Learning Language & Returning to This ONE Powerful Emotion…

Hello, welcome back!  I hope this email finds you in flow with the season, discovering meaningful ways to connect with yourself and those in your world.  This week, I’m sharing thoughts about learning language and the number one emotion I return to every time.

 

Learning:  to be learning is to be in process of acquiring new knowledge or understanding of skills, values, attitudes, and/or preferences, an invitation for something new to transpire.  If you are engaging in life, it’s likely you are experiencing some level of learning whether you notice it or not.  It’s one thing to intentionally seek out growth and learning, quite another when it finds you.  For me, this year has been full of invitations to grow and stretch in the most unexpected places.  I am consistently reminded of the challenge, the vulnerability, the discovered strength inside navigating unanticipated learning.  I find there’s no better place to pay attention to self-talk than when we’re smack dab in the middle of real time, growth.  When we are in process, in the middle of figuring things out, we are exposed to our truest level of conditioning.

 

When you think about where you are stretching and growing, what your life, relationship, or business is teaching you right now in this moment, what do you notice?  The discomfort of growth can be hopeful, invigorating and new, and can also bring on emotions of self-doubt and uncertainty--sometimes all at once.  I used to feel bad about experiencing emotion of self-doubt or uncertainty, like I was doing something wrong or I “shouldn’t” be feeling the way I was really feeling.  This was a lie.  Why? Because the emotion of self-doubt, the wave of uncertainty, is just a flashing yellow light to slow down and pay attention, question my own thinking, get to the quieter place of curiosity before proceeding ahead.  

 

Why curiosity?  It’s a lighthouse for learning.  Curiosity is an arrest of judgement and can resemble hope for what on the surface, may appear to be a seemingly hopeless circumstance.  Curiosity gets me quiet to listen instead.  Curiosity illuminates small cracks in my story which allows the light of something new to come in.  We can be kinder with ourselves when we are curious.  So, how do you get there?  I have found the gateway to curiosity is in getting fully present in the truth of right now, whatever that might be.  In the present, we can anchor ourselves in strength and gratitude for the simple truths and pure goodness of what is most important in this moment. In this season, I'm finding presence in the pause of taking in the bright colors and shades of gold, crimson, and blue on a sunny crisp Fall morning.  Or, I'll catch a quick glimpse and memory of a younger Carson, quiet and still while he's falling asleep next to me on the couch.  I can still see those full cheeks and baby hands in him!  In the present, we can let go of old stories and speculation, get curious about what we don’t know.  We can go from the what if of the past or future and instead ask, what else could be possible?  

 

Learning, adds to--equips us with something new we didn’t know or understand before.  How we choose to talk to ourselves, the language we assign to all the parts of the learning process has deep influence and impact. 

 

 

 

 

 

At the heart of learning we often find the challenge of change.  If you’re experiencing self-doubt or uncertainty inside something you’re learning right now, I see you and me too.  Acknowledge all the thoughts and feelings, thank them for getting your attention.  Then, choose curiosity instead.  Be kind and hopeful with yourself there because growth takes time.  What you are learning now is leading you to something far better than before.  For now, stay open, brave, and curious!