Posts tagged "Diane Gold"

Diane Gold Does Audio Tai Chi 5, At Peace W Diane Gold

Diane Gold At Peace Show DIANE GOLD DOES AUDIO TAI CHI 5 FOR AT PEACE WITH DIANE GOLD
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How Health & Wellness Transform Us To Create Peaceful, Ethical Solutions For Others! Tuesdays at 2 pm

From integrative health to peacemaking, from disciplines, therapies, all world medicines, from nutrition to surgery to ethics to peaceful conflict resolution; join Diane Gold every Tuesday for a fun, thoughtful and informative journey into health, wellness and peace. ONE ACTION STEP will be shared during each show.

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Diane Gold - Audio Tai Chi
DIANE GOLD DOES AUDIO TAI CHI (5)

Diane Gold, facilitator, peace warrior, tai chi mentor, author, plant-based nutrition certified.

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The main objective of DIANE GOLD is to facilitate peace. Teaching tai chi, giving people a path to replace habits that do not support them, doing interviews, writing and being kind are the tools she is using. Read more on the expert page at WarriorsOfWeight.com. Send a note on the contact us page.

Diane Gold Does Audio Tai Chi 4, At Peace W Diane Gold

Diane Gold At Peace Show DIANE GOLD DOES AUDIO TAI CHI 4 FOR AT PEACE WITH DIANE GOLD
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How Health & Wellness Transform Us To Create Peaceful, Ethical Solutions For Others! Tuesdays at 2 pm

From integrative health to peacemaking, from disciplines, therapies, all world medicines, from nutrition to surgery to ethics to peaceful conflict resolution; join Diane Gold every Tuesday for a fun, thoughtful and informative journey into health, wellness and peace. ONE ACTION STEP will be shared during each show.

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Diane Gold - Audio Tai Chi
DIANE GOLD DOES AUDIO TAI CHI (4)

Diane Gold, facilitator, peace warrior, tai chi mentor, author, plant-based nutrition certified.

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The main objective of DIANE GOLD is to facilitate peace. Teaching tai chi, giving people a path to replace habits that do not support them, doing interviews, writing and being kind are the tools she is using. Read more on the expert page at WarriorsOfWeight.com. Send a note on the contact us page.

Diane Gold Does Audio Tai Chi 3, At Peace W Diane Gold

Diane Gold At Peace Show DIANE GOLD DOES AUDIO TAI CHI 3 FOR AT PEACE WITH DIANE GOLD
INTERNET RADIO SHOW

How Health & Wellness Transform Us To Create Peaceful, Ethical Solutions For Others! Tuesdays at 2 pm

From integrative health to peacemaking, from disciplines, therapies, all world medicines, from nutrition to surgery to ethics to peaceful conflict resolution; join Diane Gold every Tuesday for a fun, thoughtful and informative journey into health, wellness and peace. ONE ACTION STEP will be shared during each show.

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Diane Gold - Audio Tai Chi
DIANE GOLD DOES AUDIO TAI CHI (3)

Diane Gold, facilitator, peace warrior, tai chi mentor, author, plant-based nutrition certified.

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The main objective of DIANE GOLD is to facilitate peace. Teaching tai chi, giving people a path to replace habits that do not support them, doing interviews, writing and being kind are the tools she is using. Read more on the expert page at WarriorsOfWeight.com. Send a note on the contact us page.

Diane Gold Does Audio Tai Chi 2, At Peace W Diane Gold

Diane Gold At Peace Show DIANE GOLD DOES AUDIO TAI CHI 2 FOR AT PEACE WITH DIANE GOLD
INTERNET RADIO SHOW

How Health & Wellness Transform Us To Create Peaceful, Ethical Solutions For Others! Tuesdays at 2 pm

From integrative health to peacemaking, from disciplines, therapies, all world medicines, from nutrition to surgery to ethics to peaceful conflict resolution; join Diane Gold every Tuesday for a fun, thoughtful and informative journey into health, wellness and peace. ONE ACTION STEP will be shared during each show.

