Learn to enjoy learning

by Phil Houseal as published in the (Kerrville TX) Community Journal - Dec 29, 2010

We are never too old to learn. Dr. Suzuki says so.

Dr. Shinichi Suzuki’s book Nurtured by Love is required reading for parents of children learning to play music using The Classic Approach to Talent Education.

His insightful teaching brought music education to the very young, with 3 and 4-year-olds able to master the challenges of Bach and Haydn on violin.

But what struck me was the impact his philosophy can have on those of us way beyond single digits in age. This will not do justice to his philosophy, but four elements that apply to lifelong learning spoke to me on first reading. Not unexpectedly, Club Ed and other adult learning opportunities address each point.

Point 1 - “Talent” is learned

Take a look again at the book’s tag line: The Classic Approach to Talent Education. Suzuki disdains the phrase “natural talent.” His revolutionary insight was that talent can be taught; talent can be learned. There is hope for everyone!

Point 2 - What does not exist in your cultural environment will not be developed

If you grew up listening only to The Monkees, you probably won’t appreciate Mozart. In order to improve our lives we need to fill our days with enriching, inspiring, challenging opportunities.... opportunities you’ll find in Club Ed.

Point 3 - Think of learning as fun

I really believe that having fun is the secret to succeeding in any area of life. You might lose weight temporarily by dieting. But you will be healthier the rest of your life by having the adventure of eating right.

You might get fit doing an exercise. But you will stay fit by finding physical activity you enjoy doing every day.

You might learn how to play dulcimer by taking one class. But you will only make music by practicing daily (see Point 4) and playing with others.

In Club Ed we do offer all types of classes - more than 200 each semester. And while they are excellent, taking a class is really only the first step to mastery of any skill. Just one example is our ongoing Dulcimer Jam session. Beginners of all ages and experience meet weekly, not to learn an instrument, but to make music.

Point 4 - Practice. And practice right.

Suzuki believes we are all experts; it is just that some of us are experts at doing things “wrong” due to bad instruction or lack of practice. But talent always comes down to practice, no matter at what age you begin. An adult who practices 3 hours a day for five years will be more “talented” than a child who practices five minutes a day for 10 years.

As you probably guess, Club Ed can help bring all these good things into your life. You can learn a skill, start a hobby, listen to an expert, and just enjoy the company of like-minded friends seeking a more enriching life.

So as you start a new year, don’t simply resolve to go on a diet or learn to play violin. Learn to enjoy eating right, learn to make music, and learn to enjoy learning.

See you in class!

Basketball: The game of life

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly - Dec 22, 2010

Is life a fast break, man-to-man, or a zone defense?

The other morning I pondered this question as I pulled myself from a warm bed at 4:30 a.m. to go play basketball. Three mornings a week I head to the local gym to play Community Education basketball. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years.

On this particularly frigid morning as I stumbled in the dark to find my gym bag, I wondered what makes me trade the soft bed for the hardcourt?

As in Robert Fulghum’s book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, maybe basketball is my metaphor for life.

Gather around midcourt, while I put this ball in play...

Most of the time you don’t have the ball.

With 10 players on the court at a time, even if every player touched the ball an equal number of minutes, 90% of the time you do not have the ball!

For mediocre players, the only minutes that count are when you are holding the ball. The rest of the time, they stand around.

But good players know that most of basketball happens when you don’t have the ball. On offense, that means you set screens, act as a decoy, get yourself open to receive a pass. On defense, you call screens, block out, rebound, double team, and dive for loose balls. Go back and watch the great players like Larry Bird, or a hustler like Bruce Bowen, and just focus on what they do without the ball. You will see an entire game within the game. As in life, what we do when we don’t have the ball wins games.

When you pass, it comes back.

The secret of basketball is so simple, yet the hardest one for people to grasp - you must share the ball. At all levels, from street ball to the pros, the hardest move to make is to let go of that ball. But if you look the winning teams through the ages, the champions are always the team that spreads the ball around the most. Even the great Michael Jordan could not win until he understood that fact.

On a good team, players hand off the ball. On a great team, the ball comes back. The old give and go is still the most effective play in the game.

Basketball builds (and saves) relationships.

I was sharing this insight with teammate who brought up another point - a basketball game is a great place to work through personal problems. I am convinced that basketball saved several marriages over the years; those that it didn’t save, it at least helped the husbands work through the divorce by giving them an outlet for their anger and frustration. I suffered my share of bruises and sprained ankles in the service of marriage counseling.

You have to make the team.

Whenever a new player walks into our games, I don’t bother to even learn their name until I know two things about them: Do they pass the ball? Can they hit the open layup?

Show me those two skills, and you can play on my team.

Sure it’s a flimsy metaphor. But the point is that what may appear to some as frivolous play or an escape from responsibility, may actually be a serious tool for dealing with the realities of life. After all, every civilization has created and played games. If games served no purpose, they would not exist as they consume energy, attention, and resources that could be better used in hunting, gathering, and courting mates.

This is a rambling way to give everyone an excuse to sign up for a class, start a hobby, or get in the game.

Because playing may be the most important work you ever do.

xxx

Breathe... and other holiday tips

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly - Dec 15, 2010



The holiday season (and New Year) approach. Time to share hits, tips, and tricks that come from what we learn in the more than 400 Club Ed classes we offer each year.

Enjoy!

