Bye for now

Did I tell you? I am cat mad.
Should have called myself the Cat Lady.
I have lots of cute pussy pictures so guess what most of my pictures will be?

Habit 2 Accept responsibility for your own learning. Well who else can we blame if we don't make the effort to keep learning? As an adult I can't convince myself that its the teachers or my parents fault, doesn't ring true anymore. The flip side of this is that all the praise we receive for a job well done is ours as well as the guilt for not trying. Every time we learn something new, we see our lives from a slightly different perspective. This new perspective often reveals doors of opportunity that we never knew existed, and many times, they are right within our grasp.

Habit 3 View problems as challenges. Have you ever heard the expression, “one step forward, two steps back”? Well, that describes me as our computers here at work have been on the go-slow all day and after three tries I gave up and sorted out all the paperwork on my desk instead of doing my blog. As technotoria says "Technology is wonderful when it works" and when it doesn't there is no greater challenge. I now have a clean and organised work space waiting for me next week though? YAHOO! My home computer is zooming through this, is there a lesson here to be learmned ?? As I said previously "Go with the flow."

Habit 4 Have confidence in yourself. Refuse to allow negative thought to dwell in your conscious mind. Replace negative thought with a Positive Motivational Quote. I particularly like this one....."Whether you think you can or you think you can't....you are right." by Henry Ford....... as it is short enough for me to easily memorize. I have a few others and find them invaluable. The instant I feel a negative thought enter my mind, I recite a positive quote to myself. You’ll be amazed how well this works. I also make an extra effort to find the good in ever situation. If you aren’t looking for it you definitely won’t find it.

Habit 5 Create your own learning tool kit. I have a whole house full of what you could call inspiration tools......... books, photographs, articles from Magazines, colour charts, etc etc as well as a couple of computers absolutely chockas with inspirational information. I am addicted to collecting anything that might help me in the creation process. So habit five is almost to the point of becoming a bad habit for me.

Habit 6 Use Technology to your advantage. Technology, if used to benefit mankind, can be the seed that makes the world a better place, and can make your world a better place too, so don’t squander the opportunity to learn all that is available to you. You are never too old to start. I taught a lady of 82 years a basic course in Microsoft Word and she became so fascinated with the computer that she later returned to another more advanced course of mine "Creative Computer Graphics" and her life flowed in a whole new direction. Plant a seed, water it, nurture it, and you will be the one that will blossom.

Habit 7 Teach and mentor others. As I have said, I love to teach and by doing so, I find my students are always teaching me. The satisfaction of seeing another learn is a joy to watch. The "Oh! That's how its done" look is just priceless. Love it! It is said that...."We teach what we most need to learn".... and as I have taught several different subjects it just goes to show how much I still don't know. With Technology, computers especially, I don't think anyone will ever know everything as it seems to be changing at such a breakneck speed no one will ever keep up with it, but just enjoy your journey. You don't need to know everything.

Habit 7.5 Play. Only a half a point here? Raspberry!!! ( Need a sound effect here.) I think this should be 7.5 - 10 points. I designate 2.5 points to this habit and feel that you learn more with laughter than any other way. Lets face it, if it isn't fun then who wants to do it at all. Not me thats for sure. As I have got older I value my time and refuse to do most things I don't like to do. Unfortunately some housework has to be done though.

7.5 habits of Lifelong Learning

Habit 1 Begin with the end in mind. So hard to do this as the creating process (remember I am an artist) is better if you are not too fixed on exactly what you want to end up with. Things seem to work out for me when I can learn to adapt with the flow of what is happening in the moment. Undoubtly I do have an idea in mind of what I would like the end product to be ( you have to have this or you would never start anything) but be prepared for the end finished creation to maybe be different to what was envisaged at first. Be prepared for if you are willing to go where life leads without the struggle against the flow then that is where magic lies.

Habit 2 Accept responsibility for your own learning.

Val Takes Time

Well, here I am finally. Looking forward to being apart of this new technology.