The pleasure of learning | learntolearn.com

Article last edited on June 2, 2016 by Admin

The life of a student is based on an incredible paradox. On the one hand, there is a clearly defined goal, academic success, which drives us forward. The environment and the school environment encourage us to think about the future, to take and pass diplomas. And from one exam to another, from one diploma to another, student life quickly becomes a frantic race, in a state of perpetual anxiety for the next exam.

Forget to live to produce academic results However, on the other hand, those around you, family, friends, speak with nostalgia of this period of life as being the most beautiful of all: youth, discovery of the world, few responsibilities, living from day to day, just learning. But the nose in the books, uncertain of his academic success, the student often finds it difficult to share this nostalgic point of view. He puts off happiness until tomorrow, after graduation, forgets to live to produce academic results, and misses out on this enriching period of his life. Those who choose to focus solely on their degrees, make their studies a frantic race. In this headlong rush, they lose sight of their inner aspirations to choose the best possible courses, often by listening to others rather than themselves. They forget themselves in/for the aspirations of society, and this until the final diploma. They are focused exclusively on the external acquisition of awards, diplomas and good grades.

Late questioning

When they reach the end of their studies, they are suddenly disoriented. They sometimes find themselves in jobs that do not correspond to their deepest aspirations, there is no longer any diploma to obtain, nothing to run towards, they lose their footing, no longer know how to find meaning and balance in their lives. They question themselves, often very late. On the other hand, forgetting oneself in student life, losing sight of the final goal, a diploma, and letting oneself drift according to circumstances, leads to disastrous results for the future. Without the tension and the underlying desire to build his future, the student abandons his efforts in favor of an easy life and forgets that it can only be temporary.

The key is inside, it’s having the right mindset

A simple exercise allows you to update your deep motivations: what are the very first thoughts and emotions that cross your mind as soon as you wake up? In short, why do you get up in the morning? How do you feel when you contemplate the day ahead of you? Perhaps you are thinking, a little depressed, “another day of snorkeling, taking notes at full speed, absorbing as much information as possible without thinking, can’t wait for the holidays”. Or on the contrary, do you think with pleasure, “what new things will I be able to discover today, how will I push my limits? “.

Whatever your point of view, the day unfolds the same way. However, by a simple internal readjustment, by changing the way you approach your day, you live it in a new light and you derive much more benefit from it.

 Letting go

A few letting go exercises can help find that right mindset. What is letting go? Letting go is rediscovering a taste for the now, living today rather than constantly projecting oneself into the future, after graduation. Letting go allows you to fully appreciate your student life while building your future.

For a moment, put aside your anxieties about the future, let go of your hopes and your doubts, close your eyes and turn to your past. Recall a day when you learned a new thing just for the sake of learning it. Remember the pleasure felt to have acquired a new knowledge or skill, to have enlarged your vision of the world. Whether it’s for a “school” subject or to learn how to disassemble a motorcycle engine, it’s the same thing, just learning.

To rediscover in oneself the primary curiosity, the one that makes us question ourselves about the world around us, the mysteries of its functioning, is to rediscover the pleasure of learning, learning no longer to succeed in one’s diplomas but for the pleasure of a inner enrichment. And it is an incredible pleasure to master a new acquaintance. Reading, for example, having learned to read now allows you to read your books lying on a beach. And you can go for a dip in the sea because for many months, you were taught to swim when you were younger.

  The mastery of knowledge

At a higher level of study, learning mathematics, physics, biology or history can provide the same pleasure when mastery of knowledge occurs. This mastery of knowledge allows us to emancipate ourselves, to use it to think for ourselves and not for others, for teachers or for the family.

It’s true, sometimes the school system and its expectations push us into a corner where finding and keeping that pleasure is difficult. But our interiority belongs only to us, and we are the only ones who can choose internally how we will see the world.

It is therefore up to you to find this correct vision. Do not absorb knowledge without thinking, find the “angle of attack” that will make the subject pleasant for you. “Challenge yourself” intellectually, complete the knowledge you have been given, look for other angles of approach to the same subject, imagine yourself in the shoes of those who made this discovery and of what was the world before, then after and the intellectual reflections they had to carry out to discover, what, today, you are “served on a platter”. Imagine all that remains to be discovered and understood or even questioned. Knowledge is not a fixed thing and every day all disciplines sometimes evolve in a radical way, calling everything into question.

Letting go of your fears and anxieties for the future and reinvesting this energy in the pleasure of learning makes it possible to positively change the way you live your life as a student.

 When studying, every day, finds taste and meaning 

When studying, every day, finds taste and meaning, and it is no longer a simple race for a diploma, studying once again contains a share of pleasure. Studying in such conditions suddenly becomes easier, education is not retained for a simple exam but is part of the duration, for its own benefit and not for the external gratification of academic results. And paradoxically, in this approach, the academic results improve, and the student while heading with a lighter step towards his future diploma fully appreciates this very special period of his life.

Case : Sandrine Banas

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