Like knowledge, capacities are either conscious or not.
When a knowledge, a skill, a capacity is conscious, you know to reach for it when it would be useful. It is like you know you have a Phillips screwdriver… and you reach for it.
But if you have never had a Phillips screwdriver, as far as you are concerned, you have to substitute other methods to screw in a screw, imperfect tools for an imperfect result, or give it up and find another screw. Makes sense so far?
Warning: as always, the most important things are explained in the footer part of the post! Don’t miss them!
Some weeks are like this: I do something, see something, write about something important, and on Monday Roy Williams’ Monday Morning Memo echoes it.
This is the case this week… You know when you manage to do something whose time has come? Gratifying, rewarding, like the Universe nods in your direction. ((Roy Wil
OK, if you have found yourself not being willing, or not being able to do the practices, or keep doing them: this article is for you.
I have been studying learning styles, thinking styles, teaching methods to make my teaching more effective. And while it wasn’t a waste of time, because it brought me to this day and this knowledge, it was putting the cart in front of the horse.
Today I recounted some effective teaching methods to a friend… They were effective to me. But when I looked at all the people who were exposed to the same teaching, same teaching method, same teacher, at the sam
About two years or so after I graduated from architecture school, I was assigned to manage a project. A big one. A university in Oran, Algeria.
I wasn’t assigned because I was so good. Looking back I was green. I didn’t have the vision. I didn’t have the big picture. I didn’t have even the small picture.
Then a new person came to manage the department, and he sent me back to be a draftsperson to prove myself from the ground up.
As any self-respecting arrogant person would, I said that I didn’t have to prove
When I find an issue that a student is struggling or not dealing well with, I often write an article.
The issue here, I guess, is universal. It has two parts:
you can’t see the big picture, the forest, for the trees.
you are not good, practiced, skillful at taking advantage of the practices I have taught.
A student of mine has a daughter. The daughter decided to join the swim team. She is 13 years old. The only person who can take her to her swimming is my student.
And although it is great that the daughter wants to do something that she likes, it takes a chu
Every success proves nothing. It can be luck, it can be accident, it can be smarts… you can’t be sure.
I am an architect by trade… and all my life as an architect I was wondering if I was talented. I could never say for certain. I could win contests, I could win awards, talent is not proven by them.
Finally I gave it up and sighed a sigh of freedom and relief.
You are the same way about being smart… or whatever is your issue. (Some people have an issue with being liked, loved, valued, respected, etc. But I think everyone has some issue with smarts. I could be wrong…)
My recommendation is that you consider the Forrest Gump saying: Stup
As I have said before: the ONLY way to be happy is to accept what is, exactly. Accept how it is. And also accept how it isn’t.
Now, this second statement, accept reality how it isn’t is the topic of this article, the essence of this spiritual practice. Accept that it is what it is, not something else, that may look better, faster, easier…
One of the symptoms of not accepting reality the way it isn’t, is overwhelm… another one is misery… Want to know more?
Now, before I continue, I want to explain something:
