Connection
Connection is vital for learning, allowing us to be present to ourselves, to the material we are hoping to learn or teach, to those who are teaching us, or those we seek to teach. From a place of curiosity, we can truly connect with ourselves and each other. When we fear judgment we cannot allow ourselves to be vulnerable, so cannot be present in the way sincere connection requires. If we look closely with loving concern and open-heartedness, we can truly see and be seen, connect, and open to new possibilities of learning new skills, attitudes, and knowledge, creating new connections in the brain.
We must also make connections about the realities in our lives, to understand that we all do the best we can in the conditions we live and learn in – and these may be unjust. If we want ourselves or others to change, we need to change those conditions. To truly connect we must understand problems are not located in the individual, but in society: the conditions of our lives have shaped our brains, which continue to respond to circumstances. It is not individuals who have barriers to learning, but institutions that erect barriers when they fail to question business as usual, and fail to recognize the complexity of students’ lives.
Greet yourself and others from a place of concern:
“…concern — true concern — shows itself vulnerably. It does not insist upon itself, shouting out the din around it. Concern asks tenderly, walks softly. Concern brings the soft brushes of an archeological dig, not a steamroller to pave over what lies beneath. Concern does not flatten everything in its path.”
