Learn. Unlearn. Relearn.

JUNE 14, 2015.

“It is good to marry.” Those were the words that came out from the mouth of my Pastor. It was a regular sermon that was preached in the sixth month of each passing year. Although I’ve never taken the idea of marriage seriously, maybe that explains why I was mirroring something entirely different from what my Pastor said. I was silently re-mouthing “It is good to read.”

I did this practically through the sermon(please don’t judge me. Shit happens, you know😂). As Albert Einstein will say: “A pen is used to write things down we need to remember, our brains are used to think”, I quickly scribbled down afterthoughts because I was in my Avatar state, and of course you know that if the Avatar is killed while in the Avatar state, his reincarnation cycle is broken and thus, he cannot resurrect again…

I went home ecstatic.

Have you ever been happy without a known cause? Alright if you’ve not, I was. I was happy as though I discovered something that hasn’t been discovered before. What I discovered was clarity of words, perception and understanding.

In some way or another, it is known with certitude that words mold the way we think. As humans, it is easier to combat with a guy named Timothy Skim than somebody named Peter Constantine even if we’ve never seen them before. Such scenarios delineates why words are more like a fun house mirror, warping our minds showing us things we don’t expect to see.

It’s true that when we read books, articles or magazines; we get so overwrought for not remembering all the subtle details in the book but believe me, these “little details” do come forth when there is an urgent need.

I remember reading a book by Alvin Toffle — Rethinking the Future. Alvin Toffle said: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” Though it had been a while I read the book, I couldn’t forget the way I felt after reading the book because books often mirror the authors’ thought pattern thus allowing your thought pattern to be in similitude with theirs’.

I discovered that a potpourri of things in my life I needed to know and relearn. There was this incandescent rage and insatiable hunger in me, even the social media made it worse. One step at a time, I concluded.

I decided to improve my typing skill. In doing so, I had to unlearn previous hand movement techniques. Erstwhile, my typing speed was 35WPM. This speed was acquired over years of consistent practice with the wrong hand movement technique.

When your results do not change regardless of the imputed grit and gumption, then you are not engaging laws and principles.

Relearning wasn’t the difficult part, it was unlearning because there were already specific markers in the brain. These markers connect to form a pattern and these patterns are now part of the subconscious. Unlearning therefore involves the conscious retraining of the mind. Like a skilled carpenter who removes a coarse peg by knocking it out with a fine one, so a person removes a futile pattern by exchanging with a spanking-new one.

After two months, my speed abated to 17WPM but instead of me to quit, I kept on pressing forward. I knew with all plerophory and I was fully persuaded. that doing the right thing the right way definitely produces result.

FEBRUARY 16, 2018.

If you want to know what my typing speed is, well, your guess is as good as mine. I’m finally above par, with a speed of 80–100WPM. Though it might be inconsequential to some people but it’s epochal to me because I know how tad tiring it is leaving old habits and embracing new ones.

There are various things in our lives that we need to unlearn in order to ace properly. Our access to information now rapidly surpasses every other time in history and the genuine upper hand will be the manner by which we utilize the information we procure.

I choose to disagree with the maxim by Joanne Harris: “Old habits never die.”

Old habits never die for those who choose not to learn, unlearn and relearn.