Spirals of Learning
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Midwest
Posts: 11,481
Spirals of Learning
You know, I am just seeing this idea crop up again and again over the last week or so, so I'm going to post it in case anyone else is having a similar experience.
I recently responded to a post here (by someone who turned out to be a troll) about some childhood experiences. This turned on a flood of intense memories that affected me strongly for several days. A friend suggested that maybe it was time to check into therapy, at least for a while, to see if it those memories had arisen again for a purpose. I'm in the process of looking into that.
On the heels of that, I started listening to some material from Brene Brown that another friend had given me, about 2 years after I'd originally listened to it. I am constantly being struck by how much more, and how differently, I understand it than I did then. Things are just leaping out at me now that I didn't have the life experience or perspective to see 2 years ago.
And then this arrived in my email as part of the blog of a shepherd woman, Deborah Robson, that I follow (being a spinner and all...):
Spirals of Learning
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I refer to in my brain as spirals of learning. I’ve searched the web and found a lot of diagrams relating spirals to the learning process, but none of those reflects exactly what I mean, which is coming back to a topic previously considered and examining it from a new perspective that builds on the previous knowledge, or simply again and more deeply. For me, this usually happens over a span of years. I’ll find myself intrigued by a topic that I’ve dug into before, and I’ll go after it again. Sometimes I’m ready to go further, because of additional experience and knowledge that gives me new questions. Sometimes new scholarly work has been done that I need to comprehend and incorporate.
It was exactly the little extra push I needed--I am tempted to NOT pursue the therapy, b/c why look backward when I want to move forward? Why listen to a Brene Brown book that I already listened to? Shouldn't I be looking for something new?
And I'd say the answer is "not necessarily!" It seems that the "new ideas" and the "fresh perspective" can come simply from having lived that much longer, learned some things, and changed in ways that largely go unnoticed b/c they are so slow and subtle.
I love these learning spirals!
I recently responded to a post here (by someone who turned out to be a troll) about some childhood experiences. This turned on a flood of intense memories that affected me strongly for several days. A friend suggested that maybe it was time to check into therapy, at least for a while, to see if it those memories had arisen again for a purpose. I'm in the process of looking into that.
On the heels of that, I started listening to some material from Brene Brown that another friend had given me, about 2 years after I'd originally listened to it. I am constantly being struck by how much more, and how differently, I understand it than I did then. Things are just leaping out at me now that I didn't have the life experience or perspective to see 2 years ago.
And then this arrived in my email as part of the blog of a shepherd woman, Deborah Robson, that I follow (being a spinner and all...):
Spirals of Learning
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I refer to in my brain as spirals of learning. I’ve searched the web and found a lot of diagrams relating spirals to the learning process, but none of those reflects exactly what I mean, which is coming back to a topic previously considered and examining it from a new perspective that builds on the previous knowledge, or simply again and more deeply. For me, this usually happens over a span of years. I’ll find myself intrigued by a topic that I’ve dug into before, and I’ll go after it again. Sometimes I’m ready to go further, because of additional experience and knowledge that gives me new questions. Sometimes new scholarly work has been done that I need to comprehend and incorporate.
It was exactly the little extra push I needed--I am tempted to NOT pursue the therapy, b/c why look backward when I want to move forward? Why listen to a Brene Brown book that I already listened to? Shouldn't I be looking for something new?
And I'd say the answer is "not necessarily!" It seems that the "new ideas" and the "fresh perspective" can come simply from having lived that much longer, learned some things, and changed in ways that largely go unnoticed b/c they are so slow and subtle.
I love these learning spirals!
A work in progress
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 16,633
That's a great description of the way my brain works. I can be very slow in the beginning of a project, and I am constantly circling back through what I've already read before. I attribute a lot of my success as a trial prosecutor to that--re-reading through the file, re-reviewing the evidence, doing further investigation as new leads/ideas occur to me. When I finally feel I have a real grasp of the whole, putting it together--planning a trial, writing an article or whatever--goes pretty quickly. There's always more review and polishing at the end, with more circling to be sure I've accounted for everything.
Very well-thought-out post.
Very well-thought-out post.
under new management
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 2,339
Very interesting post, honeypig!
I have experienced this but I have envisioned it as layers going deeper into my brain when I have grown to understand it better.
Kind of like the first time I hear something, I understand it on the surface but once I have had new life experiences I understand it on a deeper level and that will happen over and over until it really sinks in
If that makes any sense!
I have experienced this but I have envisioned it as layers going deeper into my brain when I have grown to understand it better.
Kind of like the first time I hear something, I understand it on the surface but once I have had new life experiences I understand it on a deeper level and that will happen over and over until it really sinks in
If that makes any sense!
