Trust Your Own Learning Process

Yeah, and don’t step into a pit somebody else digged for you

Seems obvious?

I almost experienced it myself just now. I had the opportunity to present my story in front of an audience. I had 4 to 14 minutes to the max. It had to be inspirational. Telling a personal story for instance.

I dived into the preparation of it for the past two days. I designed 58 questions, starting with ‘Do you ever wonder….” and ‘Do you believe…..’, to be answered with a Yes or No. I had my poem of Rainer Rilke just to make sure I had something to fall back on. And I had my 5 Life Changing Questions in my backpocket. My intention was to let them feel their own uniqueness, greatness, awesomeness.

I wasn’t sure what to use and how. So, at diner with the other speakers and the organizers I presented my scenarios asking for some advise. I got a lot of it. Advise, interpretations of my intentions, comments; ‘just choose the 5 questions’, ‘follow the energy in the room’ etc.

Being Insecure

It confused me. It didn’t make me more nervous. However it made me more insecure. I was still tensed but in a nice way. You know I learn while experimenting. I know my insecurity is part of my experimenting process. Feeling uncomfortable is part of it. I just recently discovered that.

Finally

So, at the last moment before being introduced going on stage, I decided to outline the possibilities to the public and just feel the energy to build upon. I chose the 5 questions. This went well for a while. The energy however dropped dead when getting at the two last questions. The audience struggled with question 4 and 5;

1. What am I? Who am I?

2. What do you love to do and you are really great at it?

3. For whom are you doing that?

4. What excites these people?

5. How does your actions change their lives?

So, I left it with that. And instead I read out loud the poem of Rainer Rilke I gave you earlier, I changed course;

One should have patience

with the unsolved in the heart

and try to love the questions themselves

like inaccessible spaces,

like books,

written in an completely unknown language.

If one lives these questions,

one might gradually,

without noticing,

on an unusual day live inside the answer.

You could feel the meaning of it t dropping in space. This was great. The questions themselves are worth living…. They felt it.

And you know what, I need to help and support humanity even more to get to the answers to question 4 and 5. Deep down everybody knows the answers. If we just embrace being loving and caring for other people. No matter what background, race or color they have.

Outcome

After the presentations two people wanted to have the poem and the questions. That was enough for me, grateful for that. I managed to inspire two people in 6 minutes.

Grateful also for the learning experience. The proces of designing, adjusting, listening to my inner voice, following my hunches (prior to the speech and during the speech), making my own decisions, is my proces of learning. Nobody will ever advise me out of that.

Trust Your Own Learning Process

One other thing. Use advise not to follow up on, use the connection you have at that moment to feed your courage. To trust your own judgment, your own way of thinking, your own way of feeling, your own way of learning. The stress will be much less.

This is not just one other thing, IT IS A BIG THING.

Become Awesome!

Read or listen to the PODCAST of this article on http://www.paulricken.nl/blog/ Article 188