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Diane Gold - Audio Tai Chi
DIANE GOLD DOES AUDIO TAI CHI (2)

Diane Gold, facilitator, peace warrior, tai chi mentor, author, plant-based nutrition certified.

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The main objective of DIANE GOLD is to facilitate peace. Teaching tai chi, giving people a path to replace habits that do not support them, doing interviews, writing and being kind are the tools she is using. Read more on the expert page at WarriorsOfWeight.com. Send a note on the contact us page.

Diane Gold Does Audio Tai Chi, At Peace W Diane Gold

Diane Gold At Peace Show DIANE GOLD DOES AUDIO TAI CHI FOR AT PEACE WITH DIANE GOLD
INTERNET RADIO SHOW

How Health & Wellness Transform Us To Create Peaceful, Ethical Solutions For Others! Tuesdays at 2 pm

From integrative health to peacemaking, from disciplines, therapies, all world medicines, from nutrition to surgery to ethics to peaceful conflict resolution; join Diane Gold every Tuesday for a fun, thoughtful and informative journey into health, wellness and peace. ONE ACTION STEP will be shared during each show.

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Diane Gold - Audio Tai Chi
DIANE GOLD DOES AUDIO TAI CHI

Diane Gold, facilitator, peace warrior, tai chi mentor, author, plant-based nutrition certified.

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The main objective of DIANE GOLD is to facilitate peace. Teaching tai chi, giving people a path to replace habits that do not support them, doing interviews, writing and being kind are the tools she is using. Read more on the expert page at WarriorsOfWeight.com. Send a note on the contact us page.

Diane Gold Interviews Susan Joyce Proctor

Diane Gold At Peace ShowAT PEACE WITH DIANE GOLD INTERNET RADIO SHOW

How Health & Wellness Transform Us To Create Peaceful, Ethical Solutions For Others! Tuesdays at 2 pm

From integrative health to peacemaking, from disciplines, therapies, all world medicines, from nutrition to surgery to ethics to peaceful conflict resolution; join Diane Gold every Tuesday for a fun, thoughtful and informative journey into health, wellness and peace. ONE ACTION STEP will be shared during each show.

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Diane Gold Interviews Susan Joyce Proctor
DIANE GOLD INTERVIEWS SUSAN JOYCE PROCTOR

diploma in Ayurveda, global depletion expert, speaker & author.

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SUSAN JOYCE PROCTOR is both an ayurvedic practitioner, specializing in natural hormones balance, ideal weight and metabolism, rejuvenation and overall well-being.

Health Care Mistakes: Our Biggest One

HEALTH CARE MISTAKES: OUR BIGGEST ONE (ISSUE 171) MARCH 24, 2015

By Diane Gold

Health Care Mistakes - Not Being PreventiveHealth care mistakes: our biggest one is not being preventive, a topic very dear to my heart. The topic has been in my purview for some time. The rumblings of this article began with a simple conversation.

THE CONVERSATION

Harvey, a near and dear friend, and I were having this conversation, that I started, about being tested for vitamin, mineral, phytochemical levels. We did not decide to debate the topic; it evolved so innocently but actually spelled out the way many people in America look at medicine: from the diagnostic perspective.

I said that I thought a primary care physician’s job was to make certain the patient’s systems were in balance and that it was necessary to test whether a person’s nutritional intake was adequately fulfilling the needs of the body. And to discover if there were any imbalances, which would take extensive study; though not always accurate, we could have vitamin, mineral and phytochemical testing. And, as many specialists I have spoken with agree, we shouldn’t have to beg for these tests.

OUR BIGGEST MISTAKE

Harvey replied that when we go to the primary care doctor, we get tests done based on our diagnosis. He also mentioned that Medicare (which he and I both began within the year) only pays for tests that match our diagnoses.

Health Care Mistakes - Get Sick And Have A Diagnosis Before Looking For WeaknessesI told him that this is the biggest mistake in all our healthcare system and that I consider it ludicrous. If we believe, and by we, I mean the physicians and dieticians who treat us, that we are asked to get sick and have a diagnosis before looking for weaknesses of which blood is a somewhat good predictor; we are propagating a disease care system, not a health care system. If we believe that it’s important to act well, sleep well, eat well, think well, move well, drink well and measure the result; we will prevent diagnoses often.

