Video Blog Summary: Experiential Learning 

We are conditioned to learn things intellectually from an early age. We learn things in school and take tests to prove we learned and memorized the concepts. We get trained at work to do a specific task. This conceptual learning makes sense rationally and usually involves a linear way to proceed. You do this, then you do that. This is an important way to learn technical things such as computer programs, surgery, and mathematics. 

Experiential learning is a different type of learning. It is largely based on trial and error. And failure. It involves trying things and getting a sense of how they work. We try things and make adjustments until it feels right. We’ve all learned things this way when we learned to walk, ride a bike, ski, or kiss.

Experiential learning is often how you grow spiritually with things like meditation, developing your intuition, or walking with your heart open. You get a few pointers from a teacher, coach, or book and practice it. It relies on feeling your way through life.

Our minds are typically most comfortable with the rational, conceptual learning that we were conditioned with. Our intellect generally does not appreciate the subtle, trial-and-error, and unknown aspects of experiential learning. Our minds may say, “Can you please just show me how to do it?”

And the answer is no. The only way to experientially learn is to try things and see what works. This seems to trigger some uncomfortable experiences when we tried things to learn in adolescence and had some rather awkward and uncomfortable experiences. Perhaps we promised ourselves to never go through that again.

But here we are. For many of us to go any further in our spiritual growth, we need to use experiential learning and feel our way through some things. We feel our intuition and act on it. We try things, make mistakes, and adjust. We allow new experiences outside our comfort zones and figure out how things work.

Check out the above video blog where I develop this in further detail.