The Need To Unlearn
Posted on Jan 18, 2020 by Nidhi Agrawal (Co-founder, Director & Trainer)
The world is not the same from what it was when we were younger. There were lots of things that we learnt when we were young that do not hold true today. We are filling our minds and subsequently our lives with too many things that need to be cleared. We need to unclutter our lives and make room for new ideas and learning which could help us lead better, healthier and happier lives. In this modern milieu and in this spirit, more than our need to learn we need to learn to unlearn. Unlearning is an art of letting go of old knowledge, skills, information or habits in order to make room for a fresh flow of newer and purer knowledge that helps us get out of our old auto mode models and starting all over again with new skills, knowledge and competencies. Unlearn everything that taught you to stay down, uncage yourself, and break the shackles that have bound you for so long.
When we were young, our decisions, especially what we were going to study were made by our parents and our teachers. It was ingrained in our minds, irrespective of our interests, impulses and desires, our elders knew what was good for us. We were told that what we thought was just not the right thing to do and neither realistic or practical. Take my personal example, I loved literature, languages and humanities yet I was forced to take, by well-intentioned elders, that Science and Maths was what was needed for me. Whilst the subjects that I loved came easy to me, the subjects thrust upon me felt hard and tedious and I had to make a deliberate and hard attempt to study them whilst my preferred subjects seemed that my brain was wired for them. Science and Maths cluttered up my brain and displayed the ‘Houseful’ sign leaving no space inside my brain for things that I loved. It took me two decades to clear and unclutter my mind of the things that were keeping me down, things that I did not enjoy doing and fill my life with things that I loved doing and that let me lead a joyful life of abundance, joy, worth and purpose.
When you are willing to undergo this makeover, it will alter how you think, feel and observe life and people around you. Your friends and family will suddenly find you more approachable, fun-loving, caring and compassionate. Your health will improve and you will become a more enlightened and informed human being and the most important thing is that change and transformation is within your reach.
Be honest with yourself. Love what you do and do what you love. Doing what you love safeguards that you’re the most cheerful, most happy and most composed version of yourself, which has optimistic ripple effects on you, your loved ones, your colleagues and make you if not a richer person, but most certainly a happier more contented person.