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Florida
Posts: 6,780
I agree with every word honeypig; this fits my personal experience to a "T". Seeing it this way is why I also know in my heart that my recovery will never "end" because I'll never be done growing.
I LOVE thinking of it as Spirals of Learning instead of Neverending Recovery though!
I LOVE thinking of it as Spirals of Learning instead of Neverending Recovery though!
Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 844
I agree with this also. I think its why I have circled back to recovery related things from where I started a year ago.. and its why I can watch a movie, or read a book from a few years back (or maybe a few months) and see something different in it. I like to think life is a state of constant growing, learning. I think this is where wisdom comes from.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,699
So, so cool Honeypig, and RIGHT ON for thinking about therapy.
It's a place I never thought I would find myself - I'm far too logical to discuss feelings, or entertain the idea that they could cause me problems.
It was one of the best things I ever did for myself. And I didn't even do it. Call it divine intervention or whatever, but I was misdiagnosed with anxiety attacks (after I thought I had a heart attack lol) and refused pills. Doc said the alternative was to get some counseling. OK - that sounds better than pills even though I didn't think I had anxiety, but SHE's the doc so what do I know. Again....a medical mishap led to one of the BEST things I've done for myself to date.
It's a place I never thought I would find myself - I'm far too logical to discuss feelings, or entertain the idea that they could cause me problems.
It was one of the best things I ever did for myself. And I didn't even do it. Call it divine intervention or whatever, but I was misdiagnosed with anxiety attacks (after I thought I had a heart attack lol) and refused pills. Doc said the alternative was to get some counseling. OK - that sounds better than pills even though I didn't think I had anxiety, but SHE's the doc so what do I know. Again....a medical mishap led to one of the BEST things I've done for myself to date.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Wareham, Mass
Posts: 7,067
Totally agree, HP. I think that as we progress through life, we see things differently than even a relatively short time before.
Kinda miraculous when you think about it.
That humans have the capacity to go deeper, or go sideways, but that we can bring something new to that same ol table.
There was a movie that came out several years ago, "Memento" about a man who had lost the ability to keep anything in short term memory. He would feverishly write things down to help him remember something that had happened just a few minutes ago.
The takeaway for me from the film was, "what is memory?"
Are the things we remember accurate and carved in stone, or are memories plastic and malleable? Bit of both, probably.
Anyway, good post. Keep digging.
Kinda miraculous when you think about it.
That humans have the capacity to go deeper, or go sideways, but that we can bring something new to that same ol table.
There was a movie that came out several years ago, "Memento" about a man who had lost the ability to keep anything in short term memory. He would feverishly write things down to help him remember something that had happened just a few minutes ago.
The takeaway for me from the film was, "what is memory?"
Are the things we remember accurate and carved in stone, or are memories plastic and malleable? Bit of both, probably.
Anyway, good post. Keep digging.
Community Greeter
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 16,246
This discussion brings back memories of the work by Jean Piaget (a guy)...a French psychologist who contributed to the understanding of how cognitive development occurs....beginning in the very young child....
He developed the theory of assimilation and accommodation....these two processes work in tandem with each other in our mental constructs (schemas) as we process the information from the world around us....
Assimilation---Some information is simply incorporated into our, already existing, mental constructs.....(added to)....
Accommodation---Other information can lead to development of new schemas , with modification or total transformation of existing ideas....(when something changes our minds or totally changes how we look at things).....
***Better explanation of this can be found by googling "Paiget's theory of cognitive development".....
He developed the theory of assimilation and accommodation....these two processes work in tandem with each other in our mental constructs (schemas) as we process the information from the world around us....
Assimilation---Some information is simply incorporated into our, already existing, mental constructs.....(added to)....
Accommodation---Other information can lead to development of new schemas , with modification or total transformation of existing ideas....(when something changes our minds or totally changes how we look at things).....
***Better explanation of this can be found by googling "Paiget's theory of cognitive development".....
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Florida
Posts: 6,780
You know, I've been thinking about this A LOT lately in a different way, so I'm going to add these thoughts here in this thread because I think it's relevant to the OP.
I take time around the winter & summer solstices to reflect every year. The winter solstice is close to my bday and the summer is close to my recovery anniversary so I like to try to take an honest personal inventory of where I've been & where I'm going.
Lately, I've been seeing this recovery process is a "spiral-up" and a "spiral-down" happening at the same time - like a rubber band stretching you up & out at the same time that it pulls you center, grounded.
The spiral-up is like what we're talking about here - the process of building & growing in layers from the inside out, often revisiting the same sources & coming away with new understanding based on our ever-shifting awareness.
