Learning how yóú learn best

Using your unique intelligence profile

The themes, methods and techniques in the Complete Study Course are done in accordance with your child’s unique intelligence profile in order to realise her/his full potential. Here in the Cape we like to think of it in terms of a wine analogy: ‘Grapes want to be turned into wine’.

In order to identify their unique learning style we simplify the functioning of complex brain. The following are some of the themes we cover during the course:

We determine which of the four of their intelligences are dominant through assessment: visual, auditory, linguistic; and/ or the kinaesthetic. They use those that are dominant because they help them to focus. It is also easier to use their strengths to process and interpret new information and they may switch from one to the other more suitable modality according to the type of learning material.

Each person receives their own intelligence report during the Complete Study Course. This report provides examples of memory techniques suitable for them to apply where applicable.

One of the most important steps in the learning process is making information memorable. They can use and improve their visual (and spatial) intelligence by using their imagination. With their non-verbal thinking processes they make pictures in their heads and visualise while concentrating and learning. They are able to revise at a quicker rate when using visualisation because ‘a picture paints a thousand words’.

 If their visual domain is strong an example is to associate one image with new facts - putting the whole answer into 1 visualisation. Drawing that picture can be part of their summaries. Taking it into account that it isn’t about how beautiful or accurate the drawing is, but a rough sketch will do the memory trick. For example: to memorise Newton’s second law: f= m.a they may visualise a funny picture of their mother (m.a) flying towards you (You may leave a comment if this doesn’t make sense to you).

We have weekly sessions to practise different techniques on their work material as well as other helpful tools like how to beat procrastination and planning.

If their dominant strength happens to be their auditory modality, then they might need to put in a little more work to improve their linguistic side.

 

A crucial part of studying and writing tests are being able to read and write. You don’t want someone else reading for them or asking them the test questions – that is not empowering to them in the long run.

The good news is that strengths change when they stimulate the brain with different activities. Their brain is dynamic and pliable – they develop their intellect with challenges. Reading four books during the holidays and writing a synopsis on each one will change their profile.

When we start off with the course we start from where they are – working from the intelligence profile that they present at that moment.

Lucia Brand

BA, HED, BEd, MEd (Educational Psychology)

Tel. 082 782 4747

completestudycourse@gmail.com
I am 

Challenges

Overcoming Challenges

My blog is opgedra my kinders, Arend en Simon, vir wie ek oneindig lief is. En aan die mense wat my inskrywings lees! My wens vir julle is om gelukkig te wees (met die op- én die aftye); om egte vreugde, bevrediging en dankbaarheid in julle lewe en werk te hê asook vrede te ervaar. Die aanvaarding van veranderinge ís moontlik. As dit soms ongemaklik en moeilik voel, dan is julle op die regte pad. Kweek die bereidwilligheid om juis dit wat jul wil vermy te herken, toe te laat, te ondersoek en dan met sorg te hanteer... dán word dit beter. Laat ek hier onder verduidelik...

In life, your internal and external world constantly change. There is impermanence and there are new challenges – nothing stays the same – change happens.

Sometimes your fixed ideas about yourself or another person’s behaviour or a situation are such that it leaves no room for the inevitable flow of life to happen...

Joke: The female student kneels down in front of the professor in his office. She whispers: “I will do anything to pass this exam!” He answers: “Will you do ANYTHING?”; “Yes, anything!”, she whispers. He whispers, in return: “Will you study?”

Let me use the example of most learners’ and students’ struggle with procrastination. Most find it challenging to start tackling a difficult task or to prioritise subjects in order to reach their full potential. It leads to ineffective time management which is quite stressful and may lead to forming inappropriate habits.

Numerous studies about the brain and stress, such as the ones conducted at the University of Denver and University of Columbia, found that non-judgemental, present moment awareness makes a huge difference. To befriend your thoughts, emotions and your experience can bring about transformation in challenges that you face. Meditation (the practice of being aware) improves performance in self-regulation, resisting distractions, and learning from past experience in order to positively affect decision-making. Scientists point out that it is particularly important in the face of uncertain and fast-changing conditions.

One of the reasons that mindfulness is really catching on is that it can be delivered in a way that is stripped of any religious connotations, making it entirely acceptable to the wider population.

