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How do you interact with everything?
How do you interact with everything?
I love creative answers...!
What are your thoughts on this question?
Topics:
around environment interaction people
Closing Statement from Elizabeth Gu
Thank you all for participating in this conversation with creative and thought-provoking answers!
Taught me a lot.
Although the question seems to be vague and need specifying, your answers are just sufficient enough to convey your own thoughts!
To learn, live and love, I want to interact with people with more faith and sincerity.
Best wishes!
Liz :D
mary kariuki
Mary M. 100+
"Leave only footprints, take only pictures"
In interacting with some things/people sometimes I kind of wish that I could go quickly in and out, and leave no trace........To have the interaction be as noninvasive as possible.....
This is my creative answer.
Mary :)
[EDITED: spelling of noninvasive]
Elizabeth Gu 30+
Thanks!!
Liz :)
Wilma Weichselbaum
We can never control the "everything" of life. Often, people respond to others out of their own insecurities. You should not think that everything from another person relates primarily to you. I know this is hard to accept. The first response is that we feel vulnerable. It is best to be who you really are. There are people who will value you and others who won't. As for all kinds of other things, well, you have to be "in the moment". You cannot know everything about everything ahead of when it occurs. There is no "escape" from others reactions, from events out of our control. Your feelings will help you to understand your life's experiences. You will become a wiser teacher and a stronger individual. And, trust your not-knowing - it has much to teach you.
Elizabeth Gu 30+
However, I feel like correcting the word "everything" that seems to confuse you a little.
As for vulnerable traits that human beings all have, I was trying to make sense to Mr. Reisner as his remark is profound enough to make me ponder about it.
As you say, whether we're sensitive or not, we can't control “everything of life”.
So, in accordance with my original question—How do you interact with everything, by "everything", the sentence seems to mean something under control of our lives, but it’s not.
Although I admit that my question may sound a little too vague or too expansive, in essence, I mean the following attitude after you interact with "everything"—could be anything.
And in retrospect, you may or may not like the way you've been interacting with others or difficult situations or even fortune.
Sorry for not being more specific about the theme of this conversation, but I thought that would be enough—and I still do, anyhow.
One doesn't need to be "know-it-all" when it comes to interacting with new environments or others as you mention, "trust your not-knowing" may teach us a lot more than we think.
Even though honestly I often get afraid of being in an uncertain situation, "not knowing" how to interact with—or in this case, "how to deal with" would be more appropriate, though—uncertainty excites me.
As you may have noticed, one can't help being self-conscious or self-centered as an individual.
Even the word I used "everything" might not contain the meaning of events that happen far away from a person.
But as a part of members of the society, one also wants to know what others feel about themselves and the way they handle things or simply “react”.
Perhaps the way I showed "exhibit A" wasn't enough; however, as usual, I love receiving unexpected answers.
Again, thanks for your response. It really makes me try to clarify the purpose of this conversation.
Helpful interaction it is...! :)
Liz
Elizabeth Gu 30+
I'm just so curious.. :)
reine des violettes
I would hope to always be sensitive enough to respond to a person or situation spontaneously,as is appropriate to that moment.
I believe 'living in the moment' is a refined skill which can take some time or will to acquire .
one of the things I have learnt in relating is never to speak to someone as if one is giving a speech...it is not necessary.
Elizabeth Gu 30+
I mean, being spontaneous is really important.
I love the word "flexibly".
I think it's the key to interact with everything.
With rigid or stubborn mind, one can't freely interact with others.
"I would hope to always be sensitive enough to respond to a person or situation spontaneously, as is appropriate to that moment."
Beautiful attitude....
Thank you for sharing your thoughtful way of interacting with everything :D
Mary M. 100+
So few words......so powerful...thank you!
I have had to learn to make my expressions short and to the point.
I'm afraid after teaching little ones for too many years, I tend to want to teach adults also.
Such a bad habit to break.
reine des violettes
today I was remembering, by coincidence, when I was attending a teaching course on how to approach teaching adults, this was 30 years ago.
We had been required to write an essay on "There is no such thing as teaching, only learning"... and this was something meaningful to me, even then.
I wrote about all the subtle things that encourage learning : environment, colour, quiet, atmosphere of 'growing separately together', feeling of safety, and hope...
so too adults are still as children learning ... but maybe only need a signpost, sometimes a nudge ?
And we were reminded that an adult knows inside exactly what they want to find. they just don't always know they know.
best wishes from England
Mary M. 100+
If we all had the necessary cognitive skills to really perceive what we have learned as opposed to what the teacher was trying to have us learn......and then sit with our colleagues and teachers and discuss what we each took away from the lesson, or the lecture......I would imagine each class would take hours and hours.....
If I had the time, I would really enjoy delving into a study of our metacognitive skills.
The human mind, with all it's intricacies, fascinate me.
Oftentimes when talking to individuals (adults), I can tell when they just did not understand our interaction. I am left perplexed when they walk away with a totally different idea than the one I was trying to convey. But then perhaps I am the one who did not understand them. LOL
We are so complex.
I too am an educator, so perhaps I am more sensitive to these kind of phenomena.
There was a wonderful conversation last year on TED about critical thinking.
I think you would enjoy reading through it. It went in many directions.
