When we learn something new, we can attend to three core layers. There’s the what – the knowledge. This is a car. There’s the how – the skills. This is how to drive a car. And there’s the when – the application. This is how to drive a car in unpredictable traffic and changing weather and should we even be on the road right now?
All three are important, all three can be extended and grow over time. And each comes with the discomfort of not yet being where we hope to be when we stretch beyond what we currently know.
But it’s the last layer that requires us reflect and respond to what is going on around us the most. We constantly find ourselves in the space between different choices, directions and timings. The right thing too soon may set us backward. The right thing too late might leave us scrambling to catch up.
We’re trying to find a balance between trying and trusting, acting and accepting. If we stand still for too long we might get stuck. If we strive too hard we might burn ourselves out. In the tension between what we know and what we are yet to learn, we might be tempted to fill the gap with self-criticism, impatience or despair.
We won’t always get the timing right and we have to be in the messiness of it all to learn. It takes practice to shift our awareness from what we are doing in the moment to step back and notice how we are being in the moment, to reflect and adjust, and return to the doing with more focus. Often that reflection happens after the event but maybe, over time, it starts to happen sooner, more readily, and more in the moment. And then we’re ready for the next level of learning that kicks us right back into the messiness.
Helen Mentha 