{"id":96,"date":"2014-05-17T22:04:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-17T22:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=96"},"modified":"2014-08-11T21:36:33","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T21:36:33","slug":"a-little-bit-of-this-may-just-make-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-little-bit-of-this-may-just-make-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Bit of This May Just Make a Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

I confess the Josh Kaufman\u2019s book was a fun read last weekend while sitting in the car on my way to Pullman, WA to see my daughter receive her Master\u2019s Degree from Washington State University (Go Cougs!).\u00a0 I knew a few things straightaway.\u00a0 I have no desire to learn to touch type even if it is more efficient. I also have no desire to windsurf or play a ukulele, although I did think about getting a guitar and beginning to play again.\u00a0 I share Kaufman\u2019s affinity for string \u201ctuners\u201d that show when your string(s) are in tune. \u00a0I also wondered, just a little, if Kaufman collects things to learn like someone collects thimbles, Seahawks memorabilia, or running shoes.\u00a0 You know those things we use for a time or put on display and then leave for something new. (O.K. that might not be true of Seahawks memorabilia). \u00a0Perhaps a more valuable question is how does one continuously learn new things, balance and continue to develop them without becoming a learning consumer?<\/p>\n

Our assignment (without the drama or risk of ultimate failure) should we choose to accept it (O.K. we really didn\u2019t have a choice) is to select something to learn and commit to learning in 20 hours.\u00a0 Sitting in our chat on Monday I really wasn\u2019t certain what to do and at the end of the week I still am not.\u00a0 It had been an emotional and good weekend and the week ahead promised to be busy going in different directions. Truthfully at the moment, I didn\u2019t want to learn anything new.\u00a0 Instead what I wanted was to have the time to do something I enjoy, like gardening, but seem to not have time to.\u00a0 We have seeds that should have been planted in April that will now not be planted until close to June; I have plants to re-pot and perennials that need attending along with rhododendrons that will soon need deadheading.\u00a0 If I have two hours to commit to learning something new, I really would like to exchange it for what I am not doing that I would like to do. \u00a0But this is not only a time for seeds to grow in your garden it is a time to cultivate new life within, so the intentionally of learning something new seems worth holding the tension between learning and tending.<\/p>\n

There are things I would like to learn to do, like sew a quilt of my now adult children\u2019s sports t-shirts, which seems to continually to elude me. I would love to learn pottery, but the time for classes and the travel required are prohibitive for me.\u00a0 I would like to learn photography but what I really need to do is read the directions to learn how to use what I have (which is not a DSLR camera).\u00a0 When I do, I would like to use photography as contemplative practice.\u00a0 I have been thinking about registering for Kelly Rae Roberts art painting e-course.\u00a0 I still might, but not yet.<\/p>\n

Hmmm, what else have I been thinking about?\u00a0 Two things really are at the top of my list and a third ties in with the art painting e-course.\u00a0 My husband is a fly fisherman.\u00a0 He has three poles and several reels.\u00a0 We have the equipment, which is a bonus, since this is not an inexpensive sport.\u00a0 The second one is also referenced in Kaufman\u2019s book, learning yoga.\u00a0 The first one, learning to fly fish is related to doing something together with my husband.\u00a0 The second one is related to my own need.\u00a0 I am realizing that I need to work on my flexibility (I am not getting any younger!) and core strength.\u00a0 I am looking to establish a healthy routine that fits with spiritual meditation.\u00a0 Yoga fits.\u00a0 Except \u2026 except four weeks ago I injured my knee doing Pilates.\u00a0 For real, I did.\u00a0 My orthopedic doctor said it really is not that unusual. He suspects that I have a slight tear in my meniscus.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had the MRI and now wait to go back in to hear the verdict.\u00a0 Fly-fishing and active yoga are out (or are they?).\u00a0 That leaves multimedia art.\u00a0 This is the kind of art where you paint and utilize collage.\u00a0 There are other types, but that is the one I would like to do.<\/p>\n

So with Kaufman\u2019s words in mind, \u201cThe process of skill acquisition is not really about the raw hours you put in\u2026 it\u2019s what you put into<\/em> those hours,\u201d[1]<\/a> I started thinking, what should I do? After spending more than 20 minutes researching multi-media art, watching a couple videos on You Tube and considering the time available I realized that perhaps in July I will return to this, it is not for me just yet.<\/p>\n

I have been attending to my inner life \u2013 noticing that I am close to burnout.\u00a0 Although I cannot fully engage in many of the basic yoga poses I can still do some.\u00a0 Since I save articles from Runner\u2019s World on training and exercise I know there are several I can do, including some core exercises that will not put undue pressure on my problematic knee.\u00a0 I am also keenly aware that I am looking to establish a sustainable rhythm, something that has eluded me.\u00a0 Part of that rhythm acknowledges my desire and need to be awake to the world \u2013 to the day itself, to those I am in relationship with and to my responsibilities. <\/em>\u00a0Rather than allowing what I cannot do to impact what I can do I will break down the yoga (and the core strengthening exercises) into manageable elements and practice those elements in the morning and again in the evening.[2]<\/a> In this way I can recognize what I can (and cannot do), continue to learn (feedback), remove barriers (they have been interwoven throughout this blog post) and practice.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 You can ask me in six weeks how it is going.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Beginners Yoga for Runners <\/a><\/p>\n

Kelly Rae Roberts Painting E-Course<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [1] Josh Kaufman, The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything \u2026 Fast<\/em> (New York, NY: Portfolio, 2013), 3.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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[2] Ibid., 5.\u00a0 Kaufman describes rapid skill acquisition as a process<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

[3] ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I confess the Josh Kaufman\u2019s book was a fun read last weekend while sitting in the car on my way to Pullman, WA to see my daughter receive her Master\u2019s Degree from Washington State University (Go Cougs!).\u00a0 I knew a few things straightaway.\u00a0 I have no desire to learn to touch type even if it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,29],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-kaufman","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1412,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}