Habits of mind
This is written in response to utter shock, frustration and somewhat a sense of dismay. These were with the intention of simply wanting to finish up some backlogs at the neighbourhood library somewhere in the north. Gosh, the library was packed and as I’m writing this, people were walking by and engaged in their usual petty chats while time whisked away. Initially, my mind was filled with thoughts on how people can hog 1 table with a few textbooks, tissue papers and jackets spread across the length of the table, only to have just 1 soul seated there for a good 1hr without anyone being able to occupy the obviously vacant seat. As I took a short tour around the library, my vision started to rally between the adults and the students. It soon tapered to just the many students who were, just like me, seated on the floor at various corners of the library.
Well, nothing wrong with that, except when there are furniture ready for use, they really ought to get themselves postured in a manner ready to learn, absorb and commit to memory the contents they were rushing through for their preliminary examinations. Honestly, I started to feel frustrated. My thoughts ran from “WHAT?!” to “sigh…” I traced my emotions and realised that it stemmed from words that came a student I taught at the first quarter of the year. Let’s put our minds to some thinking and reasoning before coming to a conclusion which pretty often isn’t one of our own.
Is the library a conducive place of study for you? Let’s take away the word conducive. The statement might well be a positive one. Many tend to consider, or have a preconceived mindset that, this place is generally quiet and best for studying. Oh come on, is that really true for all? Certainly not, at least for someone who needs active discussions, movements or has any preferred style of learning such as the kinesthetic lot. Let’s remove the technicalities of terms and styles. Rather, the practicalities of learning. Note: I’m steering away from ‘studying’ and zooming in towards ‘learning’. There’s a vast difference between the two.
Why sit on the dusty, dirty carpeted floor when you can be well seated in a similar environment with necessary facilities to enable learning to the best ability? Who ever told you that by studying with peers who constantly engage in endless gossips and useless chats will help in understanding your academic subjects better? Does putting a textbook in front of you and listening to over-jarring music assist in your ready state of mind to learn? Certainly not. Common sense tells us that.
The worse thing a child can do is to take learning out of the equation and think it as boring and something which cannot be changed because the innate abilities say no. There are ways to do things better. You can run. However, you can choose to run in either a pair of slippers or a decent pair of cushioned shoes that can carry you further and possibly in a faster pace. I have come to realise that there are things which are worthy of ponder and if need be, produce a change in me be it in my perception or manner of working. Say a Coach tells you that you might want to consider running with a pair of shoes than just bare footed, then it only makes perfect sense for anyone to put to test and see if it really works. If it does, voila! If not, just discard it and consider addition cognitive knowledge.
Should a friend come along your path and speak truth into you, you can either respond by ‘reacting’ or simply put a thought and work out necessary changes. Of course, you can always choose to totally ignore it.
What am I driving at? Habits.
Habits either kill you or make you. They can be your best friend or become your master. You choose. For the order of the day states that it still depends on your Choices. Make the right choice today and see that life has more than what you think it to be. Yes, we learn by making mistakes. We also learn by making the right choices.
I have so much food dishes to blog about but mood is taken away by this. Ah… I feel better now. I wanna like eating pizza.
Well, nothing wrong with that, except when there are furniture ready for use, they really ought to get themselves postured in a manner ready to learn, absorb and commit to memory the contents they were rushing through for their preliminary examinations. Honestly, I started to feel frustrated. My thoughts ran from “WHAT?!” to “sigh…” I traced my emotions and realised that it stemmed from words that came a student I taught at the first quarter of the year. Let’s put our minds to some thinking and reasoning before coming to a conclusion which pretty often isn’t one of our own.
Is the library a conducive place of study for you? Let’s take away the word conducive. The statement might well be a positive one. Many tend to consider, or have a preconceived mindset that, this place is generally quiet and best for studying. Oh come on, is that really true for all? Certainly not, at least for someone who needs active discussions, movements or has any preferred style of learning such as the kinesthetic lot. Let’s remove the technicalities of terms and styles. Rather, the practicalities of learning. Note: I’m steering away from ‘studying’ and zooming in towards ‘learning’. There’s a vast difference between the two.
Why sit on the dusty, dirty carpeted floor when you can be well seated in a similar environment with necessary facilities to enable learning to the best ability? Who ever told you that by studying with peers who constantly engage in endless gossips and useless chats will help in understanding your academic subjects better? Does putting a textbook in front of you and listening to over-jarring music assist in your ready state of mind to learn? Certainly not. Common sense tells us that.
The worse thing a child can do is to take learning out of the equation and think it as boring and something which cannot be changed because the innate abilities say no. There are ways to do things better. You can run. However, you can choose to run in either a pair of slippers or a decent pair of cushioned shoes that can carry you further and possibly in a faster pace. I have come to realise that there are things which are worthy of ponder and if need be, produce a change in me be it in my perception or manner of working. Say a Coach tells you that you might want to consider running with a pair of shoes than just bare footed, then it only makes perfect sense for anyone to put to test and see if it really works. If it does, voila! If not, just discard it and consider addition cognitive knowledge.
Should a friend come along your path and speak truth into you, you can either respond by ‘reacting’ or simply put a thought and work out necessary changes. Of course, you can always choose to totally ignore it.
What am I driving at? Habits.
Habits either kill you or make you. They can be your best friend or become your master. You choose. For the order of the day states that it still depends on your Choices. Make the right choice today and see that life has more than what you think it to be. Yes, we learn by making mistakes. We also learn by making the right choices.
I have so much food dishes to blog about but mood is taken away by this. Ah… I feel better now. I wanna like eating pizza.
keep_running your race @ 5:08 PM
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