There and back again

My favourite gift Madrid 2012

To those who want to learn

Déjà vu

Suddenly, while I was having my breakfast one morning, I realized that everything around me looked exactly the same. More than a year had gone by and I was living the same experiences. It seemed as though I was repeating my course once again.  I had a lot of opportunities in front of me, but at the same time I was full of fears. My future looked at me and told me: “Maybe there is something that must be done before reaching the next step. This could be the main reason why you are repeating this course” as can be read on Wikipedia: “Déjà vu, from French, literally "already seen", is the phenomenon of having the strong sensation that an event or experience currently being experienced had been experienced in the past.”  That was my feeling and I was going to make the most of it. There was something that had to be learnt and I was ready for it.

Learning by doing

This is a typical English expression that is well known in the business area and means learning through experience. As everybody knows experience is a great teacher but she costs so much. Is it possible to enhance our knowledge in other ways? It is so difficult to respond to that question because people are so diverse. The first thing you need to discover is what your main reason to learn is and then your favourite way to do it, whether it´s reading, listening, touching, or watching. There are many ways you can acquire knowledge, but it is best to anticipate the experience as this is extremely expensive. Moreover surely there are thousands of people who have paid dearly for their experiences, so why not learn from them? Napoleon used to say that he learned nothing on the battlefield because he was already able to read books before. We may have access to much more information and knowledge through any mobile phone than by just being at the best university in the world for a few years. Why not make the most of it? Learning by using our modern devices would be a good experience.

Learn your own way

All you will do in this life is learn, so you better decide what your favorite way is. When we learn through experience, we reach a point when we belive rather just know. Our experiences create strong connections in our brain that are hard to break. Having the chance is having the ability to develop the same intensity through other ways. And do not forget that it's so important to learn as well as to unlearn, because in many cases the recipe to success that worked in the past may not be useful in the future. Edward John Smith was a British merchant sailor, famous for being the most prestigious captain of the White Star Line. He was probably the most qualified captain of his time, but on the night of April 15 1912, all the decisions he had made based on his experience played against him in the catastrophic sinking of the Titanic. Maybe intelligence is nothing more than the ability to learn and unlearn as quickly and efficiently as possible. And here I am trying to unlearn unnecesary things and to improve all that I think will be neceesary for my next adventure. Experiences are often harsh and difficult teachers, that reminds me of when Frodo said: "I wish none of this had happened."  And Gandalf could have responded: "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to LEARN with the time that is given to us."