One can. I think one should be careful—one may not understand the concepts fully, deeply and/or the possible harm one may do by passing new, exciting things on. One should also be aware that data, evidence, insights evolve. Scientific findings evolve as new data comes in.
I’ve used and taught an exercise, the Life’s Story Exercise, for years. In it, we ask people to write their Life’s Story in 400 words or less, identify the key events in it, then rate those events 5 to -5 on their emotional impact, and finally what they learned or took away from those key events. Those lessons—often overlooked and never clearly formulated—become the core of one’s life’s lessons. Then we have four people share not their whole stories, just what happened at ONE key event and what they learned. While explaining how I taught this class to a group of colleagues at a global conference, one esteemed peer said, “No! That’s very personal. That’s like giving your pearls to swine!” I knew the reference from the New Testament and his point. My answer was, “If I spent a lot of pain and trouble to learn a thing, why would I want to take that to my grave with me without sharing that with others so they could benefit?”
SO, I’m all for sharing whatever I’ve learned with others—and it’s important to realize that a) I might be wrong so don’t get too excited and b) they may not be interested. And c) people might begin to see you as a know-it-all. I once had a colleague teach a course for me while I was overseas. I gave him my entire file drawer of day-by-day teaching files for the course. When I got back, I leafed through the files—not a single note or post-it. Hmmm.
Shortly before I retired, I shared my entire hard drive of teaching notes and technical notes with my colleagues. Why would I/one want to hide the things one has learned in life? Fear of being ripped off? Superiority feelings of not sharing esoteric, magical information?
I’m all for sharing. And I encourage sensitivity to the reaction of the Others. Are you trying to help them or show off?
I’ve used and taught an exercise, the Life’s Story Exercise, for years. In it, we ask people to write their Life’s Story in 400 words or less, identify the key events in it, then rate those events 5 to -5 on their emotional impact, and finally what they learned or took away from those key events. Those lessons—often overlooked and never clearly formulated—become the core of one’s life’s lessons. Then we have four people share not their whole stories, just what happened at ONE key event and what they learned. While explaining how I taught this class to a group of colleagues at a global conference, one esteemed peer said, “No! That’s very personal. That’s like giving your pearls to swine!” I knew the reference from the New Testament and his point. My answer was, “If I spent a lot of pain and trouble to learn a thing, why would I want to take that to my grave with me without sharing that with others so they could benefit?”
SO, I’m all for sharing whatever I’ve learned with others—and it’s important to realize that a) I might be wrong so don’t get too excited and b) they may not be interested. And c) people might begin to see you as a know-it-all. I once had a colleague teach a course for me while I was overseas. I gave him my entire file drawer of day-by-day teaching files for the course. When I got back, I leafed through the files—not a single note or post-it. Hmmm.
Shortly before I retired, I shared my entire hard drive of teaching notes and technical notes with my colleagues. Why would I/one want to hide the things one has learned in life? Fear of being ripped off? Superiority feelings of not sharing esoteric, magical information?
I’m all for sharing. And I encourage sensitivity to the reaction of the Others. Are you trying to help them or show off?
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