We know that Jesus Christ, our perfect exemplar, is "a God of knowledge" (1 Sam 2:3), so as disciples of Christ who are striving to be like Him, we must also obtain knowledge. Our Heavenly Father has counseled us to "seek learning, even by study and also by faith" (D&C 88:118), which is counsel we strive to follow at BYU, reflected in one of the Aims of a BYU Education to lead to lifelong learning and service.
The process of obtaining and retaining knowledge is called learning. In a BYU devotional in 2008, Elder David A. Bednar said "Learning to love learning is central to the gospel of Jesus Christ, is vital to our ongoing spiritual and personal development, and is an absolute necessity in the world in which we do now and will yet live, serve, and work." So how does one learn to love learning?
Here are some tips from Indeed.com on how to develop a love of learning:
- Ease into learning processes: some learning processes are more intense and involved than others. For example, taking a semester-long class requires a larger commitment than attending an hour-long lecture. Start with where you are and what you are willing do.
- Learn about topics that interest you: aligning your efforts to learn with things you already like makes learning more fun! If you try to force yourself before you're ready to sit down and learn about a topic you find boring, you aren't going to obtain or retain the information very well. You might even start to think that learning is a waste of time. Don't do that to yourself and start with learning about topics you enjoy.
- Celebrate your efforts: Recognize the efforts that you already make to continuously learn. Doing a few minutes of Duolingo language learning or reading one chapter of a book a day or attending the occasional lecture or workshop are amazing accomplishments! Any effort to continue learning is better than no effort and you should make sure to recognize them.
- Accept your mistakes: people make so many mistakes when they are trying to apply knowledge they have recently obtained. Extending to yourself and others grace in the learning process is crucial. For example, when trying to learn about other people with different ideas and backgrounds as you, you may unintentionally say something insensitive. Instead of hiding in shame and never trying again, you can apologize, forgive yourself, and continue your learning process so you can do it right in the future.
- Keep your learning aligned with your values and a purpose: if there is no purpose to your learning, or if the knowledge you are trying to obtain means nothing to you, then it's much more likely that you will not be able to sustain your chosen learning activities long term. Lifelong learning is long term, so find ways to connect why you are learning to what is important to you.
Here are a few ideas on how to get started learning from University of Pennsylvania:
- Take a class for fun (using BYU's employee tuition benefit or free LinkedIn Learning account are great ways to start)
- Use a search engine to ask a random question and read what there is to know about it
- Read a chapter of a book for fun
- Become an expert in a topic and read and collect sources on the topic
- Discover someplace new within your neighborhood, town, or city every week
- Subscribe to a newspaper, newsletter, or periodical (subscribing to the weekly Wellness Newsletter is a great start)
- Join an internet discussion group or meet with a group in your community to talk about a topic you find interesting
- Host a Family Home Evening or Come Follow Me group
- Attend the temple with an attitude and mindset of learning
As you make an effort to learn and obtain both spiritual and secular knowledge, your intellectual wellness will improve and you will receive many temporal and spiritual blessings both for this current mortal experience, and in the experience to come after this life. "And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come." (D&C 130:19)