THE SUBTLE TRANSFORMATION – A JOURNEY BEGUN AS A COACH

PART 1- THE UNLEARNING

In a world that is fast changing, ‘the quest for learning’ is the only constant besides change. But what is learning?

“We define learning as the transformative process of taking in information that—when internalized and mixed with what we have experienced—changes what we know and builds on what we do. It’s based on input, process, and reflection. It is what changes us.”

–From The New Social Learning by Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner

I wonder, however, if learning is possible without unlearning first.

Webster’s?Definition of?Unlearning

·??????? To put out of one’s knowledge or memory.

·??????? To undo the effect of?discarding the habit of

Unlearning, as per my understanding, is the process of replenishing, replacing, and re-applying what you already have within. It’s a process of conscious shift and perhaps sometimes unconscious too, a shift in our thoughts, beliefs, values, stories, narratives and identity as individuals, and the different roles we take on in our lives. It is a subtle process that gradually impacts our ways of responding, behaving, and interacting with people and the environment. It makes us question and put out of memory what we already know because of our upbringing, culture, experience, and unique personality traits, and replace it with new experiences/learning and more importantly making a choice.

The choice of Unlearning as a steppingstone to Learning is mindfully choosing the path to decide what stays with us as integral and what needs to be replaced or replenished to get on that bus of self-discovery!

Embracing and welcoming the new by emptying some space/clutter/chatter of the old in our minds is never easy. I realized this as I was in the middle of Level 1 (ACC) of my Coach to Transformation Program. What began as a journey for me with the awareness that some things will need Unlearning, proved to be a huge challenge because I am still trying to figure out what resonates within me to be a Coach. At one point, I struggled to let go of some aspects of myself which is being me, till I understood that my unique abilities don’t need to be stripped off me in this journey of being a Coach but, yes, I do need to understand better how best to leverage them in my process of unlearning to learn.

Thus, what I have understood is that the transformative journey to becoming a coach begins with self-reflection, we need to change and transform before enabling/ facilitating anyone else. The fact is that it is not easy being in this position of not knowing at a stage in life when we believe we know enough! And that’s where the challenge begins when we need to empty our cup of stale coffee to brew a fresh one. It’s a challenge because we have so enjoyed the taste of our old cuppa coffee to this moment!

So, for me, the Level 1 Training has been like a scriptwriting process, not overwritten but perhaps watermarked/shadowed on the foundation of a narrative in time that has existed for me a process of accommodation, addition, and deletion! And I am still trying to find comfort in the space of discomfort that has opened its doors for me.

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I would like to quote Lao Tzu as a conclusion,

“To attain knowledge, add things every day.

To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”

— Lao Tzu

Author - Arnaz V Bhagwagar