Our learning is compromised by the habit of looking elsewhere. When we sit and try to learn, our thinking about where we could be and what we could be doing prevents us from paying attention.

When we sit in “class,” whether in person at school or remotely at home, we can feel something pushing us to be somewhere else doing something else. We imagine ourselves being where we are not: checking our phone, scrolling through email, visiting a favorite website, clicking onto an unfinished game, getting something to eat. A seemingly endless list of future options runs through our mind – minus one action: sitting in “class” and learning.

This energy that distracts us from learning is in all of us. It is a habit we have developed as members of a society addicted to busyness. We want to pay attention, we want to do well in school, we want to respect the teacher, we want to engage with our peers about the subject – but the habit of being elsewhere is too often too strong for us to break. At the core, it is this habit of wanting to move to a better future that compromises our efforts to learn. We are stuck in a pattern of always moving forward with our mind fixed on an imagined future that is better than what we are doing presently. 

We have little practice with sitting still enough to learn. Our bodies fidget. Our minds wander. We struggle to allow ourselves to be quiet enough to pay attention. Like the famed peanuts cartoon with the unintelligible voice of the teacher, we are unable to tune into where we are sitting. Consequently, we become bored, our minds wander to another place and if possible our bodies follow: we ask to go to the bathroom, we shuffle through our bag to find something we do not really need, we turn to a friend, anything to keep from being still enough to focus on our learning.

We cannot be good at what we do not practice. In athletics and the arts we learn to practice in anticipation of a performance. In academics there is little to no opportunity to practice “sitting for learning” outside of the performance time we call class. This lack of intentional practice leaves us all feeling that being a “good student” is just something some people have and others don’t, like some people are born fast, some are born tall, some are born with quickness. 

If we can give ourselves the opportunity to practice “sitting for learning,” then we will find that when sitting in class we have the focus and the patience necessary to learn. Sitting for learning begins with being able to direct our attention to what is in front of us. In class this often begins with the teacher presenting information or directions, then moves to talk with peers, or engaging with content in some way, and leads at some point to demonstrating our new understanding or using our new skill. The challenge we face in each of these phases is singular and sustained focus.  

A simple way to develop our capacity to focus while sitting is to simply sit and focus on one thing for a period of time. We can place a single object in front of us and give ourselves five minutes to examine it by asking simple questions: What do we see? What do we know about the thing? What questions do we have about the thing? How is it made? Who made it? What is its value? How does it work? Sitting and posing these questions about a single object can help us to develop a new habit: the habit of sitting with focused-wondering about what is directly before us. Practicing this new habit even for five minutes each day can prepare us for sitting in class and being able to focus when we feel ourselves wanting to move away from the learning being placed in front of us.

I hope this weekend you have the opportunity to practice “sitting for learning” and give some consideration to what you might be able to develop the habit of staying focused when you are presented with the opportunity to learn.

Peace,

Chris