No Pain No Gain!

Hi Friends!

Another week, another posting.... But this time I have come to you with a rather heavy topic.

You probably guessed that from the title and the word 'pain'.

This is step 3 of the process of making long standing changes.
After you have decided on what to change and strongly resolved to make those changes, you would need to learn some new things. This is where the road gets rough. We discover that we need to concentrate and also invest time in learning these new things.
As adults, most of us have forgotten the sensations associated with learning. We walk, take a bath, blithely cross the road, without a thought about the learning process that got us there.

This is what I decided to remind you about. Learning is tough. It takes time. It takes effort. At the very least, it is damned uncomfortable. It is tough enough to learn new things in the privacy of your home, but it is that much harder to do so in front of other people, as in workshops.

There is stress, there is discomfort.. or anxieties. There are things to remembered, things to be understood, things to be practiced and above all things to be forgotten or unlearned.
NOT fun!

At this stage, many people give up, thinking that if this is so hard, then maybe I don't have what it takes. Maybe, I am not smart enough or may be I am too old etc. etc..

Let me take you back to last week's posting where I talked about how a child learns to walk. Has anyone heard of a child that just got up and quickly walked upright without a fall, wobble or hesitation? Have you ever picked up a child right after it has made those first steps? I am sure you would have heard a pounding heart. That comes from the fearful excitement and supreme effort of making those first steps. Though a natural process, it was surely a high octane task, requiring focus and effort.

As adults, we are fully aware of the consequences of mistakes and are afraid of being seen as less-than-perfect by our friends and colleagues. A child just goes with the flow, not conscious of the awkardness of her gait or the number of falls he has had to go through to make those first few steps.

Set your mind to the fact that learning is awkward, messy, uncomfortable and yes, even painful at times. This is because your brain is required to make changes and there is some resistance initially. Once you consciously accept that this discomfort or pain is a part of learning, you will not give up the process of making the change. That is all.

Thank you, all!

A special thanks to those who take the time and effort to post comments.

See you in a week!

Gayatri