Learning by Doing

I read somewhere that there is a method on how people are taught at the army: Learning by doing.

They first tell you how to do something, for example shoot a gun, then a person puts theory into practice (the instructor shoots a gun while you watch him doing it). The third part comes when its time for you to shoot. You’ve read how its done, you’ve seen it doing so you know its possible and you are ready to do it yourself. Even if  the “you are ready to do it” seems to be quite obvious, is not always that way. But once you’ve completed the process, the knowledge you get is a knowledge out of your own experience, and i believe this is the best kind of knowledge. Is nothing you have to “remember” because you know how it’s done.

There is a big difference between knowing something because you’ve read it or you’ve seen it doing than knowing something because you’ve done it yourself. I know this because i had to read a 200 pages manual and when i thought “i knew it all”, i tried to make a machine work and didnt manage to do it. Then, i read it a second time, gave myself a second try and eventhough i solved some stuff i couldnt on the first try, the machine wasnt working properly. The learning process is slower than i’d like…

One thing i have to develop is being able to understand diagrams. Not just understanding in a superficial level but really getting it. Its hard to explain, but i get the sense sometimes when “i know” something as any other person would, and some other times when “I KNOW”, in a deeper level.

I want to master this work im doing now, and i know it’s gonna take me time and effort. Am i ready to give what it takes? Maybe. I cant say “for sure”, since i also know the picture i can imagine now when i say “master”, is just a smaller part of a huge scene. This thing can take years and years. Will i be able to keep my motivation and my mind fresh? I guess only time can tell.

Step by step. First things first. The journey around the world starts with a first step. And the journey of a life time too.  My parents prepared me very well and i can consider myself as a very lucky person for this. Time had come for me to walk by myself and even if I wasnt sure of where i was going, i followed the path i was pointed to. I didnt know where the path was leading me to but i just kept on walking for some reason. I understood a couple of years ago now, that the path wasnt leading me, but on the contrary, i was making it with every decision I made in life. So my first question then was: Where do i want to go? I thought a lot about this, it took me almost a year to understand where i wanted to go. It took me so long because i was looking for a location, and what i really wanted wasnt physical. I was looking for a state of mind: Happiness. It took me another year to figure out what happiness meant to me. (Writing this makes me think about so many other stuff: Why then? Why now?…I guess timing plays a big part in all this journey). So about  a half a year ago, i finally realized why i was walking. I wanted to be happy. The “where” is still a bit blurry to me, but the how has showed up tonight. How can I reach happiness?

As i understand happiness, there is no other way but fulfilling my mental needs. One of these needs for me is knowledge. Understanding why things happen, how things work. It seems to me that it’s a huge task. Maybe just one lifetime is not enough. Probably not even 2 or 3. Too bad i dont believe in reencarnation. So to wrap up this post, let me just say I know how im gonna get to happiness: By learning and mastering a knowledge field im a complete beginner at. I will learn by doing. At least, i will try to make that my next stop on my way.