Joyful Jubilant Learning

We are the Digital World -- Rapid Fire Learning for April

Digital technology has had an enormous impact on my life.

The year the Hollandale Christian School (K-8) got their first computer remains etched in my mind. I remember how it made me feel to sit in front of that monitor--I was smitten.

At that tender age, I discovered a medium which would allow me to safely explore who I was and finally--about 20 years later--I began that journey.

Today, global connectivity is at an all time high and our definition of collaboration, ownership, community and  'how impersonal the web is' are constantly being redrawn. The sun doesn't set without someone reaching out to another human being through evolving channels to once again change the game.

These things have such a profound effect on my life I've struggled with how to share them with you. I struggle because I think many people miss the fact that we are everything we create. We are the digital machine. We learn and grow through our creations and go on to create more. There is no separation.

• The Youtube Video above is about Web 2.0 and how we are a part of it. We are the 'machine', we teach the machine and we learn from it.

I think this puts a great deal of the communities, interactivity and collaboration into an entirely new perspective. It's no longer about how authentic a conversation is--the question is, how will it change and redefine the future? OR will it at all?

I don't know about you but it excites me to think about the innovations we will see in all areas of the online conversation-space.

• Tod Machover and Dan Ellsey @ TED - Machover of MIT's Media Lab is devoted to extending musical expression for everyone (Guitar Hero came from his group). Ellsey plays his "My Eagle Song" in piece that underscores music's ability to heal, to communicate, and to inspire.

Dan has cerebral palsy and watching him play the music he composed himself, through his own expression via digital software absolutely floored me. Not only did this create a paradigm shift within me, it creates a way for individuals like Dan to explore themselves. I was moved to tears while watching his performance.

• Learning to Engage - Rosa's article is spot on, in regards to learning how to engage in online communities and answer the question "Why Bother?".

While many consider digital communities OR the web as a whole to be the seed of separation when it comes to close contact with other humans--I see it differently. Conversing with people via Telnet on text-based worlds gave an isolated individual (me) a safe means of opening up.

By learning to engage online, I found ways to engage my fellow man in the physical world.

• My beloved iPod - When we consider the theme Digital Learning, most of us will immediately think of the web and its expanding usefulness. While I'm quite fond of these things, digital learning can include the tools we use throughout our days away from the computer and/or web access.

A little over two years ago, I made a choice which would redefine my life--if I made the choice to stick with it. My iPod was a critical part of my motivation, inspiration and learning through upbeat music, seminars and audio books.

When I felt my mood sinking...
When I needed to relax and focus on what I wanted to draw into my life...
When I carved the learning necessary to grow and become a successful and happy person...

My iPod was there.

• Twitter : StumbleUpon : My Private Classroom - Three websites, all of them powerful.

The funny thing is I've been a member of Twitter and StumbleUpon for well over a year. But for whatever reason, I didn't get engaged right off the bat. Now Twitter and StumbleUpon are a big part of the marketing I do (Still getting the hang of Twitter but loving it :: Instant Messaging on Steroids!).

MPC is a community on Ning, created to give real marketing training to real people. It is a gathering of people from all walks of life, varied levels of expertise for the purpose of  helping each other excel, grow and become successful. My kind of MasterMind Group. :)

There has never been a better time to be alive. The means to share, collaborate, learn and grow are at our finger tips with the click of a button. Learning is in our blood. We all carve and need growth--whether we've come to recognize it or not.

As with anything else, the digital superhighway and toys we cherish are what we make them. We can use them to withdraw OR they can be a means for making the world a better place.

The question is, what digital tools do you use and are you engaging the community behind it? OR better yet, are you allowing them to teach you the lessons available so you might grow?

Do they make you better? If not, why bother?

[Update:] This article was prepared--all I had to do was hit publish, when a spot of digital learning came along. Yesterday, I faced a road block (sharing my voice online) and took part in a Voice Thread conversation. Now I'm in search of ways to use Voice Thread and/or other forms of audio and video on my blog. Another step taken and lesson learned. :)

---

Tim Draayer discovered the joy of reclaiming one's destiny two years ago. Today he is an entrepreneur, networker and personal growth evangelist. He writes about all these things on his blog, Network Marketing Journey.

Learning Perspective: Use It Or Lose It

Because the human brain packs so much circuitry in so little space it creates continuous pressure to extinguish connections the brain no longer needs, to make space for those it must have. The adage "use it or lose it" refers to this ruthless neural Darwinism, where brain circuits vie with another to survive. Those neurons we lose are "pruned", disappearing like twigs cut from a tree. - Daniel Goleman, author of Social Intelligence

Growing up with a rural family of 5 I had a pretty sheltered existence. My world pretty much consisted of God, school, a family who loved me and my friends. It makes me smile now but I swear, my mother's favorite thing was to tell me 'you are what you eat'.

