Learning, just for the sake of learning!

Ever felt the joy of gifting something to yourself, something that you really wanted and finally being able to enjoy having it? Well learning a new thing might feel the same if you are committed to it just because the topic interests you and it's something that you want to be better informed about.

Mostly learning a new thing corresponds with an ulterior motive - it could be an assignment at hand or upskilling for a coveted job or maybe an exam to crack. But imagine being able to learn a new thing without a pressure to use it somewhere, maybe as a hobby, which is personal at every level, and in that process actually growing as a human being.

Learning about Psychology has been one such passion project for me. It started with a TED talk that I loved, then a beautiful little book called "Who are you, Really?" by Prof. Brian R. Little, then another book called "The highly sensitive person" by Prof. Elaine N. Aron and finally taking it to a formal course.

Now that I am reminiscing, I can say that this passion was kindled when I started questioning a lot of things about my personality and about others' and through an understanding of psychology, I just wanted to satisfy my curiosity. Even whenever I read Gita, I drew comparisons between the scripture and psychology as we know of it.

Having invested all my free time for the purpose of learning something that I am passionate about is giving me so much gratification now and it actually makes me see the importance of self-actualization from Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Although I have just completed an introductory course, It still feels great to have touched base with the essential concepts and Prof. Steve Joordens has been an amazing instructor!

I hope that you also follow your passion and do something, just for the sake of doing it, not for an ulterior motive. :)