4 ms·

Context is the crux of it all IMO. We try this with our kids. It doesn't work all that well. They have to have some context or experience to understand what the

Context is the crux of it all IMO. We try this with our kids. It doesn't work all that well. They have to have some context or experience to understand what the advice means as for myself, I would have a difficult time blindly acting on advice without understanding and unfortunately, hitting a wall with your head is a very good lesson.

xhrpost 7y ago
This is the struggle is it not? While it seems like some lessons are best learned the hard way, it also feels like a waste of time to not learn from someone else's mistakes.
- sebringj 7y ago
  I think so too. My father was a teacher and then a school principle. He is a very likable fellow and had an ease with most all of his students in relating with them and getting them to listen to what he had to say, particularly the difficult ones others didn't like, probably his high likability factor helped tremendously and very happy disposition. It is having that bridge or way over to relate to others or hook them in that really allows advice or words to have a deeper meaning in terms of sinking in knowledge or advice. Years later I've seen fairly often students of his past recognizing him and thanking him for things he told them. Pretty cool.
Godel_unicode 7y ago
I think this leads towards how I try to give advice; I tend to stay away from saying "do x" but rather telling a story about what happened when I tried it.
sebringj 7y ago
In relating to religion as it seems to have some parallels of missing "context" for me. Religions have amazingly very great advice in many things but I cannot accept the rationale behind them and have discarded them missing the good parts of the advice so I end up "discovering" things later in life that are actually good practices because I understood them from a framework that made sense to me. Some examples would be fasting and being thankful for what you have. Advice I would never take if I didn't have my own frame of reference.

xhrpost 7y ago

This is the struggle is it not? While it seems like some lessons are best learned the hard way, it also feels like a waste of time to not learn from someone else's mistakes.

sebringj 7y ago
I think so too. My father was a teacher and then a school principle. He is a very likable fellow and had an ease with most all of his students in relating with them and getting them to listen to what he had to say, particularly the difficult ones others didn't like, probably his high likability factor helped tremendously and very happy disposition. It is having that bridge or way over to relate to others or hook them in that really allows advice or words to have a deeper meaning in terms of sinking in knowledge or advice. Years later I've seen fairly often students of his past recognizing him and thanking him for things he told them. Pretty cool.

Godel_unicode 7y ago

I think this leads towards how I try to give advice; I tend to stay away from saying "do x" but rather telling a story about what happened when I tried it.

sebringj 7y ago

In relating to religion as it seems to have some parallels of missing "context" for me. Religions have amazingly very great advice in many things but I cannot accept the rationale behind them and have discarded them missing the good parts of the advice so I end up "discovering" things later in life that are actually good practices because I understood them from a framework that made sense to me. Some examples would be fasting and being thankful for what you have. Advice I would never take if I didn't have my own frame of reference.