When you believe your comfort is being threatened, or you are unsure about your competence or if you are feeling “under attack”, you interpret these as threats to your existence. It blocks your wider perspective because you only see the ‘problem’ – imagine you are being held in a kind of grip and looking through a tunnel.

                                                                              From samatters.com

We protect the self to survive. It is a natural part of our human development. We want to avoid or resist what is painful or threatening as if our life depended on it (and it usually doesn’t!).

We are wired to hold on to, firstly, what feels good and comfortable and to follow (temporary) pleasure states in the moment. Secondly, we might get critical and furious at others. The third red flag is avoidance of uncomfortable situations; for example by overworking or getting lost online.

To reflect, ask yourself how this might happen for you:

·        Are you avoiding something?

·        How many hours in your day do you spend in front of a screen?

·        Are you watching a television series or film rather preparing for your test or exam?

·        Are you constantly buying things?

·        Are you constantly unhappy about others’ behaviour?

·        Are you blaming someone for something?

·        Are you fixated on something like eating or drinking?

·        Are you cynical at times?

If some of these questions resonate for you, you are opposing reality. These patterns of behaviour and/or your difficult emotions let you know that you are caught in what you can experience as a grip.

Your bodily sensations are sending you a message that you don’t like reality at that moment. Your muscles tighten to help you defend yourself. You may feel tension especially around your eyes but also your jaw, neck, belly etc.

If life is all about protecting the self then it is keeping you from really living in the present. If you believe your thoughts as being the truth, you can’t keep others into account or even attend to your own needs. In addition, it makes it difficult for you to feel real joy or love.

                                                                         From cartoonstock.com

The question is: How do you deal with distractions and how do you ‘go with the flow’ to live life to the fullest?

Let me make it clear that going with the flow does not mean accepting and condoning everything in your life. It does not mean allowing someone to walk all over you! Instead, you notice what is wrong and respond in a way that effectively deals with it. Assertive actions are needed in some circumstances and not deliberate ignoring (It also means choosing to do the right thing even if it means you won’t be popular). You develop the intuition and knowledge to know when you are able to change something (and how to do it!) and when to accept what is.

You want to be able to look outward and not to be caught up in your thoughts and emotions. You are enabled to do that by the practice of mindfulness and being compassionate. These are skills that can wake you up to pay attention, to feel compassion for others and for yourself and to make a difference in the present moment.

It is like taming a wild horse - if you handle the horse with respect and patience you get much further.

Mindfulness in stressful moments in your day includes the following: uncomfortable feelings and sensations and patterns of behaviour like the above mentioned.

What to do:

  

·         Body and awareness

When these stresses arise, see them, pause and gently pay attention to your body and stay aware of how your muscles tense up.
You can bring thoughts into your awareness with language. Instead of adding more stressful thoughts, you could say, “Ah, here is a grip!” or "Oh, thinking".

·         Allowing

Letting discomfort be there doesn’t mean you are saying it should be there.

Be aware of the result of the distressing thoughts without condemning or trying to suppress them.

Keep your attention on your sensations and do not wallow in your story! Your thoughts are real, but your thoughts are not the truth. You break the stress loop by staying with sensations and noticing if you add more stressful thoughts. Gently come back to your body if more thoughts arise.

·         Inquiry

Staying with your sensations, ask, “What’s happening inside my body?    / What’s here?”

If you are in your pattern of avoidance, ask yourself, “What are you running away from?” If you are curious and do not take it personally (That is why you use the second person in your inquiry), it enables you to pause and honestly answer this question and face these fears. With practise you are eventually able to respond and not to react.

Honest answers contain our fears (like feeling incompetent) and taboos (like hatred towards somebody) and it takes a lot of guts to face them because it feels vulnerable and unpleasant. Remember we are all facing fears and uncertainty - you are not alone and it isn’t personal.

·         Kindness

Bring a little gentleness to yourself to enable you to access enough tenderness to be with the unpleasant.

After this part of the process it requires that you to do nothing at first – just being in loving presence with what is unfolding. This will enable you to accept reality and take responsibility, to act differently than before and to be kind to others too.

Let us get back to our example of a resistance to study. You may feel angry about it or blame someone for it – you might be feeling like a victim. You may automatically grab your phone to distract yourself, but this is where you recognise the pattern and pause. Instead of following the old habits, frame it as such and pause more to feel the sensations in your body. 

