This article may benefit tutors and circle leaders in mediumship development. It will also offer ideas for students and all those involved in learning to work with the spirit world.
From our first breath, our life becomes one long learning journey. Sight, hearing and all our senses have to be learned and interpreted. Then, we have to learn to walk, talk, and interact. In the first few years, we attend nurseries and schools and gain the essentials to live a demanding life.
Although it is sometimes said that we’re born equal, that is not so, particularly when it comes to our personalities and characteristics that make each of us unique. Many outside influences play key roles in how we develop. Parental input, siblings and peers all shape how we evolve. But even if we put those aside, we are still individually different.
One of those many differences is in how we absorb information, retain and learn from it. Some can learn quickly, while others struggle. I was one of the latter students. As a pupil in the sixties and seventies, I struggled at school. Everything was hard to grasp and pretty soon into my school years, I found other ways to interact with other kids in the class. I would joke, mess around and be the class fool. I found pleasure in making others laugh and was constantly reprimanded by the teachers. It was my escape mechanism that covered up how difficult I found reading, writing, and understanding whatever it was the teacher was teaching us. I wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box, often ending up in the lower tables and forced to sit at the back of the class where I was less disruptive.
While everyone else was heads down learning, I would prefer to gaze out of the window and imagine being back at home. This pattern of behavour followed me through my secondary school years as well. I think I probably hated school, though wasn’t mature enough to realise that back then. School was just part of life and there was no way of avoiding going.
The school had two types of basic qualifications we were being taught towards achieving. GCEs (General Certificate of Education) and CSEs (Certificate for Secondary Education). The teacher decided what was most suitable for us, and I was put in the CSE group. The thicko’s, as I used to call it, who would have failed at GCE level. The GCE’s were known as O level and A level courses with grades ranging from A to F, A being the best and F being a poor grade. The same format was used in CSE’s, though an A grade in CSE was considered as a lower grade compared with GCE grades.
I sat seven CSE exams and the highest grade I achieved in any was a C in Arithmatic (math for the American readers!). Most of my grades were D, E, F and ungradable. Let’s just say, fifty years later and I have no idea what I did with the paper certificates, for what they were worth! I was basically a failure in education. Of course, this was half a century ago and teaching standards were very different back then. The good pupils got the teachers attention. I did too, but for the wrong reasons!
I may have missed out on the academic qualifications, but I believe I have achieved much more than many others, when looking at the broader spectrum. My hands-on and practical skills are better than most others, and I can turn my hands to many tasks that others would call in a ‘professional’ for. I believe I also have a universe degree in common sense, which so many of people today seem to be lacking. I have never needed to turn to logorithms, and algebra has passed me by! Oddly enough, my partner often reminds me, I’m the least thick person she has ever known. I thick that’s a compliment!
Jane, on the other hand, is completely the opposite to me, when it comes to education and learning. At school, she was a star pupil and once told me she had occasionally taken an apple in for the teacher, though she denies that now. Jane left school with a lot of qualifications and went on to achieve a degree in languages. She became a teacher and taught both French and German, of which she is fluent. Jane is an academic achiever, though some might argue her taste in men!
On paper, we’re different, yet in life, we’re inseperable. And nowadays, we’re both enjoying retirement. We have our lifetimes of wisdom and knowledge spanning a broad range of abilities from over a century of years living. For many years, we’ve been regularly spending time on the Canary Island of Lanzarote, which I believe is my spiritual home. We travel the 2000 miles there, up to four times every year, spending much of our legal 90 in 120 days time allocation.
For years, I have wished I could speak the native tongue of the many friends we’ve made over the years of visiting the paradise island. They speak Spanish. In early 2024 I decided, once and for all, I was going to learn the language. I spent several hours every day trying to get a grip with the language. After a month or so, Jane decided to join me with the Spanish learning.
It only took her a few weeks before she caught up with me on the course, and day by day moved well ahead of me. Meanwhile, I was struggling to pick it up. I became confused trying to understand such things as nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns and a many other language structure things I’d not bothered to learn about in school. Jame was excelling while I began to struggle. It wasn’t because I wasn’t putting in the effort. It was because I am a slow learner, and always have been. I’m not going to give up. I will keep on trying in the knowledge that over time, I will get better. Meanwhile, Jane is already able to string long sentences in Spanish, while I’m struggling to retain the lessons longer than five minutes after I’ve completed them!
