What did you learn today?
A beginner’s mind can change you.
Hello friends,
I forgot how hard learning could be.
When I taught hormonally charged young people, I often saw hopelessness in their eyes. Like the day I handed Brittany her graded test. She shrugged, gazed at her desk, and lamented, “ I studied. My Mom sat with me for two hours, and still, I failed. I just give up.”
Until this week, I had forgotten the feeling of a beginner. Brittany wasn’t a failure. She needed more strategies for learning her way.
This week, I knew exactly how Brittany felt. The macro photography class I was excited to take quickly escalated into a series of frustrations. At one point, I exclaimed, “I give up!”
Instead, I quit for the night, opened my iPad, and searched, photographing smoke, water droplets, and capturing soap bubbles. The instructor gave us a process for each assignment, but I needed something different.
I didn’t have the equipment used in the demonstration, and I am still learning how to master the settings on my camera. Although I’ve taken thousands of pictures, I am a relative beginner at photography.
The next day, with new methods and using what I had available, I started over. Did I reach the level of expertise I saw in the instructor’s examples or the ones I viewed online? Not hardly.
However, I stretched a few brain neurons, learned more about how to shoot objects up close, how to use lights and a strobe flash, and what my camera can do when I teach it what I’ve learned.
We never lose our capacity to learn and unlearn. The unlearning of old habits and beliefs can find us amid astonishing creativity. If— we are willing to let go and allow our beginner’s-mind to wallow around in imperfection and uncertainty.
Go ahead. I dare you to try something new. I’ll cheer you on as you learn.
Learning and supporting learners shaped my life. In this post, I share how teaching found me.
This short video clip will make you smile and maybe want to sign up for dance lessons because you are never too old to dance!
I found that if you press on learning something new, eventually, everything becomes clear, and I can see clearly now (thanks, Johnny Nash).
I am still learning.
—Michelangelo, at age 87
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.
—Abigail Adams
The illiterate of the future are not those who cannot read or write, but those who can not learn, unlearn, and relearn.
—Alvin Toffler
Find a little wonder this week, hug the people you love, and be kind.
With gratitude,
Kathryn
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That's Good, Keep Going! 🧠🚿🛁 "What is a macro shot in photography?
Macro photography is all about showcasing a subject larger than it is in real life — an extreme close-up of something small. A full-frame insect in a five-by-seven-inch photo and a four-inch product shot of a cornflake go well above life-size: both are examples of macro photography." - Source: Google. "Begin to do what you can do where you are, and you must do all that you can do where you are. - Wallace D. Wattles,1860-1911"