ornamental grass in our back yard, Canon eos Rebel xti 18-55mm lens
I am a kinesthetic learner. There are many things I understand by seeing/reading or hearing, but I pick things up best when I can actually do them--preferably with a guide of some sort to aid me along and keep me from completely falling flat when I inevitably mess up. This is my approach to many things I want to learn: read a little about it and decide that I've read enough, I can do______. Then jump right in (usually only half-way prepared) and figure out that I don't actually know enough about ______ and so then I have to figure out how to finish what I've started. (Hmmmm....after having just read that, perhaps I should place my name next to the word "impulsive" in the thesaurus.)
This isn't a bad approach, really. After all, it causes me to think more creatively and theoretically it makes me more sensitive to my children when they do the exact same thing. I've exploded that theory about a bajillion times however, and get exasperated when my children do the exact same thing because Hey! Don't they know I am trying to show them exactly how to do _____?? Don't they trust me? Don't they know I'm a great teacher? Apparently not. Ahem.
So applying this approach to the things I want to learn in life has resulted in some utter failures, but it has also been the perfect way to learn others--photography, for example. I've read some, and I've listened some, but really, the best way for me to learn to take pictures is to, well, take pictures! Ahhh....theory nirvana!! Plus, with the advent of the digital age, it's pretty darn hard to mess up. You take a bad picture? Erase it! Would that the rest of my mistakes-both in the past and those surely yet to come--be so easily handled!
I now wander around with my camera and take lots of pictures. I take it with me just about everywhere, because who knows when a great opportunity will arise? And sometimes, sometimes, I take a picture that makes me proud and think that I just might be learning.
Edited to add: comments are not currently working. I am trying to fix this as soon as possible.