HOW TO CORRECT THE MISTAKE

I said to Harvey that I wanted him to think about my view because I realized he was one of the people who was raised as a patient of a Western medical system that professes to cure things through medication and intervention once an imbalance exists already.

I proposed,

1) ACTION STEP ONE

Health Care Mistakes - Test Our Vitamin, Mineral< Phytochemical Levels“What if we were to test our vitamin-mineral-phytochemical levels on a regular basis! We would confirm that we were eating well or that we would be wise to adjust a way of eating our nutrients through our daily routine of eating well.”

2) ACTION STEP TWO

(This is a What If Scenario, not because I support the way Big Pharma acts, but because it is powerful, organized, competent.)

Another suggestion to the world is to include Big Pharma to help spread the word about the importance of measuring and testing nutritional levels. Could we pay it to make everyone aware that it’s good health care to monitor nutrition through testing and have insurance pay for the tests?

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Since Big Pharma makes such a huge sum from drugs, many of which could be eliminated by nutrition; Big Pharma is not going to come along happily, unless paid. The government won’t regulate it because political campaigns run on its dollars. And its sister and brother (mostly brother) board members in Big Media, Big Petro-Chem, Big Agro, Big Food, Big Data, Big University, Big Finance would be affected and growling, too.

So, please someone who is brilliantly creative; use my scenario and develop a strategy to satisfy the monetary gap so we can use Big Pharma to fix our health care system.

The best creatives for this fix could actually be TV script writers, some of the most creative minds in the bunch.

3) ACTION STEP THREE

Finally, Western doctors have not been trained in the importance of doing preventive tests. They are trained to find a pre-existing condition. Their understanding has been reinforced by the fact that they know that any insurance system works on the disease model and each doctor is monitored for the tests s/he orders by how well they match the diagnoses that exist. Let’s change nutritional education in medical schools. And one way to do that is to employ ACTION STEP 2) which includes Big Pharma, where we give Big Pharma a reason not to hide nutritional findings.

BACKGROUND

Health Care Mistakes - Much Funding Comes From Pharmaceutical CompaniesIn medical school, much funding comes from pharmaceutical companies, meat. There are also connections to meat, fish and dairy concerns, petro-chemical/pesticide companies, including bioengineering seed companies. What’s important about this is these companies want to sell their products. They want to make a good impression on soon-to-be-doctors who will be advocating care for the goodness of their future patients.

The industries mentioned above know that if they make donations to medical schools, including private donations from board members; school provosts will be more likely to keep industry information out of coursework.

School administrators, required to hunt down the almighty dollar for survival, may also allow industry donors to run seminars for doctors and medical students that are favorable to themselves. In fact, these companies control some of the slant on disease management (intervention) vs. health care management (prevention) by making it clear that their donations depend upon the school’s advocating their positive image.

Also interesting is that pharmaceutical reps as well as other company advocates are wooing medical students even before they graduate. The pharmaceutical budget donates most of the continuing education conferences for already graduated doctors, and, much as we think we are objective, we are wooed by those who buy us gifts.

THE TRUTH

At this time, Big Pharma does not emphasize disease prevention because it wants us to buy pharmaceuticals to contribute to its livelihood. It’s not that Big Pharma is heartless. But, in order to continue developing monumental drugs that can lengthen lives, of which there are many, and enhance life quality through various combinations of chemicals; the industry thinks it has to blind us rather than educate us.

The truth is, as I see it, that if Big Pharma were tasked to educate us properly, we would all do well. We would still need some of their life-lengthening drugs currently under development, and we could pay the industry for its expertise in marketing, management and an ally in the corporate jungle. We just couldn’t pay as much as they currently make.

INCENTIVIZING BIG PHARMA TO HELP WITH PREVENTION

Let me point out, again, that this is a what if scenario and something to think about or from which to create (rather than criticize).

