This is the first Blog post in my weekly ski blog – Skicology – and I thought I’d start by talking about how to get the most from these.
When we listen we try to get the answer to a question or solve a problem. But that kind of listening interrupts the capacity of the mind to take in something that may be relevant. It sounds funny but try to listen almost without paying attention. It’s our intellect that tends to pay attention. And we’re trying to bypass the intellect so you can get something new.
When we are listening to someone speaking or when we read we tend to have a lot on our minds and look for confirmation of what we already know rather than listening for something new. As an experiment, just listen to someone talking and become aware of what’s coming to mind. You’ll probably notice a whole heap of noise: questions, stories, meaning, interruptions, connections to something we know…
So, if you looking to learn, say from a ski instructor, then allow you mind to quieten and rather than try to make sense and meaning of what they’re saying, listen with a fresh mind – as if it’s all new. And rather than listen to the words, the content, listen to where the words are pointing you, rather than what you think they mean. This is how we learn.
I got this so clearly the other day – my first time on a board in over five years. Of course, I’d “forgotten everything” until I stopped paying attention to what I was doing and telling myself, and then I just went boarding 🙂
Doesn’t mean I’m the most stylish or fabulous but I sure had fun, and felt the freedom!