Use Mind Power - Discover Faster Learning by Letting Children Teach You How!

                

 

When you were a child, learning was easy. At birth, we are all helpless babies. By the age of 7 or 8 you had acquired an incredible range of skills - walking, talking, social skills, primary education ... And it all happened naturally, quickly and easily. Now you are an adult, you may want to learn new skills, learn new ideas or learn new mental habits to be more successful, be happier or change your life. You can speed up the learning process by letting children teach you how!

Children are 'programmed' to learn

As a new born baby you have a mind that is highly receptive to learning. Some of this is because your brain is still developing and it is like an empty book. By the time you are 7 or 8 years old, your brain has almost reached it's full size. Billions of connections have formed between the neurons in your brain encoding vast amounts of learning.

This gives children a tremendous advantage that is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn. Fortunately, even as an adult recent research has shown that you can re-wire your brain to incorporate new knowledge and new ways of thinking. So the old story that adults are "set in their ways" is simply not true.

Great. I hope I have knocked that barrier down. There's a lot more yet to learn about learning from watching children.

Embrace learning

One of traps you might fall into is thinking "I have spent years learning what I know, why should I have to change?" The reality is that we all live in a world of constant change - change is one of the few certainties in life!

If you look at children you see that they are immersed in an environment where change is the norm and they are expected to learn. Children have the expectation that they will need to learn, to adapt to the world around them, to continue to grow. You must expect the same - continual learning and growth, continual development and progress.

Expect to make mistakes at first

Another area where children have a tremendous advantage is that they are not afraid to make mistakes. They know that if they try enough times they will get it right. As you progress beyond childhood, you become more socially conscious, making mistakes becomes embarrassing and you find it harder to accept your mistakes.

Unfortunately, the rules of learning don't change for adults. When you first start out doing something new, no matter what it is, you will not do it perfectly. You will only learn by practise. It could be a new manual skill, like making something, it could be a new mental skill like visualizing your goals - no matter what it is, you will have to put in some practise to learn.

Children live in a world where their mistakes are forgiven. You can look for a supportive environment to help you in your learning process too.

Celebrate your successes

Have you ever had a child show you their first painting of someone. To an adult these wonderful creations look… well... childish! But you no doubt celebrated the artist’s success. Children are not afraid to celebrate progress, even if it’s only a tiny step.

You need to learn to celebrate your successes no matter how small.

During the early years of your life, you were able to learn a tremendous amount of information about the world around you in the space of a few short years. As an adult you still have some of the ability to reprogram your mind.

However, children don’t just have the advantage in terms of being open to programming, they also have behaviours and attitudes that support learning. As an adult you may well have lost touch with these attributes – you can learn a lot about learning from children!

Want to learn more about use mind power?

You can get a free e-course the success principle . Visit my website for more resources, articles, and support materials about success and personal growth .

Kevin John has spent many years helping businesses owners, aspiring business owners, and private individuals to develop the understanding and skills needed to achieve the success that they want.

Mindfulness and Conversation: Northwest Earth Institute Plants Powerful Seeds

                

 

A few years ago, I was the national outreach coordinator for the Northwest Earth Institute in Portland, Oregon.

It was a very cool job. All day long, I talked to people across the country who were interested in gathering once a week with a few friends, neighbors or co-workers in order to discover more about their ideas, values, and habits affecting their relationship with the Earth.

Dick and Jeanne Roy, the co-founders of NWEI, had no expectations when they first made a few copies of articles they found thought-provoking and shared them with co-workers at Dick's law firm during lunch hours. Always a stickler for details, Jeanne carefully selected appropriate reading material and prepared an orderly flow of articles that inspired discussion and connection.

They knew they might get folks thinking. They knew they might get folks talking. They had no idea they would change the lives of thousands of participants in all fifty states.

Those copied and stapled pages became collections of stirring prose and excellent articles published by outstanding authors. The Northwest Earth Institute became the distributor of these self-published discussion guides for use in homes, workplaces, community centers and places of worship.

And yet, as I found in my daily talks with participants of all ages, it wasn't simply the reading material that inspired people to change their lives--though it certainly laid the groundwork for the shift. What led to the transformations was the act of joining these small group discussions to share their ideas with others who were engaged in the same process of thoughtful discovery.

Whether the subject was voluntary simplicity, sustainable living, developing a sense of place, or teaching our children about the Earth, the courses led to some dramatic life changes in those who were longing for a sense of connection and waiting for just the right catalyst and opportunity for reflection and sharing.

We've all read books that inspired us. Now, imagine that you were reading that book with a group of 8 or 10 others who gathered each week to discuss a chapter for an hour. At least, that's the way the discussions begin. The truth is that the chapters and questions open the door to discussion, and then that door swings wide open as each group finds their own way to explore the ideas the readings have triggered.

It's a fascinating process to observe. I've facilitated these groups in numerous settings--from lunch meetings of Intel engineers to coffee gatherings of mothers with preschoolers. Each group has its own personality, but the thread that connects them is a sense of wonder and exhilaration in exploring ideas with others.

The comment I heard most frequently went something like this: "I've been working next to Joe for ten years and I never would have guessed that he was so passionate about this topic or had so much in common with me."

We tend to talk to each other on a surface level. We veer away from discussion about what is meaningful because we don't want to offend anyone or feel too vulnerable expressing our deepest values to someone who might not share them.

Dick and Jeanne Roy had no idea that simply giving people permission--and a structure to follow--to engage in heartfelt discussions about what matters most to them would result in new choices, new lifestyles, new careers, new non-profits, new energy and a new sense of community among participants (cumulative enrollment of over 65,000 people).

Dick always refers to "having a conversation" instead of saying he is "talking" to someone. This simple mindfulness of the power of engaging with another person in a meaningful way was a seed that started a tremendous crop of continued awareness and connection.

What will you plant if you have a conversation about what matters most What will happen when you sow the seed of an idea in the fertile imagination of a deep, rich mind?

Start sowing, and see what starts growing.

Maya Talisman Frost has taught thousands of people how to pay attention. Her playful, eyes-wide-open approach to everyday mindfulness has been featured in over 150 publications, and her ezine, the Friday Mind Massage, serves up clarity, comfort and comic relief to subscribers in over 100 countries. To subscribe, visit http://www.Real-WorldMindfulness.com