Health Care Mistakes - A What If ScenarioSince Big Pharma’s marketing machine is in place, we could use it for good. Instead of working against an already built corporatocracy, why not figure out a way to subsidize it for helping to market preventive care in place of disease care with the money we save through the nutritional secrets that are revealed! Here’s why this philosophy could be beneficial to all of us.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, in 2010, Americans spent $20.4 billion dollars on prescription drugs for hypertension (about half of all treatment for hypertension). Let’s say Big Pharma or some independent concern, discovers a natural blood pressure fix, such as chewing turmeric root for 5 minutes a day; we can lower our blood pressure to (low) normal range.

If Big Pharma publicized this, freely and nurturingly, potentially it would be reducing its income by $20.4 billion dollars per year, since everyone could go chew turmeric instead of taking blood pressure lowering meds. In order to incentivize Big Pharma to disclose this nutritionally beneficially evidence; it needs to be given a supplement for its sacrifice. The turmeric association’s making an additional $750 million dollars is so very little compared to the cost of drugs, so any commission the turmeric growers could give to Big Pharma would be a small incentive.

The amount we save on health care, as a nation, would be significant. I do not have a statistic at this point, but I do know that the amount the government saves on sickness might leave room for the government to incentivize Big Pharma. If in 2010, we spent $42.9 billion on blood pressure sickness (according to AHRQ and according to the CDC in 2011, we spend $46 billion dollars), and we used turmeric instead of medicine; we would reduce spending of $20.4 billion on drugs and spend half a million on turmeric therapy. If the government gave 50% of its part of the $20.4 billion dollars being saved to Big Pharma, we might have an actual reality.

CONCLUSION

Health care mistakes are related to who benefits from what. We all want to lead a good life. This includes making enough money, being healthy and feeling abundant within ourselves.

Imagine if we had the powerful corporatocracy working to evolutionize health care system. Now, that would be something. The bottom line here is that we deserve to be able to test our nutritional values. If doctors, insurance companies, drug companies and all the other related industries that are part of the machine made just as much money from prevention as from sick care; we would be well on our way to honesty, integrity and removing health care mistakes, the biggest one.

Health Care Mistakes - Let Us Put Our Heads TogetherLet us put our heads together, and think on how we can make this work. The example here is only food for thought. Much research and discussion is needed to find the most viable solutions to wellness. If we start today, we will have begun. Let’s take this health care mistake and convert it to health care strategy where we all win.

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DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and certified in plant-based nutrition.

She is always imagining a better way for us to serve ourselves health. She says,

“I come up with ideas that show how a particular infrastructure might work, in hopes that someone else will be able to build on my idea with a better idea that can create symbiosis for the world.

“I’m always looking for ways to improve the health care systems. In the meantime, let us all take good care of ourselves because we are so worth it!”

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Diane Gold Interviews Michelle Goebel On At Peace With Diane Gold

Diane Gold At Peace ShowAT PEACE WITH DIANE GOLD INTERNET RADIO SHOW

How Health & Wellness Transform Us To Create Peaceful, Ethical Solutions For Others! Tuesdays at 2 pm

From integrative health to peacemaking, from disciplines, therapies, all world medicines, from nutrition to surgery to ethics to peaceful conflict resolution; join Diane Gold every Tuesday for a fun, thoughtful and informative journey into health, wellness and peace. ONE ACTION STEP will be shared during each show.

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Diane Gold Interviews Michelle Goebel
DIANE GOLD INTERVIEWS MICHELLE GOEBEL

specialist in meditation for individuals and the corporate environment.

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Water Shortage: Our Role

WATER SHORTAGE: OUR ROLE (ISSUE 162) MARCH 17, 2015

By Diane Gold

WATER SHORTAGE

Water ShortageThe reason I wrote this article was because I saw myself wasting water, even in the face of knowing that there is a water shortage. It really hit me when I had my own water shortage. I knew I was washing the dishes in my sink with the water running the entire time. I began to think that using a dishwasher, which my current residence lacks, might be more economical.