At *this* point in my recovery, I do a LOT of spiraling up. I am far past the crisis moments of my early days & even if those types of crises develop in the future, *I* am a fundamentally different person, almost guaranteed to handle it all differently.
But in the beginning? Oh Lord. That was not my experience, at ALL.
Early recovery consisted of daily ripping up of layers (like an onion) as I dug deeper & deeper, spiraling down, deep inside, to GET to that point where I could start building again. I couldn't start laying all that knowledge down until I had cleared the existing house to it's foundation & repaired/replaced any cracks there before trying to reinforce it. Otherwise it felt like I was trying to rush adding on the back porch before the main house was even started.
Over time it's been more upward growth but like we've talked about in this thread, I keep getting more & more out of it all. Sometimes it triggers some backward spiraling because I have new awareness working for me - but I'm a lot more willing to jump into that process too, knowing that the outcome is sure to benefit me & that all my previous attempts have worked out for my highest good.
I think of it like a process of staying balanced between diving too deeply into our wounds or trying to hard to bury/cover them up and we race toward healing.
I take time around the winter & summer solstices to reflect every year. The winter solstice is close to my bday and the summer is close to my recovery anniversary so I like to try to take an honest personal inventory of where I've been & where I'm going.
Lately, I've been seeing this recovery process is a "spiral-up" and a "spiral-down" happening at the same time - like a rubber band stretching you up & out at the same time that it pulls you center, grounded.
The spiral-up is like what we're talking about here - the process of building & growing in layers from the inside out, often revisiting the same sources & coming away with new understanding based on our ever-shifting awareness.
At *this* point in my recovery, I do a LOT of spiraling up. I am far past the crisis moments of my early days & even if those types of crises develop in the future, *I* am a fundamentally different person, almost guaranteed to handle it all differently.
But in the beginning? Oh Lord. That was not my experience, at ALL.
Early recovery consisted of daily ripping up of layers (like an onion) as I dug deeper & deeper, spiraling down, deep inside, to GET to that point where I could start building again. I couldn't start laying all that knowledge down until I had cleared the existing house to it's foundation & repaired/replaced any cracks there before trying to reinforce it. Otherwise it felt like I was trying to rush adding on the back porch before the main house was even started.
Over time it's been more upward growth but like we've talked about in this thread, I keep getting more & more out of it all. Sometimes it triggers some backward spiraling because I have new awareness working for me - but I'm a lot more willing to jump into that process too, knowing that the outcome is sure to benefit me & that all my previous attempts have worked out for my highest good.
I think of it like a process of staying balanced between diving too deeply into our wounds or trying to hard to bury/cover them up and we race toward healing.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 6,262
Great post! For me it's typically hindsight. The more time away from a bad event, the greater the emotional distance, the clearer my understanding is. It took a while to see that what I called love was really need, that I was responsible for a great deal of the pain because I picked the wrong person.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Wareham, Mass
Posts: 7,067
Many years ago, I was treated badly by someone about whom I cared very much.
My heart was broken. I grieved and eventually moved on to live a mostly happy, mostly productive life.
When I thought of that person, it was always in the negative. He was a liar, a cheater, a coward.
And he was all of those things.
But he wasn't always those things. We started out great, then things went south after about a year.
So..lately I have come to feel that perhaps I played a part in the situation.
I was a single mother when we met. Working pink collar jobs at companies. High school degree only.
I had no money, and no prospect of making any beyond minimum.
I was smart, but smart isn't enough.
I didn't have a skill set that my employer valued, which is what one needs to advance without higher education.
As a result, I looked at every man I dated as a potential mate and, not incidentally, as a way out of my money rut.
"How can this person help me?" Was definitely part of my dating equation.
Anyway, I loved this person very much, no question.
But....i also loved his sweet little house in a really nice neighborhood.
I could see myself there so clearly.
So lately I have been wondering if maybe my guy friend sensed this need I had, and I wonder if maybe it scared and worried him.
Not excusing his bad acts.
Just saying that the then-me might have had something to do with the big mishagas that ultimately ended our relationship.
That is what I mean when I talk about seeing things through diffferent lenses over time.
My heart was broken. I grieved and eventually moved on to live a mostly happy, mostly productive life.
When I thought of that person, it was always in the negative. He was a liar, a cheater, a coward.
And he was all of those things.
But he wasn't always those things. We started out great, then things went south after about a year.
So..lately I have come to feel that perhaps I played a part in the situation.
I was a single mother when we met. Working pink collar jobs at companies. High school degree only.
I had no money, and no prospect of making any beyond minimum.
I was smart, but smart isn't enough.
I didn't have a skill set that my employer valued, which is what one needs to advance without higher education.
As a result, I looked at every man I dated as a potential mate and, not incidentally, as a way out of my money rut.