Her way of telling me to finish my veggies and eat healthy. At the time, it frustrated me to no end. After all, we kids know it all, right? Vegetables and eating healthy doesn't mean a thing when you've got more energy than the energizer bunny... right?

The quote above reminds me a lot of this because it shows the very extent of how thoughts and actions actually create who and what we are. You are what you think you are.

"Look around you wherever you live and you will notice that the vast majority of mankind lives in the world without; the more enlightened men are intensely interested in the world within. Remember, it is the world within, namely, thoughts, feelings and imagery that makes your world without...

Knowledge of the interaction of your conscious and subconscious mind will enable you to transform your whole life. In order to change external conditions, you must change the cause. Most men try to change conditions and circumstances by working with conditions and circumstances. To remove discord, confusion, lack, and limitation you must remove the cause and the cause is the way you are using your conscious mind. In other words, the way you are thinking and picturing in your mind." -Joseph Murphy, author of The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

I hated eating veggies growing up and I didn't have a very good attitude about myself or life. I allowed the things people said and did to condition my personal value. Those devalued thoughts became my way of life and in return my brain kept that which it needed to maintain this pattern of thinking.

Fast forward to just over two years ago. I met an individual who challenged me to change my patterns. To change my start. I accepted that challenge and began devouring an and all content in regards to personal growth, success and changing destructive patterns.

While all of this was occurring I began writing at Live Your Best Life, now known as Network Marketing Journey and began the Written Restructuring of My Brain. As I struggled and pushed against those negatives my brain did the only thing it could do. It kept the resources it needed for the new found way of existing.

And I quickly discovered that 'Use It Or Lose It' is more than a phrase used to bully people.

Its a fact of life and a matter of learning.

As a result of my work within I've become an accomplished Networker, Search Engine Marketer, and Entrepreneur. Now instead of endeavoring to lift me up my mentors and friends tell the story of my path and accomplishments to enlighten others.

The most amazing part (at least to me) is that we aren't in on this one alone. Our brain catalogs, adapts and reorganizes everything for us. Allowing us to focus on being and doing while it focuses on the learning and growing.

How is that for collaboration?

Focusing on the external things is like applying a band aide to a wound. It only covers it up and hides it from the world. When you shift your way of thinking to deal with the cause, your inner beliefs and pains, you give yourself and your brain permission to create lasting change.

---

Tim Draayer is an enabled Introvert, Networker, Entrepreneur and the author of Network Marketing Journey. He believes strongly in the value of a self directed life and seeks to arm others with the tools to find their way.

Creating My Mountain

Living Large was something of a new concept to me a year ago.

This month marks my first year of blogging and if you've read my blog or the telling of my story on Talking Story, you know that I've come a long way in that time. Since these things have been on my mind, it seems fitting that Rosa would tag me.

Living Large reminds me of an article I wrote in the early days of blogging. The article talks about everyones desire to be a part of something important.

"Infact, higher purpose is such a vital ingredient to the human psyche that a scripture says, 'Where there is no vision, the people perish.'"

Higher purpose or that sense of having something important to strive for is what I think of when it comes to goals and Living Large. In the beginning, I spent time setting goals and striving for the summit of the mountain but now as I reach the summit I realize that those goals aren't audacious enough.

With that in mind, I re-evaluated them and here is what I've come up with:

• Make my first $1,000,000 AND insure that everyone I care about finds financial freedom as well.
• Work on my spiritual relationship with the one who created all things and gave me breath.
• To one day thank each and every one of the people who have touched my life and helped me in my process of becoming a leader, in person (Can't wait to get started on this one).
• Find more time to get back to writing the books, articles and blog posts I've been meaning to work on.
• Travel and see the world. Namely Japan.
• Be more vocal about my love and affection for all of you. I want to develop better relationships as a whole with people.

My mountain has just gotten much bigger hasn't it? The experience of creating my own mountain instead of allowing it to create me is such a fascinating experience.

Most of the points above stem from a desire to pay forward on the love and guidance I was afforded. I suppose you could say that I decided to start listening to what people are telling me. You see, since started writing at Live Your Best Life, an increasing number of people have been telling me that I have a talent for words and those words are inspiring.

Compliments have always been something I'm swift to hand out. Accepting them on the other hand has always been difficult. I suppose this is why I struggled with the role of being a leader or mentor.

However, I see that it is my transparency and giving nature that lends to my ability to lead. So, my final goal in the Living Large category is to mentor and build up everyone who wants to create change in their life. Life is to short to remain repressed and broken.

A quote shared by Karen Wallace sums it up perfectly. When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me".

---

Tim Draayer feels blessed to have been invited to contribute to JJL and to be surrounded by a terrific group of readers and contributors.