Back to School Time…..FIVE Ways to Create an Unquenchable Thirst for Learning

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Dana Kadue, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

It’s Back to School Time. A time when summer starts winding down and our thoughts shift from diving into a lake to diving into our books.

Why does the thought of going back to school feel so invigorating? Is it because the summer heat is now turning into cooler autumn weather? Or that the green of summer is now becoming the vibrant reds, orange, and gold of autumn? For me, it’s the new cycle of education and growth. The idea of going back to school is energizing for those like me who consider themselves life-long learners.

Are you also a “student for life”? If so, what new learning adventure is awaiting you this fall? Is it formal education, or the pursuit of an advanced degree? Or do you prefer self-study, picking up tidbits of learning and juicy morsels of information wherever you go? Or maybe you love to learn while doing, experiencing classes of yoga, meditation, dancing, or even creative writing as a way to expand your learning horizons?

As a child growing up, I remember counting the days until school started again. I loved summer, and all the trips to the beach, and family vacations to far off locales. But, as summer started winding down and the days started getting shorter, the part of me that loves learning was reawakened, revved up about what was ahead in the classroom, anxious for the opportunity to learn and experience new ideas.

Heading into sixth grade, I recall being so excited. With all my new school supplies, my new school shoes and clothes beckoning me, I could barely contain my excitement. The night before school, I meticulously dressed in my new school clothes and then slept in them all night. The next morning I literally bounded out of bed, already dressed for school, running to the corner to greet the first school bus of the year.
The school bell is about to ring. Let’s look into our backpack and discover FIVE ways to develop an unquenchable thirst for learning and deeper engagement with life:

1) What is my life calling for? If you haven’t explored it recently, revisit your life purpose. This is where your deepest passions spring from. Connect your learning to that, and you’ll turn heads with the power and energy of what you’re creating in the world. In the book The Power of Purpose, Richard Lieder says: “Having a reason to get up in the morning is associated in numerous scientific studies with better physical and mental health and greater longevity. Purpose can add not only years to your life but life to your years”.

Ask yourself: What would bring my purpose more alive in the world?

2) What am I curious about? Having a mindset of curiosity brings with it a feeling of openness and exploration. In this place of curiosity, you’re open to the broadest range of possibilities for your learning and growth; fully alive to life, instead of shut down and shut out. In the book Co-Active Coaching, it describes the value of curiosity: “Curiosity generates the search, defines and directs it, but it is the exploring that creates the learning. And it is the kind of learning that lasts, because it comes from within. With curiosity, we have the experience of exploring, uncovering, digging around, considering, reflecting. This is the learning that leads to sustainable change and growth”.

Ask yourself: ‘How might my curiosity be a guide to discover more of my full potential?

3) What is needed now? Nowness is clear seeing of our world. In every moment. We fully experience life and are most aware of all the juicy nuggets of learning surrounding us by staying present and seeing what is. Pema Chodron in Comfortable with Uncertainty, talks about Now. “Mindfulness trains us to be awake and alive, fully curious, about now. The out-breath is now. The in-breath is now. The more you can be completely now, the more you realize that you’re always standing in the middle of a sacred circle”.

Ask yourself: What is here and now that I’m drawn to explore?

4) Use it or lose it? One of the most important reasons for being a lifetime learner is that you ‘use it or lose it’. Neural circuits started forming before you were born, and your brain will keep learning and changing up to your very last breath. Learning continues after childhood. We continually acquire new skills and knowledge all the way into old age. “The brain’s capacity to learn – and thus change itself – is called neuroplasticity. When new neurons fire together, they strengthen their existing synapses and form new ones; this is how they ‘wire’ together “(Tanaka et al.2008). Rick Hanson explains in Buddha’s Brain “Inactive synapses wither away through neuronal pruning. It’s use it or lose it, survival of the busiest“.

Ask yourself: What is a new skill or talent that would create a stretch for me?

5) Have Fun ! Pack your school lunch bag with some humor to lighten up every situation and stimulate creativity. Learning can be an adventure. Allow yourself to be childlike and make it outrageously enjoyable. Fun can help you become comfortable with uncertainty, in order to act from joy instead of fear. Seize the moment and use fun to squeeze out the most out of life!

Ask yourself: What is my perspective for learning that opens the doors and windows to fun and brings joy alive?

And finally, what is in the backpack for school supplies? Paper, pencils, pens and erasers. And of course, lots of colorful paints to use when we choose to color outside the lines! I’m excited about going back to school. How about you?

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“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe