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Switching On Your Mind 73

ing something different! The point about understanding your pre-
ferred learning style is that you may want to learn to use and even
enjoy other approaches. Nevertheless, saying that you want an active
or informal or practical or academic type of learning may also be
helpful to you in finding someone who can give you what you want.
I associate learning with school: being talked at and sitting in rows. You are
not alone. I have met men and women in their sixties whose school
days were certainly not the happiest of their life! The good news is
that much of the learning you might choose to do today is not like
the school experience you may remember.
Learning really turns me off. Learning does not have a good image for
some people because in their mind they connect the word with edu-
cation or training, things they are told to do, sometimes against their
will. In fact, most of us associate the word learning with discovery
and searching out our hidden talents. However, it may well be that
you do have to overcome a mental barrier to get started.
Where I work learning is frowned on. In too many schools, homes, and
workplaces it is not cool to be smart or to learn. This is so despite
our love of game shows, quiz games, pub quizzes, and crossword
puzzles the world over. While there are cultural variations in this
depending on where you live, it may be that you have to accept that
not all of your friends or colleagues will immediately see why you
are choosing to learn something. You can look forward to telling
them about how much you have got from your learning at a later
stage.
My other responsibilities mean that much as I’d like to, I couldn’t commit
myself to a course. You may well have real issues to work through.
Childcare and family or other care responsibilities are good exam-
ples of these. The first step is to decide what it is that you want to
do and then work through the options for how you can get help in
discharging your other duties to your satisfaction. You certainly
won’t be in a fit emotional state if you are worrying about someone
you care for rather then concentrating on your learning.
I didn’t realize that “doing it yourself” was learning. You learn so much
without realizing that you are doing so. In a typical day, you may
pick up many different tips, learn a new skill, do something in your
garden or in the community—all these are learning. Often the