Asking yourself, “What is it that you are avoiding?” is a valuable tool to allow you to face what lies underneath the feelings: Maybe it is discomfort, or anger, or maybe it is fear. It can be a feeling that there is a loss of some nature and beneath that a grief about that loss. Or you might feel like you might fail.

Taking a step back and actually allowing these feelings while focusing on the sensations of it (and not adding judgement – like “I’m deficient!” to yourself is essential) help in this process of accepting reality. It involves feeling the pain of the loss or even hatred and allowing yourself to accept that it belongs there. By saying, for example, “Frustration / Anger / Anxiety / Fear / Grief is here now!” you are actively accepting all parts of you (because they are part of reality) and give care to yourself. This process brings the healing.

 Getting real with whatever you identify help you not to identify with being a victim or judging yourself as being bad and can enable you to take responsibility. Contrary to what you think, it gives you hope if you don’t follow the unhelpful habits that give you temporary pleasure or relief.

You soon realise that the time you ‘lost’ spent on something not pleasurable in the short run, pays bigger dividends in the long run. (Or when you feel frustrated and your parent keeps on telling you what to do and conflict arises between you, it is possible and normal not to like somebody you love): “It belongs - it is not your fault!”

You can make the choice of sitting down at your desk, setting your timer and studying to the best of your ability. Like this fox, you are relaxed and ready to be creative!

                                                                           From cracked.com

Mindfulness doesn’t take the suffering away, but it gives it a bigger basket to tenderly hold and know your pain and that, it turns out, brings new options in any situation and consequent healing. Healing is coming to terms with things as they are.

                                                                                    From pinterest.com

Practise mindfulness 10 minutes every day with an App like Headspace) and be present to various stressful moments in your day by tuning into your bodily sensations.

3 tips for effective mindfulness:

·        Expect that your mind will be busy because that is its nature – observe your thoughts and feelings.

·        Effortlessness – ease off trying-hard-to-relax; rather practise non-doing (sensing the movement of your breathing).

·        Ease of mind is like the Blue Sky, always present – ease isn’t somewhere else, it is already in you.

     (The same goes for laughter – instead of having your laughter get ‘swept away by supposedly serious issues’, let it surface again. The writer, Kurt Vonnegut said those are the funniest subjects to joke about!)

For professional and customised advice, you should seek the services of a counsellor, someone that uses a mindfulness approach, who can dedicate the hours necessary to become more intimately familiar with your specific situation. I do not assume liability for any portion or content of material on the blog and accept no liability for damage or injury resulting from your decision to interact with the website.

What is the Complete Study Course?

   

The Course is meant to give you or your children practical insight on how to learn more effectively and with less frustration. The lessons in this course can help in learning many different subjects and skills. Whether you love language or math, music or physics or history, you will have fun, and learn a LOT about how to study!

It is provided to students on school or university level.

Contact Details

Lucia Brand

082 782 4747

luciabrand@cybersmart.co.za

The characteristics of Mindfulness

Healing and growth happen through the following attitudes of Mindfulness:

One of the reasons that mindfulness is really catching on is that it can be delivered in a way that is stripped of any religious connotations, making it entirely acceptable to the wider population.

When you want something you can become fixated upon it. Whenyou don’t like what is unfolding or when you resist it, you simply push itaway. 

 ‘Letting go’ is the opposite of both, and it is allowing things to be as they are. Noticing and noting thoughts and feelings are crucial elements of awareness. This is your choice to break the loop of adding stress to the situation. The body gets at ease and the mind gets clearer and happier when practising awareness. This provides the ideal environment for change to happen.

Realise when you are being distracted by a thought, emotion or sensation. Step back from fuelling it with more stressful thoughts.  Witness and label the sensation, feeling or thought in the moment, e.g. ‘I’m aware of... a thought/feeling/pain’ in the moment and be present again. To release it, you must take notice of it. Releasing it is almost like flushing it out through your body. (You may also release it with laughter with your friends.)

You will probably be shocked to see how many times in your day you get lost in a distraction or resist it. Non-judgemental paying attention is a key factor in this regard. You wake up to recognise the judging – just let it ‘rain down’ in this moment... instead of it having to be one way or another.

It isn’t about thinking about change or looking for change, but allowing change to happen in spite of uncertainty that we experience.

