Parable of the Shoelaces

When I was a little girl, my mom taught me to tie my shoes.

My shoelaces often came untied.

I didn't know why.

Perplexed, I just kept retying them.

Many years later, when I was in my early 40's, a friend said to me, 

"You tie your shoes wrong."

She showed me that I was going the wrong way with my loop.

My thoughts turned to my mother. 

She is left-handed and I am right.

I'll bet that had something to do with it.

I decided to reteach myself to tie my shoes.

My method was to tie them the way that felt wrong.

That meant that whichever way felt wrong was the right way.

After about 10 years my shoes started coming untied again.

I felt frustrated.

Then I had an epiphany.

Nothing felt "wrong" any longer. 

In fact, both ways now felt right.

My learning had dropped out.

I couldn't remember how to tie my shoes correctly.

Then a different friend say to me, 

"You could use a different method for learning."

It had never crossed my mind.

After giving it some thought, I decided to use a phrase to help me.

My shoe-tying mantra was "Go to the right."

Miracle of miracles, my shoes stayed tied!

I didn't know I used emotions to learn things.

Emotion's are great and have their place.

But when emotions change, like they do.....

Learning drops out and you're right back where you started.

I'm curious about how many of you can relate to this? 

Have you ever thought about how you learn? 

I'd love to hear!