(According to the Water Resources section of whitehouse.gov [http://water.usgs.gov/edu/qa-home-percapita.html], my activity of washing for 3 minutes 2 times a day using a new faucet but an old sink uses about the same amount of water as one dishwasher load at 20 gallons per day. Too much.]

A CLOGGED SINK TEACHES COMPASSION

So, here’s what happened to my sink. It clogged. So, my water consumption came to a screeching halt. And I would have had to wait for a drain fixer until the following day if I had sat tight. That’s when I got a miniscule taste of feeling water shortage in the way that so many people do every day, and that is, not having water at my disposal when I wanted it.

True, I wasn’t really without water. I could Valley Girl myself into the bathroom and use water from the bathroom sink. But, I did not have my regular access, and the bathroom sink was too small for me to fill a pot with water. In my panic, I decided to go to the store and get some horrible chemicals to put down the sink that were guaranteed to fix the clog and pollute the Earth.

Although I felt sad at having to pour pollution into the pipe that would reach wherever it ended up, I did it anyway. It was guaranteed to work in 15 minutes, even though it took 12 hours.

The result was I was forever more cognizant of my water waste and continue to be so.

WHY IS THIS MY PROBLEM, OTHERS MIGHT ASK?

Water Shortage - My ProblemSome of us may not see there is a global water shortage. We don’t see 840,000,000 people in front of us every day who have no water. We say,

“What does this have to do with me? I have never been without water.

“I don’t use much water.

“There’s so much water from oceans that we can desalinate it if we have to.

“Only a few people in the centers of a few countries experience shortage.

“And what does this have to do specifically with my habits. They don’t have an effect water shortage.”

My response to those statements is clear, not because I am the most diligent person, but because we are not alone.

THE HUMAN FAMILY

Water Shortage - One Human FamilyWe forget quickly that we are part of one human family. If one part of our family is thirsty, then it is our responsibility to do something about it as if it were the people in our very house.

Remember the last hurricane, tornado, monsoon, tsunami that passed by?

People we never even spoke with before, who had lived in our village, on our street, right next door, up the avenue or field shared food, refrigeration, ice, concern, nurturing, and, yes, water. It was a magical transformation caused by our common environmental disaster.

Why are we so self-absorbed that we’re not like that every day? We all care about the people who are water insecure. Right?

FOOD CHOICE CAN WASTE WATER

Since life is so complicated, it is hard for us to think of water shortage unless it is right at our front door. It usually takes some heart wrenching photo of children’s misshapen bodies for our attention to be drawn to drought or lack of access to water. Imagine, though, that we are causing the continued water shortage by overuse. And how are we doing it?

According to the Water Footprint Network, 40 gallons of water are used to produce a pound of pulses (lentils, chickpeas, peas beans) compared to producing a pound of beef, which requires 45 times more water. So, our use of animals for food is one of our big wastes.

ACTION STEP

Water Shortage - Balance By Eating PlantsWe could balance the water shortage by eating plants. That would allow everyone to have more water. According to everything I learned in my courses to become Certified in Plant-Based Nutrition, eating plants would prevent a bunch of chronic diseases and suffering; and it is not necessary to eat animal protein and most of us in the Western world are over-consuming protein.

If we were eating plants, we could be teaching developing countries who are emulating us to grow plants efficiently, save their bodies and save the Earth. They would be spared learning the hard way that the amount of water it takes for raising animals and the disease statistics associated with eating meat, fish, poultry, dairy and the land we destroy are reason enough not to do it.

HOUSEHOLD CHOICES CAN WASTE WATER

Those of us who do not have to walk a mile to the water pump, and that’s most of us in the United States, take water for granted. We use water regularly for oral hygiene, in our toilets, for washing ourselves and cleaning our houses, to prepare food within our single family structure and to drink. Are we diligent, though? Yes, the amount we use in household is miniscule compared with the amounts used in agriculture. But, it still matters.