Keeping this moment light and playful (and your laughter is yet again so helpful in this regard) and being curious about what is about to unfold opens up space in the mind and helps you not be caught up in your thoughts and emotions. Forcing things to happen prevents change. When thoughts or feelings are unsettling you might want it to be different; by resisting it, you hold things in place and don’t allow life to flow; instead you want to provide the conditions for change to happen. If you are not anticipating or expecting what to come next, you are able to rest in the uncertainty of one moment unfolding at a time and the ‘not knowing’. You have to step back and not control it. ‘Non-striving’ means just being with what is, because it is sufficient.

To have both doing and not-doing (just being) is necessary in order to be productive with your ‘do to list’.

Acknowledge that change has its own pace and time. Be kind with yourself and patient with the situation... and cultivate trust, also in your body’s wisdom.

It is helpful to notice small changes in our life. Physical sensations in your body constantly change. When you follow your sensations, you see this! You realise that a pain here or there has a lifespan of its own. It is there now, but later it is gone. This makes it possible for you not to identify so strongly with your beliefs about it (what you think or feel aren’t equal to who you are). This makes the mind so much lighter.

It is so easy to notice the beginning of an unpleasant emotion, but rarely do you notice the end! Your perspective on life is likely to be less distorted when you also acknowledge the end of difficult emotions. You take note of moments of happiness or calmness, as well. Nothing is fixed forever and you realise that you are not one kind of person like, “I am an anxious person” or “I am an unhappy person”. We tend to limit ourselves as well as others in that way that we tend to think one-dimensionally. We tend to label ourselves and mostly in a negative way. Or we get involved in our thoughts and become it. It can be liberating to become aware that you are not stuck in a certain way – now you feel different than before. You realise that you have both pleasant and unpleasant emotions. You want to allow a range of possibilities and the freedom to change.

The messiness of everyday life, like being in conflict with someone becomes the teacher of the moment. In order to respond differently than before, you don’t attach to how it ‘should be’ or ‘doing it my way’. Instead, see what it is you are resisting now, put it in words, and release it to move closer to acceptance.

You allow/create the space to see more than your previous beliefs – to administer this moment becomes effortless and it is all you need to make a difference.

If you are breathing, there is more right than wrong with you. When you take that into account, you are able to bring gratitude for being alive into the moment.

There is more freedom in your mind to embrace emotions without getting lost in them and room to give yourself over to life in the moment. If you think of all the good people and the good things in your life, you can imagine them as islands in a rough ocean (If that is what your life seems like at this moment?). These are spaces or sanctuaries for you to replenish your energy and nourish yourself. You are able to ENJOY your life and also to give other people what would make them happy. This generosity celebrates our interconnectedness.

Naomi Shihab Nye writes, “Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore / only kindness that ties your shoes / and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread, / only kindness that raises its head / from the crowd of the world to say / It is I you have been looking for, / and then goes with you everywhere / like a shadow or a friend. One of the reasons that mindfulness is really catching on is that it can be delivered in a way that is stripped of any religious connotations, making it entirely acceptable to the wider population.

 

Eksamenvoorbereiding

Sukkel jy om aan die leer te kom?

Gee die gedagte dat jy iets moet opsom vir jou ’n pyn?

Hierdie bloginskrywing gaan daaroor om iets wat jy nie kan verander nie, te aanvaar.

A hero is someone who has embraced all of life, not just the blissful parts.

Hoe kan aanvaarding jou help in eksamenvoorbereiding?

Dis heeltemal normaal om van baie dinge in jou dag nie te hou nie. As jy mooi oplet sal jy agterkom hoe dikwels dit gebeur dat jy voel dat iets onaangenaam is en dat jy weerstand daarteen bied.

Jy moet byvoorbeeld leer vir die eksamen en jy wil nie.

As jy uitstel om aan die leer te kom is dit moeilik om deur die werk te kom en onmoontlik vir jou om die feite te hersien en lank te onthou  - dus gaan die kennis nie na jou langtermyngeheue toe nie. 

Dit kan ’n patroon word en dan veroorsaak dit ’n probleem vir jou. Jy kan byvoorbeeld so lank uitstel om te leer dat jy nie jou teikenpunte haal nie.

