This last week has been full, my brain needs a rest.
Here in Bologna in Italy, like all people, I have been learning new things, about myself, others, cultures, history, language, many many things, and it has sometimes been very hard and frustrating.
As I walk into a building, I notice a new picture, a new design, a new word on a notice board in a language I struggle with, because I only speak the English language. Yet that word has entered my brain, every new experience, sight, sound, smell, taste or touch has become part of me and will stay with me. I learn new things every second of the day, I am continually learning.
But why is it that some things are easier to learn than others?
I have a curiosity in most things, I want to know how things work, what makes people and things tick.
I am motivated to learn, and I have desire.
Yet some things are easier to absorb and remember than others, even using the same learning strategies.
Why is it that I can learn how to deal with electronical devices?
How is it that I can work out how a mechanical device works, and repair it?
Why is it that I can hear a word or a phrase in a foreign language, repeat it back, but then it disappears from my mind?
My whole week has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, as I master and learn and think I understand, the next minute I realise it has gone, what I had understood now confuses me.
Or has it?
But that is the learning process for me and many more of us.
There are many types of races, especially horse races. Some races are on the flat, and some have hurdles or fences. Some of the race tracks are very flat, some have hills to climb up and to go down. Some race tracks have curves and corners, whilst others are a straight line from the start to the finish.
Some horses prefer flat racing, some horses are better over fences. Some horses prefer left handed curved courses, others right handed, and still others cannot handle curves. Some horses have to wear blinkers because they become distracted by passing scenery.
No one horse is the same as another, they have preferences. It is up to the trainer and rider to see the potential, and to bring-out the winning streak, to improve and strengthen the weaknesses.
As we learn, it can be like being on a race track.
There could be many hurdles along the way which will slow the learning process, as long as we overcome the hurdles we will learn. There may be many distractions, many times we may not know what is around the corner. As long as we run the race to its’ conclusion we will overcome the frustration.
There can only be one winner in a horse race, as some horses are quicker and better than others and are in the right race for them, but as long as we finish the race we can all be winners of our own race, and at least we have taken part, and become part of the group.