"How can this person help me?" Was definitely part of my dating equation.
Anyway, I loved this person very much, no question.
But....i also loved his sweet little house in a really nice neighborhood.
I could see myself there so clearly.
So lately I have been wondering if maybe my guy friend sensed this need I had, and I wonder if maybe it scared and worried him.
Not excusing his bad acts.
Just saying that the then-me might have had something to do with the big mishagas that ultimately ended our relationship.
That is what I mean when I talk about seeing things through diffferent lenses over time.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Midwest
Posts: 11,481
I am just beginning to read a book called "The Trauma Tool Kit" by Susan Pease Banitt. Last night, I read the following passage:
Healing from trauma has a developmental path all its own with distinct stages of healing. Like other models of healing, these stages are not necessarily linear, progressing from one to another in order. In psychology, we think of time movign upwards in a spiral rather than in the usual straight line. True healing consists in forward and apparently backward directions in healing called regressions. Regressions can feel like out-of-control backsliding, but they are really loops in the spiral that end up moving forward again and are universal to human development. For example, when a baby learns to walk, often sleep patterns that have been well established for months become chaotic for a couple of weeks. This behavior does not mean the baby has gone backwards in its development, even though regression looks and feels like that to the new parents. The baby brain is busy incorporating a new ability--walking. When the skill is consolidated, the baby will continue to progress in its development.
As you look at the stages in healing from trauma, know that, like that baby, you may need to go backwards (regress) occasionally to a previous stage in order to go forward again. Some stages may take a few months, while others can take years. Some manifest according to age and development. Certain stages may loop or overlap simultaneously. Healing from trauma is very individual. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to how people traverse this terrain. Because trauma involves the wounding of multiple dimensions within the human being, the stages of healing from trauma are also multidimensional.
I know that part of my concerns lately are that I feel that I'm going backwards. I feel that suddenly I'm struggling w/ghosts of the past that I honestly haven't thought about in years--and suddenly here they are, in living color and more vivid than they've felt in a long time. It makes me feel a little better to think that maybe this is happening NOT b/c I'm actually losing ground, but b/c I'm taking a turn on the spiral that takes me past those hurt places. And this time around, I'm not turning my head away--but it's scary and hard and I don't like it!
I've got a phone consult w/a therapist this afternoon, just to see if we're a fit. I got a good vibe from her voice mail message when she replied to my email, so keep your fingers crossed for me. I've never done this before, hoping it might be the right next step.
Healing from trauma has a developmental path all its own with distinct stages of healing. Like other models of healing, these stages are not necessarily linear, progressing from one to another in order. In psychology, we think of time movign upwards in a spiral rather than in the usual straight line. True healing consists in forward and apparently backward directions in healing called regressions. Regressions can feel like out-of-control backsliding, but they are really loops in the spiral that end up moving forward again and are universal to human development. For example, when a baby learns to walk, often sleep patterns that have been well established for months become chaotic for a couple of weeks. This behavior does not mean the baby has gone backwards in its development, even though regression looks and feels like that to the new parents. The baby brain is busy incorporating a new ability--walking. When the skill is consolidated, the baby will continue to progress in its development.
As you look at the stages in healing from trauma, know that, like that baby, you may need to go backwards (regress) occasionally to a previous stage in order to go forward again. Some stages may take a few months, while others can take years. Some manifest according to age and development. Certain stages may loop or overlap simultaneously. Healing from trauma is very individual. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to how people traverse this terrain. Because trauma involves the wounding of multiple dimensions within the human being, the stages of healing from trauma are also multidimensional.
I know that part of my concerns lately are that I feel that I'm going backwards. I feel that suddenly I'm struggling w/ghosts of the past that I honestly haven't thought about in years--and suddenly here they are, in living color and more vivid than they've felt in a long time. It makes me feel a little better to think that maybe this is happening NOT b/c I'm actually losing ground, but b/c I'm taking a turn on the spiral that takes me past those hurt places. And this time around, I'm not turning my head away--but it's scary and hard and I don't like it!
I've got a phone consult w/a therapist this afternoon, just to see if we're a fit. I got a good vibe from her voice mail message when she replied to my email, so keep your fingers crossed for me. I've never done this before, hoping it might be the right next step.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Wareham, Mass
Posts: 7,067
That is such an interesting passage, HP.
And eye opening.
I love, love, love the idea of a spiral. We loop and loop but keep moving forward.
We are not regressing, we are loopy.
Er. Looping.
Hugs. Thanks for this thread. So enlightening.
And eye opening.
I love, love, love the idea of a spiral. We loop and loop but keep moving forward.
We are not regressing, we are loopy.
Er. Looping.
Hugs. Thanks for this thread. So enlightening.
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