I mentioned earlier my personal waste. It turns out I was letting the water run the entire time I was brushing my teeth. For no reason other than that I liked the sound, I liked the feel of the water trickling on my toothbrush; but, mostly, because I forgot to turn it off, I was being wasteful and socially unacceptable. I also kept it running before and after filling my name brand electronic water flosser. Again, the amount of waste was not huge, but it was completely unnecessary. I’ve decided diligent water use matters.

By being diligent and turning the water off more often, I can maintain my 360 gallons or less a day for a single person in an apartment. I am taking responsibility for 15 minutes of watering the grass outside since I get to see it.

Water Shortage - How Much We Use

What the chart at the US Geological Surveys Water Science School does not take into account is the amount of water used to prepare our food. I am a plant-based eater, so I am using a smaller amount of water to grow my produce than someone who eats animal products. But, if I forgot about morality and ate 1 hamburger for the day, my water consumption would quadruple. Too much to be sustainable.

Plants require water to grow, but it is common knowledge they require less than animal based foods. I’ve seen statistics that animal-based food (including poultry, fish and dairy) use from 2.9 X more to 13 X more water, but I just know the number is considerably more.

CONCLUSION

I have read some surprising statistics about water, including, according to the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (from a document prior to April, 2009), that 1.7 million people in the United States live without plumbing facilities.

Water Shortage - Bring Water Home For The FamilyAccording to the April 29, 2011 article by Laurie Ure for CNN, nearly 1 billion people walk 3.5 miles a day to fill their jerry can to bring water home for the family. How often do those people get to their water source only to find a water shortage or a source that is dried up, closed, contaminated, unavailable? Something to think about.

Let us be diligent to contribute positively to reduce water shortage by being connected to everyone in need, by considering our food choices and minimizing pollution, by composting and recycling, and, easiest of all, by reducing water waste that may be right in front of our eyes.

Water Shortage - Access Water With The Right EquipmentAlthough there is water shortage, there are areas worldwide that can access water with the right equipment. World Water Day, March 22 2015, celebrates water and our awareness that it is not forever. If you wish to donate to build a well so that 500-1000 people can have access to groundwater near their home in Africa for 10 years, please do it at: https://thewaterproject.org/community/profile/diane-gold.

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DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and certified in plant-based nutrition.

She cares about water. She says,

“I’m grateful for my sink’s having clogged. It gave me a great look at conservation of water in the kitchen. I’m grateful for noticing my toothbrush water, so I can reduce it.

“These are tiny things which, alone, amount to little, but, together, would be more meaningful. Let’s take a moment and consider that water is not renewing as quickly as we are using it. So, let’s use less. And let’s appreciate what we have more.

“Finally, let us all take good care of ourselves because we are so worth it!”

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Learning How To Learn: Our Biggest Mistake

LEARNING HOW TO LEARN: OUR BIGGEST MISTAKE (ISSUE 169) MARCH 10, 2015

By Diane Gold

Learning How To LearnI can’t stress enough the importance of learning how to learn and how important it is to teach this from the start. Whether we are raised through education at home or by going to public or private school, one thing stands out: we each see through a different set of eyes. And our biggest mistake is not making first learners aware so they can decide for themselves the bias of their lessons. Learning How To Learn

LESSON ONE: THE PROCESS OF LEARNING

When we teach young people or mature folks for the first time, we sometimes throw information at them without orienting them to the process of learning. This process includes understanding how learning works. As first time learners, we trust everything we are given, unless we are taught to look at the educational provider. It is crucial that each elementary teacher ingrain in each student the idea that everyone, including teachers, judges, parents and ourselves, sees with new eyes. We give information with the color of what we believe to be correct and true. And, it’s hard to teach this because we want first learners to trust us.

The process of learning I refer to is the understanding that not every bit of what we are taught is correct, honest and offered with benevolence. Sometimes, teachers, judges, parents want us to think a certain way, so we teach the subject as if there is only one set of information possible. Most of us reach full adulthood before we understand the dangers of blind faith.

