Life is a learning process in many different ways, and if we’re being honest with ourselves, there’s a lot more out there that each of us don’t understand, than that we do.
When it comes to our children, most of us are pretty well aware of the importance of education and learning, ranging from things like a solid grasp of foundation maths to a good degree of awareness about topics like history and geography.
But learning isn’t just the kind of thing you should be proactively engaged in while at school. It should be a lifelong pursuit.
Here are some tips that can help you to keep learning, no matter your age.
Explore interesting topics in a more hands-on way — such as by visiting historical sites
A lot of people get put off the idea of proactively pursuing knowledge, because they basically associate it with sitting still in one place and reading through dry textbooks.
But learning and educating yourself isn’t just a matter of academic study. There are plenty of ways of expanding your knowledge and understanding of different topics, that are fun, engaging and interactive — and that are suited to different interests and temperaments.
It might be the case, for example, that you find you learn a lot more and a lot better by visiting historical sites and museums, or by signing up to practical hands-on courses, than by trying to memorise lists of facts by rote.
Try to keep a “beginner’s mindset”
It’s difficult to really learn anything, or to expand your horizons meaningfully, if you’re already convinced that you’ve got it all worked out.
One obstacle to learning that many of us run up against as we get older, is that we lose the “beginner’s mindset” of always assuming that there’s more to the picture than we currently grasp, and of maintaining a sense of open-minded curiosity about the world at large.
This “beginner’s mind” concept can be found in all sorts of different areas. Martial artists, for example, often talk about keeping a “white belt mindset” in order to continue learning and evolving instead of becoming stuck and arrogant.
Not only can keeping a beginner’s mindset help you to learn more and better, but it can also help to support a lot of enthusiasm and zest for life, as well.
Take care not to fall into lifestyle patterns that cause you to become jaded in general
Becoming jaded can absolutely undermine your ability to continue learning, expanding your horizons, and developing yourself — and it also robs life of a lot of its joy and magic.
Certain lifestyle patterns and practises naturally tend to cause people to become more jaded over time, and these kinds of patterns can range all the way from engaging in social media arguments to gossiping, to not getting enough sleep.
When it comes to boosting your ability to learn, in addition to boosting your overall sense of wellbeing, try to avoid any activities or patterns of behaviour that cause you to become more bitter, cynical, and short-tempered.