Learning in Reverse

We are all learning each and everyday. Each and every opportunity presented to us is a moment we can learn from. Some of these lessons can be applied to our knowledge, while others are simply building our character. I would describe myself as someone who can carry on a conversation with anyone, but I choose very few people to be my friends. Today at work I noticed something. Although, I don’t choose many people to be my friends I always have someone come and sit next to me. Several people through out the day will make it a point to stop by my desk to say hello. When this thought crossed my mind it made me realize that my interactions could be having an impact on others that I am not even aware of. This thought crossing my mind is powerful, if others are impacted by me am I leaving a good impression. What do they see? Am I representing Islam and what it encompasses? For some I may be the only Muslim they have met.

This reflection forces me to take a look at my actions. Is my attitude reflected in a positive way? I can often see the positivity in things, but I have become a realist over the years. My realistic approach has made it hard to stay positive in some moments. I now realize that my actions are being watched more then I previously thought, so I need to make a conscious decision to better my behavior daily.

When it come to learning we are always learning. For myself I have also learned that when approaching something I don’t understand best by teaching it. If I have to show someone else I can commit the material to memory. I call this learning in reverse. The reason that this happens is because when teaching something we have to view the material from several different understandings. As humans we are never done learning, so no matter how many times you teach something there will always be things that you learn from it. Teaching in our society is a really underappreciated skill, but it is necessary for development.

I saw a post that was talking about how life may not make sense in our day to day challenges. But when we look back at our life it suddenly all makes sense. We can look at our lives in reverse and we can see the lessons in a way that we didn’t previously see them before. Being able to draw from the previous knowledge you have, makes it possible to view the problem in a completely different light. When we reflect and review on what has happened in the past we are then able to learn and grow from the experience. These experience we bring with us in the future to help guide us though new obstacle or challenges.

We all learn lessons from the situations we have encountered, especially traumas. When we encounter something that humiliates us or traumatizes us it changes the way we function. It becomes human nature to want to avoid that feeling, so we no longer will behave in that way. I met someone at a previous employer who asked so many questions. Just when you think it wasn’t possible to come up with another question, another question would come. Going through training with this person felt so frustrating because of all of the interruptions. A few weeks after working with this person I realized that they only did this because of previous experiences they had in life. They must have encountered something that made them feel they need to know the whole procedure inside and out before they felt comfortable performing the task. Once I realized that their life experiences was the reason that they asked so many questions. It was so much easier to not let this bother me. As humans we are all created differently. Each and every human contributing to the intertwined world.

I myself have had a hard time accepting some of my tendencies or characteristics as being good qualities to contribute. The fact that we are all different is what makes society as a whole function, all of us can contribute with our individual strengths. When we take the time to reflect and learn about what we are good at we are better able to give back. I have been learning that once we do what we are meant to do our lives will flourish. Honestly, I haven’t figured out what this might be for me. I have learned that in this season to try new things, to start somewhere and then grow. In the past I was so debilitated from wanting to be a perfectionist that I stopped myself from trying new things. Living the motto of “I did my best,” really has freed me from so much anxiety. Without trying new paths life becomes stagnant and doesn’t move forward.

This week I challenge you to learn something new. To reflect on your life in reverse and see what have you learned? Where would you like to go? What steps will you start to take to get there? We may not know how to reach a goal, but if we take one step forward the rest will begin to unfold. Until next time, Asalamu Alaikum (Peace Be Upon You).