The StarFields Diary

Learning completely new things - information, skills, knowledge, application - is something I've done quite a few times in my life, as all adults have, one way or the other. I tend to view learning not as an isolated event, personally, but instead as a means to an end. Thus and although I do enjoy learning per se, learning by itself isn't enough to motivate me; I need a reason for an application of new skills at the end.

For example, in 1998 I decided to learn how to do search engine optimisation. I can honestly say that I have learned how to do that and now have a number of pages that are No.1 in the world for their target keywords; that was the purpose of learning about this all along. It took me a while, but I got there in the end.

Now I don't learn primarily by attending schools, trainings and courses. I learn by immersion. This means that I surround myself with the topic in every way you can surround yourself with the topic from the start - AND LET IT ALL COME TO ME.

This last part in capital letters is important, and it is in essence an energy movement that translates into a mental movement of general receptivity.

I noted this today, as I was in the process of learning about a very esoteric, alien and downright FOREIGN field of endeavour - that of construction.

Construction, as in woodwork, brick laying, plastering, concrete, electricity, plumbing and loadbearing structure.

It is true that I have never had any brushes with this before. I've seen it being done from afar but had no interest and absolutely no experience, knowledge or even some base background upon which any future learning might be based.

I truly don't know the first thing about construction.

But I do have a house that needs a lot of work, and I do need to learn about this strange field of human endeavour, or else disaster will befall me, as it tends to befall those who hire contractors but know nothing about what it is that they actually do, or how they do it.

To aid me in this endeavour, I have started to watch some daytime TV shows dealing with DIY disasters, building, restoration and such. You need to start somewhere, and it seemed a handy place, lying there on my couch and all these examples and information at my fingertips, resting lightly on the remote control.

Today, I was in just that position, with an episode of the rather fabulous "Holmes On Homes" playing away.

And I became aware of just how much EmoTrance was involved in what seemed from afar me being rather passive and not doing much.

How wrong such an assessment would be!

There was rapid-fire commentary on all manner of matters concerning waterproofing a window sill, containing words I've never heard, in combinations I've never heard, references to materials I never knew existed and generally speaking a totally incomprehensible flood of information being delivered both visually (as I really didn't know what on Earth I was supposed to be seeing in a prolonged shot of a brick wall!) as well as the words that were being spoken.

The trick is really and truthfully NOT to try and "understand" it.

A really screwed up process ensues when you are trying to understand something that you don't understand, whereby one is still trying to figure out the first part of the sentence whilst the second part, and then the next sentences are rapidly being delivered one on top of the next, leading to a total blue screen effect where NO INFORMATION AT ALL is processed any longer.

This is a similar failure bound process I've observed in students trying to make notes during lectures in long hand, and still trying to write the first sentence whilst the lecturer has moved on already to the fourth, and fifth. In trying to "understand" something, you are using the same processing systems that are used to just let the information flow in and it blocks it all up, leading to the aforementioned meltdown (and great GAPS in the knowledge thus assembled!).

So I made sure that I kept my channels open on my end and just let all this stuff about skins and sills and weepers and god knows alone what just FLOW IN, and then through and out.

This was neat because it also gave my conscious mind something to do. It had to patrol me and make sure all of it was flowing smoothly, giving the relevant, "Soften and flow!" instructions upon finding something hurt in my stomach in response to details of how much sand is needed for a special concrete mix!

This is now true immersion learning, and really an invaluable step in ALL learning, because the hardest part is at the start, when you get confused and you're so lost, no feeling of familiarity and instead, bad feelings of old reversals when you think you should know or understand something, but you don't and you can't.

It so happens that after a week of this, my attitude to the home remodelling project has changed RADICALLY.

It is no longer a sourced of headache inducing stress. Instead, I'm beginning to become intrigued and I'm starting to formulate the first QUESTIONS.

Now that is a very, VERY important development indeed; when you are ready to ask some questions, then you have already the beginning of a framework there from which to operate. The questions denote the most obvious structural holes in your developing framework or map and the very fact they are there, show us the map is developing and becoming quite real.

As with all things energy, it isn't also as simple as "just construction".

As I am there on the couch with the DIY and construction programmes, I can't help but notice other tie-ins to what I'm doing.

There is more to "construction" and "remodelling an old house", it seems, when you deal with the energetic movements relating to such things, than plaster and mortar alone. There is metaphorical stuff at work, I can literally smell it at the outer edges, and all sorts of other things - beliefs about what I can learn, what I *should* learn (as a person, as a woman, as an artist, as an old person!), memories, experiences, prejudices of others on the topic, dire warnings of construction jobs gone wrong ...

... all of that is there and it's all being MOVED with this new incoming information that is just allowed to flow in, through and out.

Fascinating!

At the moment, I'm killing some time as I'm waiting for a sub-contractor to turn up and give me their ideas on how to proceed with the re-plumbing and heating of the property.

Previously, that would have caused me intense stress for too many reasons to write down here, but as it is, I'm mildly curious and to be honest, can't wait to ask some questions that have been bugging me for a while about the systems here.

The same as with the TV programme, I shall endeavour to stay wide open and let whatever they are and say flow through me so I get to absorb the maximum amount of information - not just about the boiler and the pipes, but also about the sub-contractor themselves. If they are dishonest, that information WILL BE IN THEIR ENERGY MATRIX, and if I am open to information, I absolutely WILL PICK THAT UP.

I am beginning to view the whole remodelling project with actual curiosity, and am looking forward to what is involved in all the processes from the beginning to the end, rather than previously shivering with fear and quaking in my boots and praying I could just run away and hide and come back to a magically transformed house - THE SINGLE ONE SURE FIRE WAY to an absolute remodelling nightmare, as I have learned already.

So, and here's the moral of the tale.

The Energy Of Learning is not just a chapter in an EmoTrance manual.

It is completely REAL. It is incredibly appropriate for all and any form of learning of ANY kind, all the way from the first tentative decision to "look into the field" to theory, practice and eventual mastery.

There are SIDE EFFECTS of personal development as with the energy of learning, you are always dealing with any context not just in its literal meaning, but also in its widest metaphorical meanings as well AND AT THE SAME TIME.

Using EmoTrance in any form of learning takes the STRESS out of learning, and it allows us to learn far more, and far more rapidly than ever before (because stress inhibits learning and skills acquisition).

My totally mundane and completely HARD experiences with learning about construction are a good example; and what is even nicer is to reflect on the fact that as a five year EmoTrance veteran this began to kick in automatically and as soon as I had decided that I needed to learn about this new field to get something done to improve my daily life.

This delights me, because I don't want to spend the rest of my life in therapy, but instead want to LEAD A LIFE, day to day, that simply WORKS BETTER than what I was used to for all those years that came before.

So, and armed with nothing but EmoTrance, let's just see how I can handle the entire remodelling scenario with all and every detail it entails, and find out just what the term "home improvement" might be all about - if you do it right.

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