Comments on: I’ve Been Thinking…

By: Looney

Looney — Sun, 17 May 2009 02:25:46 +0000

Jean, thanks for that note. I have it in my mind that learning is "safe", but skill development is "risky". Perhaps I need to reflect on this more. Looneys last blog post..

By: Jean

Jean — Sun, 17 May 2009 02:14:03 +0000

Looney,
As I understand it facts are stored in the hippocampus while skills are stored in “process memory”, in the cerebellum. Process memory tends to be more stable than the other kind. One treatment for people with Alzheimers is to let them practice the skills they still have, such as golf (for former golfers). It gives them a lot of joy to have a feeling of mastery in some areas.

I’m not athletic at all, so my skill development doesn’t involve doing risky things with my body.

By: Looney

Looney — Sun, 17 May 2009 00:45:29 +0000

Now I am pondering the difference between “learning” and “skill development”. I am always sticking more information in, but then some is leaking out. A few years ago I started learning snow boarding, but this left me with a knee injury that eventually needed an operation. “Skill development” is scarier than “learning”, but it still needs to be done.

Looneys last blog post..

By: Jean

Jean — Wed, 13 May 2009 04:03:28 +0000

Evan,
I can see where you’re coming from, but I try to separate my skills from my feelings of self-worth. Developing skills is more a commitment to lifelong exploring and learning. As suzen says, it’s a way to practice being in Beginner’s Mind. For me it keeps life fresh and magical.

rummuser,
The way I see it you are developing new skills.

By: rummuser

rummuser — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:19:04 +0000

I have just come from an other interesting post :http://www.blackinbusiness.org/ where, this is the comment that I posted:
“At my age, my skill sets are all in mothballs. I would not like to trade them for anything any way as I have worked hard for my retirement and am really enjoying just being a hippy.

Some of my hobbies, now allow me to experiment with life. Cooking and writing are two most important hobbies that now take up quite a bit of my time. Due to the latter, I have made many new friends, such as you, and with the former, I have been able to build relationships with other serious cooks with who I exchange recipes and samples!

rummusers last blog post..A Sales Representative’s Dilemma – III

By: Evan

Evan — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:17:24 +0000

My life decision was, “I am incompetent and therefore unacceptable”. It’s taken me years to largely re-do this decision. This has lead me to a rather fraught relationship with skills development. Especially as a big part of me is a teacher.

One of the paradoxes I confront repeatedly is that there is a skill of being present and getting out of the way. Focusing on skill I think is a great place to start, but we also need to be able to leave this behind. Hope this makes sense.

By: Jean

Jean — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:34:46 +0000

Tess,
I purposely buy new technology just so I can practice figuring out how to get it to do what I want. I figure I don’t have to know everything, but I don’t want to feel helpless either.

bikehikebabe,
It does feel good to know how to do it, though, doesn’t it? It seems to me the more we learn the more confidence we have in new situations.

By: bikehikebabe

bikehikebabe — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:32:31 +0000

With years of ripping out seams when sewing, I learned–the hard way–how to do it right the 1st time. Now I’m really the expert, after 60 years. Good feeling tho’ I don’t have time to sew now.

By: Jean

Jean — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:28:25 +0000

Grannymar,
Glad you liked it.

tNb,
Thanks for coming by. How did you happen to come up with “Atomic Dogma?”

Cathy,
No doubt about it, some people get so hooked on new technology that they forget what it is for!

Mike,
Thanks for the long reply. I love it when a post touches a chord. That’s what I’m aiming for!

I agree about making only one point per slide. The talk was discussion, slide show, discussion, so it wasn’t all PowerPoint. PowerPoint helped a lot because I’m a visual thinker and I wherever I could I used pictures or cartoons rather than words. I couldn’t have done that it I just had a flip chart.

You might like the PowerPoint version of the Gettysburg address.

tikno,
I agree!

Laurie,
Yes! I can’t imagine doing things any other way.

suzen,
Thanks for making that point. It’s also a great way to keep from worrying…which is what mind tends to do if I don’t keep it having fun learning new things.

By: Tess The Bold Life

Tess The Bold Life — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:18:31 +0000

I’m always building my skills especially with technology. To tell you the truth I’m always overwhelmed because there is too much to learn…

Tess The Bold Lifes last blog post..Monday Magic Freebie Cheryl Richardson’s New Book