I suggest reading it in the order the replies were posted.
http://www.ted.com/conversations/10735/critical_thinking_versus_opini.html
Greetings from Florida
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Mary M. 100+
I remember I was at my wits end trying to teach a student of mine to read....nothing worked.....I found a great site that explained so much.
Funny thing was, it helped me diagnose several adults around me who had almost no metacognitive skills...........I was SHOCKED!!
Ever since then, I've been highly aware, as I walk around and talk to individuals, that we all have different cognitive abilities. And these can be improved with the right remedial activities.
I know adults who cannot rhyme words......others have retention issues......all because their education was very poor. But also, there are so many other factors.
It is such a fascinating topic. One to devote a whole life's work to......and then some.....
I wish I had kept a log of the page I visited that day online.....I think you'll enjoy the link I gave Reine. For although it is not very technical in nature....it brings out alot of fascinating points to ponder.....not to mention some other goodies to feed the soul.:)
Fritzie Reisner 100+
May I ask what subject and age of student you teach?
Mary M. 100+
Yes, alot of modern curriculum stresses reflective types of questions. But I have found that unless the teachers are involving the students in oral discussions based on the curriculum and modeling higher order thinking and thinking out loud, it is difficult for the average student to obtain these higher skills, at least in the elementary grades, which is where I have had the most years of experience teaching all subject areas.
My experience with older students have been in one on one tutoring.
I happen to love tutoring students in Algebra......I love to see those AHA moments, when they have a moment of clarity and realize Algebra is not that hard after all.
Alot of times it's not the lack of Math skills that get students in trouble, but the lack of comprehension skills that do them in. They simply do not understand what the question posed is asking them.......that is where all my years teaching small children help me the most.....I have to go back and teach them comprehension.....something that you must apply to all subjects.
What subject and age of students do you teach?
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Much of my teaching has been at university, some undergrad, some precocious kids, but mostly graduate students, but at secondary I have been a math specialist, a specialist in highly gifted, and to a much lesser degree science. In those settings, i have also worked with students on research and analytical writing.
I agree that in mathematics the execution of algoritms is seldom as much of a challenge to students, regardless of age, as modeling the problem.And also understanding why things work as they do. Modeling the problem and understanding why things work and when are more important than the algorithms, because algorithms can be executed with calculators now.
W. Ying 10+
I would do in favor of keeping my DNA alive with the help of all my symbiotic members (family, friends, ... whole humankind).
(For details, see 1st article at https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=D24D89AE8B1E2E0D&id=D24D89AE8B1E2E0D%21283&sc=documents)
george lockwood 20+
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Elizabeth Gu 30+
That's the most admirable attitude(I want to learn from you).
Sometimes fear, doubt, or hatred interfere with the way we interact with our experiences and others.
Still, with an open-mind, we could sincerely (or should I say fearlessly?) interact with everything no matter what the circumstances are.
Great response!
Thanks :)
Fritzie Reisner 100+
I think you are right that many people are extremely inclined to make negative assumptions about strangers. In particular too many people assume others- vast numbers of others, or even the majority of others, simply don't have values as good or right as theirs.
When a person makes a mistake at something he tries to do, he understands what it means to make a mistake. When someone else doesn't get something right, though, all too often the observer assumes he didn't TRY to get it right or didn't CARE.
I read an article last week written by a psychology professor at Harvard who said what I also have observed (though in her case she has research support and in my case, my conclusion is informal). She claims that humans have a tremendous similarity in attributes. One of those attributes, unfortunately, is a tendency to believe others are much more different from us than they are- to read superficial differences as representing deep underlying differences of values.
People would get along better, collaborate better, and waste a lot less energy if they didn't look for and assume negative attributes in those who are only superficially different.
Elizabeth Gu 30+
I think people fear to have an open mind because they're afraid to get hurt(from others).
And the reason why they make 'negative assumptions' beforehand is that they want to protect themselves by justifying 'the fact—they believe it to be true', "I shouldn't trust her because I don't want her to hurt my feelings(by betraying me). By all means I should be dubious of her so that I can protect myself from being miserable."
I remember watching some youtube video—can't remember exactly, but I suppose it's called "focusonacting". The guy from the video says that being outgoing means being outside of yourself as if you didn't really care about yourself. And you love being active while not thinking of others being judgy about you.
Well, not that being outgoing equals having an open mind, but I think I learned some important lesson from his video.
If we stop being obsessed with protecting our vulnerable minds while enjoying interacting with others actively, we could have an open mind against any other personal suspicion, fear, and even hatred—against a person who broke our heart, for example?
I agree with you that we are just superficially different. And difference causes either curiosity, which becomes excitement, or fear. Latter is the cause of this defensive attitude, I think.
I really envy you that you have an open mind and trust others.
And speaking of your “default”, I believe, in many ways, it would be one of the things that show others how beautiful you are—although I don’t know who you are.
I wish I could be like you all the time.
I try to have an open mind, and sometimes it really hurts my feelings or other things.
I often regret, “I should have continued to keep that attitude no matter what….”
I love watching Sarah Kay’s and Brene Brown’s TED talks….. :)
They always make me realize, “open your eyes and embrace your positive thinking.”
Pleasure talking to you, Fritzie :o)