When I made the original decision to learn Spanish, I believed that my learning ability would have benefited from me being older and wiser with many years of progressive maturity behind me. I recall thinking, how hard can it be. Many of us oldies would proudly confess that it we could have those school days back, we’d make better use of them than we did. But is that true? Would we do better if we could have our school days again, backed with the lifetime of knowledge we’ve acquired since? The answer is not entirely clear cut.
When I was preparing this article, I’d forgot to use an important source of information about learning – Jane. Not only did she have degrees in her teaching topics, she’d also been trained to teach and had received updates and new training methods most years of her near forty years of being a teacher and head teacher.
I read a draft copy of this article to her shortly after I’d written the outline. Her conversation that followed was insightful. She talked to me about differentiated instruction and how it is used in modern teaching.
Differentiation in teaching is a method of adapting instruction to meet the needs of individual students. It involves providing students with a variety of activities, assessments, and course content.
In layman’s terms, it means teaching a topic in a variety of styles to cater for the wider range of student abilities. See the chart below.
Jane reminded me that when she prepared the lessons, she included as much interaction as possible to cater to the differences in her pupil’s learning abilities. I asked her why I was struggling with my Spanish lessons. She pointed out something I had not taken into account.
“You’re a practical learner. You learn best by doing.“
How true! I recalled when I’d sat in circles, in workshops and at the Arthur Findlay College. I most enjoyed the lessons where I was required to participate. At least I was doing something, even if I got it wrong. I would learn from my mistakes.
According to the chart above, I’m mainly a kinesthetic learner, although I can adapt to the other three methods when needed. The thing is, we’re all different. No one method of learning is going to fill our individual needs. We need to learn to discipline ourselves to cater to teachers’ methods.
I’ve always been a fan of note-taking and journaling. I’m not scared of looking odd in a class as the only one taking notes. It’s how I crystalise information better. The act of listening and then making notes about it doubles the chances of me retaining something I want to refer back to later. But I am surprised how many other students don’t do this. I’m also amazed at how many tutors, particularly in the teaching mediumship classroom, don’t use a variety of ways to teach their students. Some tutors appear to like the sound of their own voice too much and while sharing their personal experiences might be useful at times, more interaction would achieve better results.
I have adjusted how I am learning Spanish. The original course was the only format of learning Spanish for a while, until I began to struggle. Now, I use other methods alongside the course. I watch YouTube videos and TV programs occasionally. I use a variety of different online tutors, each with their own unique style of teaching. My most crucial move is to take myself out of the race. I’ve realised it’s not about completing the course, it’s about learning from it. The course wants to dictate a speed. That doesn’t suit me, so I don’t add pressure by competing with others, including Jane. She is where she is in her learning, and I am where I am. The destination remains the same – to be able to speak Spanish. The arrival time is not the driving factor.
The same should be true with new students of mediumship. Your goal should not be to do a course and become an overnight medium. Instead, your goal should be to learn the craft properly by learning and with practical work. If the limelight of the podium is drawing you, it’s time to reassess what you want to be a medium for.
There are few real mentors available in mediumship development, but there are plenty of teachers. There are plenty of students in mediumship, but few are taking their learning seriously enough to make a difference. It’s the accumulation of knowledge and ability that makes the better medium. The student who remains humble and continues learning every day. The student who asks the questions and acts upon the answers. The student’s reasons which don’t include ego or money. The student who is proud to remain learned.
There are a lot of teachers in mediumship. Individuals who think they’re ready to teach others. But fewer who appreciate that teaching others requires skill, observation, flexibility, patience, and time. Even fewer that lead by example, teaching by example, telling and showing as they do so.
We would do well to remind ourselves that there is a distinct difference between inspiration and motivation. The teacher should inspire. That is all they can hope for. The motivation comes only from the student. A way to remember this is to take the word motivation and split it into two words, Motive for Action. The teacher can inspire through teaching, while the student can embrace the motive for action and therefore the motivation.
Finally, advice for the student – advice that I stand by and practice myself. Stack the odds in your favour. Go the extra mile and find the time. Do more of the things you are weaker at, and leave the things you are good at. If you’re weak at sitting in the power, work on it. If you find reading difficult, try listening to audio recordings instead. If you find nerves get the better of you, work on your confidence more. If you don’t believe your spirit connection is strong – work on the reason why you believe that and change them.
Enjoy learning, it’s a wonderful passion.
Hasta la próxima lección, disfruta el viaje.