Collect the rain.
Thinking of installing a rainwater collection system? Wondering how much water you can collect? Amazingly, a 1-inch rain on a 1000 square foot roof will produce over 600 gallons of water. (Master Gardener Ann Brown notes that you can fill a 55-gallon barrel with just 1/4 inch of rain.)
The Hill Country averages 30 inches of rainfall annually, so with sufficient storage capacity, the average home should collect sufficient water for household use.

Sharpen your tools.
“A dull tool is a dangerous tool.”
So says Dr. Tom Harris, gardening wizard.
"You have to work harder to make a dull tool work," he noted. "If the blade is sharp, it will do what it is supposed to do, easily. If it is dull, that's when you make a mistake."
No matter how you do it, keep your spades, scissors, knives and shears sharp.
"It is just fascinating," Harris said, "when you can get something sharp enough to shave with, whether it is a shovel or a razor."

Dance!
According to Nursel Conrad of Kerrville School of Dance, dancing is like taking a vacation. Benefits include improved coordination and flexibility, increased strength and conditioning, plus it raises your awareness of rhythm and balance, and raises your creativity and self-confidence. So move!

Misdirect.
When performing magic, the point is not to “trick” or audience. Playing a trick on someone makes them appear the fool.
Magic instructor Alan Fox always made the point that you are creating an “illusion.” The more you draw in your audience’s help in creating that illusion, the more they appreciate the performance.
Tricks are for Halloween; magic is timeless.

Change yourself.
Life Coach Leia Francisco knows no one can change you except you.
"We are not advice givers. Coaches believe you - the client - have the answers. Our real power is helping you clarify the issues, understand the possibilities, then help you take action."
Like the proverb, it's not just feeding you fish; it is teaching you how to fish.
“You are never too old to develop your life purpose and goals."

Keep your scroll up.
When playing the violin, keeping the scroll up will help your bowstick go straighter. (Cathy Learoyd will teach a complete course in fiddling in the spring.)

Back up your computer.
The three rules of preserving computer data:
1) Back it up
2) Back it up often.
3) Back it up in three different places.

Be a clown.
When appearing in clown, you typically get three types of reactions.
1) Total belief. These people rush up for a hug or photograph.
2) Discomfort. These people keep their distance or walk away.
3) No reaction.
These are common responses, according to entertainer Shannon Anderson, aka Sunshine the Clown. “It is often their own insecurities that keep them from playing with you. But they will usually come around if you leave them alone and just keep playing.”

Write a song.
When writing a song, start with the words, then add music. Or, start with the music, then come up with the words. Or, start with an idea, then combine words and music.
(Obviously, there is no rule for writing songs.)

Finally, the most important rule of all...

Breathe!
Pat Labeda, Hypnotherapist, learned this basic of relaxation while working at a trauma center. She noticed that people under stress stop breathing deeply. Simply taking several deep, cleansing breaths can lower the heart rate, freshen the mind, and induce calm.

See you in class!

XXX

The new Spring 2011 Club Ed catalog is now online! Printed editions will be mailed after Christmas, but all courses are open for signup at www.clube.net.

There is still time to get an eGift card - in any amount. Click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Things versus experiences

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly - Dec 8, 2010

PHOTO: Experiences trump things, even as kids. (This is 1960 photo of me playing football with my brother, sister watching, Dad’s shadow in lower left)


Think back over Christmases past. Can you really remember the trinkets, gewgaws and tchotchkes you unwrapped?

This holiday season, would you rather give things, or create experiences?

I thought about this during a recent visit to my homeplace. As do many people with grown children, mom is starting to give things away. She is sorting all the gifts we gave her over a lifetime - from plaques with sappy sayings to lopsided ashtrays made in shop class. A visit to mom’s house means you will find a box with your name on it.

At the same time, my secretary Emily told about an innovative gift her daughter gave her for her birthday. It was a lobster cooking class. Mother and daughter took it together. What memories and fun it created. A shared experience, a new skill - not another trinket to set on an already overcrowded shelf.

Research confirms this phenomenon of experiences trumping things. A recent Cornell study showed that buzz you get buying your big screen TV fades, while the satisfaction from a vacation or new hobby starts high and keeps growing.

Why does this happen? Researchers showed that no matter how fancy or expensive the material gift, the buyer knows that someone else will always have something newer, better, bigger. But your trip to the Bahamas? While others may travel to the same place, no one will enjoy the exact same experience in the same way you did. While next year’s TV might be two inches bigger, those vacation memories are yours alone and always will be.

Studies at the University of Colorado also found that people received more pleasure and satisfaction from a life experience than material possessions. This held true even if the experience was not all that positive. For example, if a family went hiking, and it rained, they lost their gear, and someone walked into poison ivy, it might not be deemed a pleasurable experience as it happens. But over time, people tend to remember the positive aspects, or bond over the memories of how they overcame the challenges. (We’ve all sat through tales of family adventures during “vacations gone bad.”)

That example also highlights another reason experiences outrank “things.” Sharing, remembering, and talking about experiences foster social relationships, which are associated with higher levels of happiness.

I remember reminiscing with my brother soon after our father died. We were remembering the incidents of growing up, both the good and the bad. Making homemade ice cream, building fence, sliding on the frozen pond, pulling my brother around in a Flyer wagon when he broke his leg. Watch 10-sec home movie of this

Not once did we speak of a toy we got or a present from a store. It was always experiences.

“Dad gave us memories,” my brother said.

So this Christmas (or anniversary or birthday or “no reason” day) how about giving the proverbial gift that keeps on giving? Take a class, learn a hobby, pursue a passion.

It’s one gift your mom can’t shove into a cardboard box.