A couple of things about life, and university, and gratitude, and thinking .....

The Question:       

Consider what preconceived ideas and misconceptions about everyday life might affect what you do, think and how you do it. Write a considered response to this.

  

This question raises so many more questions. The question of what constitutes a preconceived idea, or misconception. And what is every-day life. But here goes.

I first went to University when I was 16.  Yes, young, way too young, in hindsight. I was the first person in my family ever to even complete high school, let alone Matriculation, I had been dux of my high school, very good at passing exams, breezed in a Commonwealth Scholarship, and the alternative was working as a laboratory assistant at Cadbury's Chocolate factory, a quite tempting alternative for access to unlimited chocolate, but I both hated and was inept at laboratory work.  I admit to enrolling in agricultural science because it was a male-dominated faculty, and I liked their Uni windcheater logo better than the other alternative, the equally male-dominated faculty of engineering.

I disliked Uni, but stayed on for two years because I couldn't think of anything better to do – when I got my first job in the summer holidays after second year,  I realised I had found something better to do, and started earning money, and in jobs which I have always found ridiculously easy.   My Uni results were mixed – from failure, to High Distinction, depending on whether I was interested in the subject or not – I did great in Comparative Animal Physiology and Statistics, and Biophysics, and got terminating passes in inorganic chemistry – twice!

This history led me to certain conceptions, or misconceptions, about university, that I held, for many years – that Uni study was boring, that it was easy, and it brought little personal reward.  I could see little point to it. Unless, of course, there was something one really wanted to study, like … Comparative Animal Physiology and Statistics.

I did study several subjects further on during my various careers, with a foray into geography, which again I found way too easy,  and macroeconomics and commercial law, which both engaged me fully, because the lecturers were engaging, and delighted the aspect of my brain that loves logic and systematic application of knowledge.

Skip 25 years over the child-bearing and family-raising era of my life, to the last few years of having my family grow up and make their way into the world. It is interesting that over the intervening years I had developed some self-awareness about my attitude to University study, because I always encouraged my sons not to go to University unless and until they found something that they really wanted to study.  I reinforced this by offering to fund their second year of study, on the basis that if they had to pay for their own first year, it would be a real test of whether they really wanted to study, or just wanted an experience.  After seeing off my children, I saw off my husband, established myself as a single independent person, blew my superannuation on travel, and invested my last liquid resources in my current lifestyle.

Over the last five years, a restlessness to learn something that was hard and interesting grew and grew inside me, until, via a delightful set of synchronicities, I find myself enrolled in the Bachelor of Dementia Care, studying full-time care and neuroscience on line, and feeling my brain strain as it grows more dendrites with every passing assignment.

And the final synchronicity this evening, searching for a topic to write this discussion about, was a brave foray into the UTAS library site, hoping to find 'approved academic' definitions for the words preconceived ideas and misconceptions, and again getting distracted by clicking on the link for University on Social Media, and finding a TED talk from an ex-client of mine. So, of course, I had to watch it. And the topic was How Thanking Affects our Thinking (Howells, 2013). 

I had already separately come to the conclusion that gratitude is one of the most fundamental attitudes I have learned in my life, and with the thinking that came from engaging in Dr Howells' TEDx talk, I have come full circle into realising that I am so grateful for this new opportunity to develop my thinking even further. I am so grateful to be at University studying a subject which calls me so strongly, to discover a passion for Neuroscience so intense I have willingly given up just about everything besides surfing and drumming, including my job, and to feel my brain expanding - I can literally feel new neural pathways developing, and my synapses sparking like sparks across spark plugs. I am fully engaged.

I cannot describe my attitude to University study as a pre-conceived idea, because it developed from my initial experiences.  Neither can I say it was a misconception, because it was absolutely real for me at the time. Nevertheless, my ideas and conceptions about University study have changed, and with it what I do and how I think.  Researching this discussion, thinking about the topic, and the actual process of writing, have all changed not only what I think about, but the way I think.  The quality of our thinking and learning does indeed depend on the quality of our attitude (Howells, 2013).

Reference:

How thanking awakens our thinking, 2013, video, TEDx Launceston, Launceston, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzfhPB_NtVc&feature=youtu.be>