First Blog

We take up the question as to what are some comprehension strategies that work well for you. First, note that comprehension is not an ah-ha moment. The ah-ha may come after mental preparation but never before. The stages of preparation are our message here today. Comprehension is more than learning a skill. We are not talking here about changing ink cartridges on your printer, but concepts like learning an accounting system, or legal and philosophical ideas. Big stuff. Comprehension is more-or-less a problem-solving event, another type of problem to be sure, but it involves all the big three components, understanding, belief, and acceptance. Mere problem-solving, on the other hand, requires only one of these. Steps I use in comprehension, though many are done simultaneously. They apply to all subjects. ·        Read the material, taking notes as needed. ·        Think about the topic over and over in your mind until you “think” you understand it. Carefully written notes are n

You hear an explanation of something almost everyday.   What do you do?   First of all, you consider it mostly on the surface of the brain.   Some new input, as it were. Then comes the decision.   You can Understand what was explained Believe what was explained Accept what was explained. These three key words, understand, believe, and accept comprise a gross summary. But they typify three principles by which the brain or mind holds explanations. There are variations, exceptions, and exclusions. Just one is important now, and that is you may take the explanation as an example of several others in your mind, none of which have any of the attributes.   It sort of sits there awaiting further processing. Before getting to the picayune details, note that understand, believe, and accept are mostly exclusive, meaning one does not imply the other.   For example, you may accept global warming into the future, but neither understand nor believe it.   Similarly, you ma