Hoe aanvaarding van jou situasie jou kan help:

As jy ’n groter mate van aanvaarding in jou lewe te ervaar kan dit baie vir jouself (en vir mense om jou) beteken. Jy kan insig kry hoe om jou potensiaal bereik en jou droom verwesenlik. Miskien weet jy nog nie presies watter loopbaan jy wil volg nie, maar goeie punte maak baie deure vir jou oop!

Ons wil leer hoe om ’n spasie te skep waarin hierdie patroon van werksontwyking ontrafel kan word. Dit hoef nie ’n probleem te word nie.

Dit gaan ook hier oor die wete wanneer jy iets kán verander en hoe om dit reg te doen. Maar soms kan jy dit wat ís, nie verander nie en dan het jy ’n keuse: Wil jy dit met jou saamdra in jou kop, of nie?

Indien jy nie erken as jy ’n weerstand teen leer het nie, kan dit veroorsaak dat jy aanhou tyd mors en té laat begin leer.

Indien jou keuse is dat jy dit nie meer wil saamdra in jou kop nie dan moet jy oplettend wees deur jou dag. Die volgende kan oral in jou lewe toegepas word en dis handig om jouself die volgende vraag te vra en daaroor te reflekteer.

Vra jouself, ‘Wie of wat ontlok op hierdie oomblik weerstand by jóú?’

Dit behels die raaksien, in die oomblik, wie of wat ’n weerstand by jou ontlok. Wag en kyk wat gebeur as jy daarvan bewus word en dit erken, byvoorbeeld, ‘Ek raak bewus daarvan dat ek ’n weerstand het teen... leer/werk opsom/die Wiskunde-onderwyser... ’.  Hoe voel dit? Kyk wat gebeur in jou liggaam... en moet dit nie met jou intellek uitwerk nie. Dit gaan oor die ervaring van laat gaan.

Sommige studente sien aanvaarding as ’n idee en “probeer“ te hard om iets te probeer aanvaar – wat ook nie werk nie. Byvoorbeeld dit is nie om te probeer aanvaar dat dit een van die dae eksamen is nie. Dit neem jou ’n stap verder weg van aanvaarding van jou situasie. Wanneer jy ongewensde gedagtes en gevoelens erken dan verdwyn dit meestal vanself. Dan aanvaar jy dit wat nodig is om te doen.

Laat ek verduidelik:

Slegs as jy dit wat jy nie van hou nie, identifiseer, kan jy dit laat gaan. Jy hoef niks te doen in die oomblik van erkenning van die weerstand nie, dit net benoem (as iets wat losstaan van jouself) en te voel hoe dit voel, dan gebeur dit net – dit los vanself op.

Dit gee jou duidelikheid dat jy weet wat om te doen. Om eenvoudig by jou lessenaar te gaan sit; jou stophorlosie te stel en jou bes te doen in dáárdie studiesessie.

Dit gee jou ook insig in jouself, bv. ‘Ek raak bewus dat ek ’n weerstand het teen... bv. vrees dat ek nie sal onthou wat ek leer nie’. Net wanneer jy die weerstand (teen die gevoel) identifiseer, kan jy dit laat gaan. Dan weet jy om iemand se hulp te vra oor hoe om reg te leer om die feite te onthou.

Wanneer daar nie weerstand is nie, is daar aanvaarding. Ons hoef nie te probeer om ’n beter student/mens te word nie, maar net die weerstand teenoor dinge (en mense) op te gee. En dié proses te laat ontvou en nie té hard te probeer om ’n sekere gemoedstoestand te verkry nie omdat dit gedagtes juis vernou.

Jy is juis oopkop en dapper as jy sien en erken wat jy dink en voel en die regte aksie neem. Dan kan jy glo en in afwagting wees dat jy goeie punte gaan kry!

Lekker leer!

You are here, on this planet, in this life, walking on this ground, breathing this air, and fighting this good fight to find the hero inside of you. Dr. Kelly Flanagan

What is the Complete Study Course?

The Course is meant to give you or your children practical insight on how to learn more effectively and with less frustration. The lessons in this course can help in learning many different subjects and skills. Whether you love language  or math, music or physics or history, you will have a lot of fun, and learn a LOT about how to study!

It is provided to students at school or university level.

Contact Details

Lucia Brand
082 782 4747
luciabrand@cybersmart.co.za