Reflections on a learning journey - the introduction

Blogging, for me, is about making the time to make my thoughts visible, mainly through writing. And so I have decided to spend sometime reflecting on my learning journey this past year - and how I have struggled with the process of writing in order to reclaim, and reconnect with the whole range of ways in which I make sense of my world - which is what learning is to me. This creative process is continuing to inform how I coach and facilitate learning and development processes - however I am doing it more consciously, and more bravely because I realise that when I work in this way, based on this understanding, I am at my best! I love that!

I have always been an avid journal writer - using my journals to make sense of my experiences, however during the past year, after going through an incredibly stressful time I found that I could not write - my whole being rejected that process. It was as if I needed to connect with myself at a much deeper level, and that somehow my mind was quick to process, package and put into boxes, my experience, and the rest of me was saying - thats not it, the mind just does not get it. I tried talking to a coach but it still did not work, not completely, so I decided to go on a journey to discover what would help me. The results was profound for me, and has given me the courage to start doing what I have always felt was my way of working with people - I had to do it for myself, in order to begin to be able to share it with others. I have discovered again the importance of

• stillness, nature and being present
  
• listening - within and without
• image and metaphor
• story and narrative as meaning making
  
• working with the body
• creativity as a tribute to life and possibility
• singing 'deep wordless songs'
  

Working in this way has forced me to connect with my own truth. The words below, from Oriah Mountain Dreamer's poem 'The Invitation', have been an important touchstone on this journey:

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul

So I am inviting you to walk with me on this journey, as I make sense of my journey, and thus deepen my learning. It might not follow a logical flow - but then what journey does? I am hoping, though, that each piece, each stop, will provide an insight, a gem, a jewel, a question, an idea that helps me, and you understand how we learn.