My grandson, Calum, came to visit over the holiday weekend. We watched the Disney movie Nemo for about the 100th time since he was born. I am pretty sure I know all the words and exactly what is going to happen next in the movie. We were watching Nemo for the 101st time and my wife, Kim, mentioned Nemo had a disability. I asked her what she was talking about and she said haven’t you ever noticed his one little fin? All the times I had watched Nemo I had never realized he had one little fin and one regular fin.
I am a big believer in watching, listening, or reading things over and over even though we may think we know all we need to know about what we are watching, listening, or reading. When we repeat we can learn something we may have not caught the time before. We have the opportunity to catch things we hadn’t caught before because the brain is free to look for new information due to the familiarness of what we are watching, listening to, or reading.
My challenge to each of us this week is to not shy away from repeating those things you read, listen to, and watch because there is a chance that you will learn something new. Just as I watched Nemo this past weekend for the 101st time and learned for the first time of Nemo’s disability.
What can you learn this week from the words you have heard before, the words you have read before, and the motions you have seen before?
Your Friend,
Aaron