our birth family and the new family we have started, if
we have to, with a cool head.
We have to learn
to manage our time, manage our money, manage our temper, manage our relationships.
We have to learn
restraint so we don’t jeopardize anything that is important to us.
One of the most
important things is our health.
We have to learn
to look after our health, which means learning about food, exercise, sleep,
stress reduction and medications.
It seems like a
lot to learn, but we are natural learning machines.
Just when we think
we can’t do something, we can.
Did I ever dream I
would learn to cook, and what’s more, enjoy cooking?
No!
Did I ever dream I
would learn to drive, and be able not just to get myself to work and back, but to
go on car trips to Oregon and So Cal?
No!
Did I ever dream I
would start my own creative shop one day?
No!
Did I ever dream I
would have two different careers, as different as apples and oranges, and make
them work?
No!
We are natural
learning machines.
This is what it
boils down to.
What determines the
kinds of things we will learn?
The arc of
problems and opportunities we experience, and the stage of life we are in –
this is what determines what we will learn.
When we are young
and in peak health, we will not be too concerned about learning about the food
we eat, other than we like the taste of it.
But as we grow older,
we will start caring about what we eat.
We learn what
foods are good for us, what are not good for us.
We learn what
makes us sick
If we have any discipline, we will try to avoid
getting sick.
We will exercise.
We will join 24
Hour Fitness or Golds Gym to do Zumba, Yoga, or run on a treadmill.
If we feel ill, we
will try to learn what our symptoms mean by looking them up on the internet.
When my Mum was
alive, she once developed a terribly painful rash on her torso.
I looked up her
symptoms on the internet and diagnosed it as shingles.
I took her to the
doctor. The doctor asked “What seems to
be the problem today?”, I answered “My
mother has shingles”
The doctor was
surprised.
He examined Mummy
and said, “Yes, indeed, she has
shingles. How did you know? Are you in
the medical profession?”
I was flattered.
I told him I had figured
it out from the internet.
We are drawn to be
curious about certain topics.
I had always been interested in medical topics.
I do not need an
inducement to check something out on the internet if it is medically related.
I sometimes think
I will have to come back in another life to be a doctor.
Music, movies,
cooking and pro sports are areas of most people’s lives in which they need no
inducement to learn.
People who love
music (and most of us do) accumulate a vast treasure house of information about
the artists, albums and songs they like.
People who love
movies (and most people do) accumulate a vast treasure house of information
about movies and everything to do with movies.
People who love
pro sports (and a lot of people do) accumulate a vast treasure house of
information about games and players and coaches.
People who love to
cook (and a lot of people do) will accumulate a vast treasure house of
information about food and spices and methods of cooking and the best places to
eat this or that dish.
As we become
exposed to new frontiers in any area of our lives, our tastes will evolve and our horizons will expand.
When I was young,
I liked pop and disco music; I composed pop songs and I loved going to the
disco because I liked to dance. Today I listen to rock music at non-disco decibels. Every
generation starts out liking a certain kind of music , which it likes to listen to as loudly as possible, and then its tastes become
more evolved.
Yes, our preferences
will change - in food, in music, in what we like and don’t like.
Ideally, we should
become more open and more experimental.
There was a time, I
could never imagine liking non-spicy food, but I acquired a taste for non-spicy
food.
There was a time
when sushi seemed yucky to me, but I acquired a taste for sushi. Lion King, anyone?
We are often
required to learn new things because of a health issue.
Health issues
almost always require us to restyle our lives.
Today's careers
will require continuous learning too.
Each job has its
own set of skills.
These skills will
change as time goes by.
Some jobs may even
become obsolete. When this happens, we will need to learn new skills and retrain
for another job.
Our career
paths could span multiple companies.
Going to a new
company may mean adapting to a different organizational structure, different
roles and responsibilities, and different technologies and processes.
One company will
use Baan, another Oracle, another SAP.
One company will
use Tableau, another Cognos, another Birst.
One company will
use Xactly, another Callidus, another Excel, another Varicent.
