Then I remembered, long ago, seeing someone in a hospital gown.

It turned out the ties were in the back, not how I had them.

I reversed the gown and ventured out of the changing room. I saw other people in gowns tied at the back. Success!

I sat and waited a long time.

When I rose to go into the surgery room, another nurse grabbed my hand and told me to hold together behind me the ends of the garment.

I guess I was not as successful with the gown as I imagined.

Still, I learned some things from the experience.

I like learning, even when I learn the hard way.

I have taken delight in learning how to use software that allows me to do something useful, like inviting others to a Zoom session for a future date.

I've also learned how to change my name in a Zoom session. I was Johnny B. Goode last week.

I feel happy when I figure out how to use a shower fixture in a hotel. Water at a pleasing temperature is my reward.

I learn by doing, and I learn by reading and viewing.

One lesson I learned from the fictional Sherlock Holmes: When you have eliminated all possibilities except one, that one, no matter how improbable, must be correct.

I use that rule when I try to solve a mystery.

I learned an important lesson about not staying in a cheap hotel in another country while watching the mini-series Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.

I watched the reactions of a British couple who visited Los Angeles, stayed in a cheap hotel in an awful neighbourhood, and then discovered that another hotel guest had died in a hotel water supply tank some 18 days before, with her body deteriorating all the while.

Just last week, I learned the basics of programming using an open-source language called R.

I want to use R to do unusual statistics in future research projects.

When I learn how to do something, I feel happy. And more capable.

What have you learned to do lately?

Do you feel more capable and happier as a result?

John Malouff is an Associate Professor at the School of Psychology, University of New England.