In the psychological sense, the precondition for learning to take place is the readiness to leave the current, safe and comfortable state and move into the new and the unknown, the exposure to which strengthens a person's natural defence - the psychological barriers and the accompanying resistance to change. If the perceived pressure is too strong for the learner, the learner experiences fear, considers the challenge insurmountable, and gives up. But if there was no pressure at all, there would be no need to change. This is the precise case of perceived pressures - the learner's internal, psychological barriers and how the learner feels about his or her environment and himself or herself. They are only partially related to the learning environment and the activities of the educator. Educators may misinterpret the manifestations of a learner's psychological resistance and think those are directed against them, but in most cases they are not. It is mostly an unconscious process, a way of protecting a person's ego and self-image over a lifetime of information that does not match the pre-existing perception of oneself.

C. Van Houten takes a holistic approach to people and learning. He sees that human development is driven by three main motives: the pursuit of learning new things, the pursuit of development, and the pursuit of improvement. Within these endeavours, one encounters obstacles in the world of one's thoughts, feelings, and will. The learner feels unable to overcome them and this creates fears and aversion to learning. Barriers need to be addressed in a comprehensive and holistic way.

The Barrier of Thinking

There are certain rules in the human thought process. Through thinking it is possible to get to know only a certain part of the world, the rest remains hidden and needs to be recognized, noticed, and discovered. A person actively trying to feel the world constantly encounters new questions and riddles that can cause cognitive blockages.

Two seemingly contradictory but, in fact, complementary ways of thinking are divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is thinking that leads to the emergence of new ideas and unusual solutions, offering more than one solution to a problem. Divergent thinking is most often associated with creativity. Convergent thinking approaches the search for solutions to a problem on the assumption that there is only one right solution or answer. Solving different tasks requires the ability to use both ways of thinking that are actually common to all people, but often an adult learner has developed a preference that is applied without realising it. One of the first steps in dealing with a thought barrier is to learn to notice the one-sidedness or highly preferred way of thinking. As a result of overcoming the thinking barrier, the learner develops respect for the world and other people, while being committed and acknowledging their own values.

The task of the educator is to create opportunities for the learner to become aware of their own thinking habits and to work with the thought barrier. Effective ways to do this are:

• providing opportunities for learners to ask questions and explore the nature of things themselves, rather than being passive recipients of knowledge,

• planning tasks that activate different sensory organs and observation skills so that the learner can reach conclusions and new knowledge,

• providing tasks that require both ways of thinking and learning to use them in parallel.

In order to develop convergent thinking, it is good to think about how we think, how to achieve results step by step, thinking logically. In order to develop divergent thinking, it is necessary to notice one’s intuitive perception, to learn to trust this spontaneous, creative way of thinking.

The Barrier of Emotions

The emotional barrier refers to the resistance that manifests itself in our feelings. It is not a reaction to the outside world, but to something within a person. Dealing with one's own emotional barrier gives the learner better self-awareness, freedom, and inner personal maturity. The learner experiences that his or her emotions play a very important role in cognitive processes and learning. Working with an emotional barrier seems to be the most difficult, and emotional barriers are often the least accepted by learners themselves and educators, because it is easier to say, 'I don't understand' than 'I'm afraid' or 'I feel inferior to others'.

In many cases, learners give up learning because of shortcomings in working with the emotional barrier. Noticing and supporting the learner's emotional barrier requires psychological maturity, courage, determination, self-confidence, and empathy from the educator. The educator may also have resistance to the idea that working with emotional barriers is part of the learning process. An educator in this position is on the threshold of his or her own limitations and has to decide whether to take the step and work through the feelings and integrate them into the learning process, encouraging learners to do the same by being a role model.

Working with the emotional barrier leads the learner to a better understanding of self and helps to overcome personal limitations. It is important that the educator has a friendly, empathetic attitude and understands the value of a condemnation-free atmosphere when overcoming the emotional barrier. Only working with this barrier can lead the learner to greater self-awareness. The facilitator can help with the learning barrier by accepting the learner's feelings, providing supportive conversation, small experiences of success and reflection that supports understanding them.

The Barrier of Will

The main feature of the will barrier is anxiety, which exists in a hidden form within a person. It is something between man and the world. The human Self wants to make a difference in the world: to express, to reshape, to execute, and in this it meets the resistance associated with the will. The will barrier manifests itself as a lack of will to learn, a lack of independence, surrender when difficulties arise, and being an outsider who is not happy to commit to anything.

The educator may notice that the students' willingness to learn is too weak, in times of difficulty, they tend to give up quickly, they do not have enough stamina. Against the background of the will barrier is anxiety, fear of life, change, the future. Anxiety slows down activity, leads to automatic action in which the cognitive processes necessary for personal and professional development and adjustment are not sufficiently involved. The most important task of the educator is to awaken the will to learn individually, helping the learner to gain experience of working with the three barriers.

Activities good for awakening the learners’ personal will are:

• activities that enable creative self-expression and thereby awaken the learner's spontaneous creativity, giving the learner an experience of a deeper engagement with the activity, and is therefore an experience that is a good model for the learner in the further learning process,

• tasks or learning projects designed in such a way that there is no definite, predetermined result,

• team tasks that require a strong commitment so that working with other learners supports individual will,

• development of comprehensive evaluation and feedback methods.

Conclusion

All three barriers have a strong impact on learning. In a situation where the learner perceives that he or she cannot cope with the challenge, there is a clear need for encouragement to analyse the emerged feelings and make sense of the opposition that has arisen. What is important is the maturity of the educator, a considerate and respectful attitude towards the learner, and a holistic approach that supports dealing with all three barriers.

References

Coenraad, Van H. (1999). Awakening the Will. Principles and Processes in Adult Learning. Forest Row, Sussex: Temple Lodge Publishing; 2nd edition.