My examples are
all related to Commissions Administration, but you get my gist.
You will have to
be prepared to keep pace with change.
As Peter Drucker
said, “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process
of keeping abreast of change”.
In our personal lives too, we must keep pace with change.
The more we learn
to do that, the fewer frustrations we will experience.
Like I learned
Excel, Centive, Xactly, Varicent in order to become a Commissions Consultant, I
have also learned to do things in my personal life to stay abreast of change.
I learned how to
do my taxes on Turbo Tax.
I learned about
investments and personal finance.
Learning about taxes
and investments and personal finance has helped me reduce the risk of foolish mistakes.
We can’t avoid
mistakes altogether.
But knowing what
the mistake is and how it can be avoided in the future is where learning
about taxes and investments and personal finance comes into play.
We learn things the
hard way and the easy way.
When it comes to
relationships and friendships, we typically learn the hard way.
That’s okay. All
that matters is that we have learned our lessons from the experience.
If you are like
me, you want to squeeze as much pleasure out of life as possible.
But you may learn
the hard way - like I did - that your limits and tolerances are lower than
other people’s limits.
As I told you in one of my recent posts, I once wished to attain a Size 1 figure like I saw on one of my
friends. I learned the hard way I
couldn’t.
Once upon a time
during my hard core feminist days, I wanted to drink men under the table – but I
learned the hard way I am unable to process alcohol like other people can - I
get intoxicated faster and suffer a bad hangover even from the tiniest amount
of alcohol. And so I had to give it up.
All this learning
is part of the great learning adventure that is life.
We have to take
the good with the bad.
The joys with the
sorrows
The delights with
the disappointments
The gains with the
losses
The ups with the
downs
The bouquets with the
brickbats
Learning all the while.
Every sorrow,
every loss, every up, every brickbat is a learning moment.
“In times of change learners inherit the
earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a
world that no longer exists,” said Eric Hoffer.
We don’t want to
be beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
“But Minoo, I am an old dog - I can’t learn new
tricks.”
Yes, you can!
As Leonardo da
Vinci said, “Learning never exhausts the
mind.”
“But Minoo, do I have to go back to school to
learn?”
Maybe you do,
maybe you don’t.
Maybe you can find
someone to apprentice to.
If you do, that’s
great.
Otherwise, even though
you will do most of your learning on the job, you may still need this or that
credential or certification to get a foot in the door and to get people to take
you seriously.
This is why I paid
to do the Xactly Administrators Course from my own pocket.
I needed to be
taken seriously.
Learn to use your
judgment and your powers of observation to identify gaps in your knowledge and
how best to plug them so you can be taken seriously.
Plugging the gaps
in your knowledge can never be a waste.
As Mahatma Gandhi
said, “Live as if you were to die
tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
No matter how much
you have learned, you will always have a lot more to learn.
Don’t neglect what
you have to learn about relationships.
When it comes to
relationships, think about what Daniel J Boorstin said, “Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know.”
The more you learn, the freer you will be.
To quote Daniel J
Boorstin again: “Freedom means
the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.”
Here are some examples from my own life:
I never thought I
would be the owner of my own creative shop.
I never thought I
would drive.
I never thought I would
become a numbers person.
I never thought I would
become a Commissions Consultant.
I never thought I
would be able to do my own taxes.
I never thought I
would be able to write 280 blog posts.
I never thought I
would become a good friend to my daughter.
I never thought I would
become a person who regularly meditates.
I never thought I would
evolve into a person without anger management issues.
Yes, as we learn
more, our lives will become less bounded.
Learning is our
ticket to break out of the trap of our current personalities and circumstances,
whatever they may be.
I will end with
this quote from Jim Rohn: “Learning is
the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the
beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process
all begins.”
As always thanks for reading and have a great day and week….M …..a Pearl Seeker like you. Thanks to Ajay
and Audrey for their comments and compliments and thanks to the rest of you for
your votes, pins and likes. Much
appreciated.
