Learning goes hand-in-hand with awareness. Someone once said to me: "You can become enlightened to cars, shoes, or drawing." Enlightenment is just a matter of being aware of each of the processes that make up a single task. I have come to the conclusion that being aware of the self-process is one of the greatest things a person can do. But we can also use a process of learning to become more aware of other things too. There is no limit to how much a person can become aware of. You should strive to be aware of something that is new as often as possible.

Learning through the process of awareness is not the same as memorising theories or reading a textbook. It is the process of adapting ourselves and our inner potential to new external tools and skills that are able to make us more productive and helpful to ourselves and others.

I learned how to meditate, how to design a website, and how to write in a number of different genres without taking a class. Instead each evening I research new information for a few hours about a topic I have never heard of before and then I figure out how I can use that knowledge to make it into something practical.

Here are 3 reasons for taking the initiative to learn new things:

• Your excuses for feeling unmotivated subside. You KNOW how to do more and therefore time becomes easier to fill up with tasks that are productive and interesting.
• You increased the depth of personal and professional skills and become the person to turn to when others need help.
• You gain the benefit of true individual knowledge. This is something that school or college cannot provide because their learning is standardised and not individual-focused.

Here are five things I had spent some time learning as an individual quest for knowledge and awareness. The sixth thing is up to You. Share something You want to learn or have learned at the bottom of this post.

1. Learn a new phrase

If you want to improve your writing and your expression then the best way to do that right now is to learn at least one new word or phrase each day. Here are the 3 tools I use most often. These are excellent resources to bookmark, frequent use is important to be able to build up a strong understanding of language - including how it limits, creates, and encodes meaning.

See these sites:

• Rhyme Zone - Enter a word and then click on each of the options to either generate rhyming words, synonyms, or antonyms for that word.
• Thesaurus.com - Each time you write the word "nice", "good", or another word that sounds too simplistic head over to Thesauraus.com to find a list of other words for getting that same meaning across.
• The Phrase Finder - I used to go on this site a few times a week at one stage because I got curious about the reason people use certain expressions in language. This site explains the origin and meaning of the most common "sayings" in our language.

2. Learn stillness meditation

People who are open to meditation often have no trouble achieving deep trance states and consciousness shifts, on the other hand those who have the attitude of "Meditation is too hard and pointless" can benefit from just giving it a go. Simple stillness meditation is one of the most basic techniques a person can learn. Just attempting it and looking at the results is sometimes a better option than thinking about whether it is pointless or not.

1. Sit with your back straight and look at a candle or other object in front of you.
2. Give your entire attention to this object.
3. Set a timer for five minutes. If your eyes shift away from the object or your posture changes restart the timer and start over.

If you are able to keep perfect attention for five minutes you will notice instant benefits from the meditation. By focusing away from the mind and on an external object instead, the mind becomes clearer and refreshed.

3. Learn PHP!

Learn the PHP programming language - or the basics at least. At one point I refused to learn programming because I had the belief that it was too hard and I'd need to be an expert at maths to take it on as a challenge.

Those beliefs were illusions - if others can learn something, so can You. There is no limitation or a special "PhD hat" to access and use knowledge.

<?php $aRandomNumber = rand(0,1);
if($aRandomNumber == 0){ echo('<div style="color:green;">');
}
if($aRandomNumber == 1){ echo('<div style="color:red;">');
}

?> YOUR TEXT </div>

Put this code in a blank text.php file and upload it. Now the text will either be red or green each time the page loads - it's a 50% chance of either. Put 2 different phrases in each of the above echo fields and now a random phrase will come up each time the page loads. How simple is that?

Note: For this to work on Blog software PHP Exec might be required because some blogs block out PHP code in posts - but it still works in the theme code.

4. Learn Palming

Spending too much time looking at the TV or computer can strain the eyes and bring about soreness, as well as tiredness. I learned about palming as a method to relieve this strain and to give the eyes a break.

I could not explain the method better than the Seeing.org website, so I will quote it right from there:

To palm is to cover your closed eyes with your hands in such a way that there is no pressure on your eyeballs. The palms of your hands are slightly cupped over each eye (left over left and right over right), and usually the fingers are partly interlaced on your forehead. There should be no light, or as little as possible, allowed to enter the eye.

I have noticed that even doing this for 30 seconds is effective. I believe this technique also relaxes the mind because the amount of input it has to process is reduced for short a period of time.

5. Learn how to Stumble the web

For those that have not used StumbleUpon before, have a go at stumbling upon some new websites. The traditional method to find stuff online is to run queries on a certain word or phrase using a search engine, or browsing through directories that list sites based on topic. StumbleUpon is a new method of finding web pages through recommendation.

The StumbleUpon toolbar brings up a random site and when a person rates this site as positive the StumbleUpon engine locates other sites that are similar and recommends them. It is a great method for "surfing" the web without having an absolute destination in mind.

6. ?

Suggest something You have learned that others can also learn right now, or feel welcome to share what you would like to learn in the short term.

Do You Have a Blog? You are welcome to create a follow up post suggesting 5 unique things you have learned in your own path that readers can also learn right now. I will be able to list those that send a trackback here as further readings.