LESSON TWO: BLIND FAITH

Learning How To Learn - Just BornI am the first one to have blind faith and that most of us are good, nurturing and positive. The faith I would blindly follow, though is the understanding that we are all human, and humans, sometimes, without even knowing it, have internal agendas. When we are just born, we have not been influenced enough to be deceitful. After that, we can trust that the human spirit can be fickle. We can be blindly faithful in knowing that we all do our best to pass on the lesson, although doing our best usually includes our being influenced by how we have chosen to perceive the world.

LESSON THREE: LEARNING HOW TO LEARN AND RELEARNING HOW TO LEARN BY CHOOSING AND SORTING OUT THE PUREST INFORMATION

The very purpose of martial arts training is to learn how to learn. It is usually appropriate to say relearn how to learn because the sad truth is most of us have to figure this out after we are grown, never having been exposed to this process of learning by most teachers’ being more concerned with disseminating their version of material than with the process of how to look at learning. We can use this martial arts systematic approach when learning everything.

So, the first thing we say in the martial classroom is,
Learning How To Learn - Become Empty

“Become empty. Place any preconceived notions, movements, feelings outside the door.”

This is done so that the student begins the lesson with as little coloration or influence from knowledge we already have or think we have. Executing this directive allows us to remove some of the bias that may arise from old information. And, herein is the crux of learning (or relearning) how to learn.

AN EXAMPLE

Learning How To Learn - Have All Views PresentLet’s say we are going to hear a panel on whether it’s a good idea to genetically modify foods. As at any debate, we would hope to have all views present. In this case, the head speaker is the director of genetically modified foods industry, one panelist is in that person’s pocket and the third panelist is known not to speak out about GMOs.

The listeners of this panel would think that, if this panel is at a large convention that is known for being socially conscious, all sides would be represented. If we are learning about GMOs for the first time, whatever is said on that panel would sway our understanding. And there will never be a sign saying,

“This panel does not represent all sides of this discussion.”

If we understand the process of learning as part of our repertoire, we will be informed, not manipulated because we will consider the bias that is built into the discussion.

EXAMPLE 2

Another example occurs when the teacher asks the students to close their eyes as they are standing on a boardwalk, low to the sand. S/he then removes two wooden boards right in front of them, which means, if they step forward, will land them on their butts in the sand. Because the students’ eyes are closed, they cannot see this board removal. The teacher then says that, for this exercise, the words “move forward” will represent the concept “stay still.”

The teacher then says,

“Move forward.”

All the students stay still, remembering the phrase “move forward” as meaning “stay still,” except one. This one student was busy daydreaming during the initial “move forward” instruction, and he loses his footing and lands in the sand.

Straying from focus, being distracted has caused this one student to falter.

CONCLUDING ACTION STEP RECIPE

Learning How To Learn - A Great RecipeIn order to work this idea of emptying ourselves so that we can fill ourselves with knowledge, a basic learning how to learn principal; we must come up with some trust system by which we live. The one I live by is that we blindly believe that we all do our best, but we are not perfect and show understanding when someone else is not or when we, ourselves, are not.

Here is what I believe is a great recipe for learning how to learn or relearning how to learn:

BE TOLERANT.
BE FORGIVING AND LOVING.
TRUST IN HUMAN GOODNESS BUT KNOW WE ARE INFLUENCED EASILY.
BE DILIGENT ABOUT REALIZING BIAS.
BE ACTIVE IN TEACHING STUDENTS TO KNOW THEIR MENTORS.
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DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, is a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution and habit replacement, certified in Whole-Foods Plant-Based Nutrition.

She believes that the most important thing we can learn is that we all look from our own eyes, and we are taught by people who are looking through their eyes. She says,

“It’s hugely important for first learners to realize that can trust people to be human. We will all tell our own story. And, though it’s paramount that children trust teachers, we have to find a way to teach them about their own view and the joy of questioning ours.

“Our goal is not to repress but to make thriving, thinking, creating scientists and social scientists. So, it should be our pleasure to spell out the art of learning how to learn. It also should be our thrill to be part of the art of relearning how to learn.

“In the meantime, let us all take good care of ourselves, because we are so worth it!”

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