Life in Motion

When the learning gets tough… relax!!

It’s that word again… relax!! When faced with a steep learning curve, it’s always made worse if you force yourself through the curve rather than ride on it. The materials would seem more difficult, the retention would seem more difficult, and you might end up hating the subject so much that you will never touch it again. Or wanting to learn the subject so much that you disregard other things that’s important. And yet, when you learn for fun, the pieces would somehow fall into place without you realising it.

I was discussing this with my Tai Chi teacher when I noticed a student who’s “trying too hard”. Of course, not trying is not practising, so at least he’s practising. But he’s forcing something which is contrary to the very thing he’s trying to learn - to relax.

I guess the balance is quite difficult to strike. You must be hardworking to learn, but you must also work hard to resist the temptation of “trying too hard”. It is only with this kind of tension between trying and not trying that when you find the balance, the light bulb will light.

I guess it’s one of those paradox in learning that makes learning Tai Ji so difficult…

p/s: I believe this is true for most things worth learning as well. That’s probably why Tiger Woods makes golf look so easy because he tries very hard to not try.

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