Learning Korean is Good Training for Life

I believe things happen for a reason. I've learned that in many ways, my life is a kind of training and the events in my life--the things I experience and the people I meet--help me to study myself. When I can see myself more clearly, I can choose the kind of life I would like, and then take action to create that life.

I think there are many reasons why I am learning Korean, many of which I probably don't even know about yet. By learning something new, I can see the way I learn. I knew I was a visual learner, but I'm also coming to understand that I learn by understanding the meaning of something and connecting it to what I already know.

Learning Korean also makes me vulnerable. As a kid in school I never knew what it was like to be at the "bottom" of the class. The academic subjects came easily to me and, if they didn't, I could choose something else I was good at. Similarly, if I tried a new sport or skill that was too difficult for me, I could just quit and find something else I was more interested in (a.k.a. I felt competent in).

So, I ended up practising what I was good at and the other parts of my brain and body became underused.

By learning Korean, I'm experiencing what it's like to struggle with learning. Sometimes when our teacher asks me a question and I don't understand, I watch the teacher's mouth move, but it's like I don't hear anything. It seems like the whole class is waiting and watching. I can feel my brain and body getting more and more tense. I'm thinking to myself, this is not "Relaxed Alertness" (one of the optimal conditions for learning mentioned in a book I'm reading, "12 Brain/Mind Learning Principles in Action" by Caine et al.). I'm waiting for the hole in the floor to open up, but it's not happening:).

The good thing is that being challenged by Korean is teaching me some very important things about myself : how to persist, how to learn something new that doesn't come naturally (or doesn't seem to), how to create my own optimal conditions for learning no matter what's happening around me, how to build competence and confidence from the inside out rather than just rely on the external recognition that comes from being good at something, how to have patience for other people who are learning new things, the list could go on and on.

Everytime I have one of those classes where I am waiting for the hole in the floor to appear, that's a pretty good clue that the approach I'm taking to learning Korean is not working. So, I go back to the drawing board and think about what changes I need to make in my attitude or habits.

Life has a way of giving us challenges so we can overcome things that are holding us back. Through learning Korean, I am overcoming my fear of not doing well or of not knowing the answer to something and building true confidence and competence based not on knowledge or skill, but on determination and persistence.

In the meantime, I keep telling myself the same things we teach the kids in Brain Education: "Trust your brain.", "Don't give up on your brain", "Keep smiling", and "Don't forget to exhale".