Linda Studley

We Learn Differently

A little prosy piece of encouragement for my dear friend.

Young minds absorb like sponges sucking
all available data into a seemingly bottomless vat but wait for it…
soon life will apply the filters, the experiences, the pain, the memories, the joys
that imbue each new packet of information with a network of connections,
with shadings and a depth of understanding that the straight sponge method cannot apply.

Young minds become older minds and new things are learned but must traverse the filters.

Which is better?
Learning with no filters is faster but
learnings that come after the filters are tempered,
have frames of reference that a younger mind cannot impose.
Learning with no filters may last longer but only instinctively,
not viscerally,
not with the same depth of understanding that happens when the filters are on.
And if, God forbid, learning that happened while young must be rewritten,
modified… it is a difficult task – changing the instinctive is like dropping a bad habit.

So, my friend, if you are learning with an older mind
don’t even bother comparing it to the younger minds around you.
We learn differently.
If you are learning more slowly, or seem to have to work harder at it, remember
you carry a lifetime of wisdom with you into every learning experience
and although it might make the journey longer,
it will inevitably make it more rewarding.

With love to Cynthia.