Rozina Asif
WE are conditioned throughout our life to be the winner of the race, to fall in any of the top three positions in the exams, to get the best education, to get into the best school, best college and best university. We are always in competition to get the best of the best of everything in the world. We never focus on the real essence of the process to reach a certain level. Everything is in constant evolution. We are at a different stage of that evolution process. How can we have a competition with each other? Our real competition is with ourselves. If we are standing in the same position where we were a few months back, means zero learning.
It is more important to learn than to be in the race of getting the best. Its social cohesion and the extent of connectedness between groups built during coffee breaks, whenever one team member asks another for help, socializing, collaboration, coming together to generate ideas is where you learn the most. Meeting a random person while travelling exchanging experiences is where you learn. Appreciating other’s efforts when you see that there are multiple approaches to do the same work is where you learn. Keep searching for ways to improve is, where you learn. Life is all about learning, unlearning and relearning.
Embrace the process: Allowing the journey to divinely unfold is the secret to balance and success. In between each of the small goals or stepping stones in the routine is the process of your beautiful journey through life. Are you: Enjoying your journey? Picking up the gems of wisdom? Reading the direction signs? Noticing the little miracles along the way? Having an appreciation for the people showing up in your life? Reading the expression and noticing the shine in the eyes of your loved one(s)? Is your heart full of joy and contentment? Are you questioning the challenges and learning the lessons and moving forward? Are you filled with gratitude for the opportunities and blessings you have? All this matters more than reaching the destination. Who knows who will reach the destination but at least you can enjoy every step of your journey.
Connect, collaborate and share: it’s not only that you learn more when you connect, collaborate, and share but also you gain energy to explore the world differently. Lucky are those who develop unique chemistry with people around. This unique connection is very important to keep your charge and to keep you going. Such connections inject ideas and keep you awake in the journey of life. Invest in relationships than in worldly things. Sharing ideas and knowledge give you a sense of achievement and enhance your learning.
Welcome other’s opinions. People are not always wrong they are different. Learn through these differences in opinion. When you digest this that everyone has their unique way of approaching the problem you develop fewer conflicts. Encourage people around you to voice their opinion that will not only improve your understanding about an issue but will make you certain about your decision too. It is important to explore the idea fully with other’s perspectives too even if you have to reject the idea.
Explore the world: To learn, you have to explore. To explore it is better to travel or read books. Travel or read whenever you get the chance, it helps you learn and compare different cultures. It gives you a new perspective, unwinds your hidden skills, challenges you to move forward and help you develop meaningful relationships. Seeing the world provides an education that’s impossible to get in school alone. Travelling and reading teach you economy, politics, history, geography and sociology in an intense, hands-on way no class will. When you are doing all this, you are actually contributing to the society where the process of self-actualization starts. Giving back to society is actually when you are making others to experience the journey of learning, unlearning and relearning.
—The writer is an educationist based in Islamabad.
