Finding clarity and motivation aren’t just things that actors have to deal with. Students often lose their sense of why they’re studying, why they’re going to class, what the point of it all is, and how long they will be able to continue slogging through the drudgery to reach the promised land of the degree.
Far from feeling any personal significance in what they’re doing, students often see themselves performing tasks required by their teachers but which are utterly meaningless to them.
One thing that sometimes messes up a student’s motivation is a personality clash with a teacher or a teacher who simply doesn’t do his or her job in a clear or effective manner. One thing I’ve seen with some regularity since I started doing this work is a tendency among certain teachers and professors to use their position as a platform for showing off and thus ignoring student needs, but there are any number of ways a teacher can introduce dysfunction or hardship into the equation.
Whatever the case, if your teacher or prof is bumming you out or if your academic situation is becoming emotionally overwhelming, one thing you can do is adopt a Zen-like mindset, i.e., relaxing your need for control of all aspects of the situation, detaching emotionally from the outcome, and looking at the bigger picture of your overall degree project or other academic goals.
For more ideas on Zen and how it can benefit you in general:
http://www.wikihow.com/Have-a-Zen-Attitude
http://www2.bc.cc.ca.us/resperic/what_is_the_meaning_of_zen.htm
Hopefully the information in these links will help you overcome some of the spiritual and attitudinal challenges involved in studying. If you have other questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at kevin@omnitutoring.com
