Posting some published articles

The previous post is from one of my articles on Helium. I will be adding several others from there to my blog pages over the next couple of days. These contain information that I want to be able share in context with other notes and articles and that is best done here. So... If you've read all it before, please be patient with me... I will be adding supporting new material very soon!!

Lessons in Gaining Wisdom

I have been thinking a lot about Wisdom recently... Well, actually about "common sense". Some folks were doing things that prompted the memory of a remark my grandmother frequently made about us kids, "...doesn't have the good common sense God gave a goose!"

I've been seeing a lot of that lately... blatant displays of a complete lack of common sense. Made me start thinking about what "common sense" or wisdom really is. Is it is a learned ability or are some people just born with it while the rest of us muddle about as best we can?

I came to the conclusion that wisdom is learned. Like any skill, it takes commitment, effort and experience to gain proficiency in speaking and living wisely. Gaining wisdom is a lot like peeling away the layers of an onion; each insight gained can reveal a new layer of understanding, a broader perception of, or a completely different perspective on, life in general. Most of us have tools we use to peel our onions and there are tools that can help us in becoming wiser as well.

First, take a look at a definition of "Wisdom", taken from Wikipedia:

"Wisdom is the ability, developed through experience, insight and reflection, to discern truth and exercise good judgment. Wisdom is sometimes conceptualized as an especially well developed form of common sense. A standard philosophical definition says that wisdom consists of making the best use of available knowledge."

If you think about this definition, each and every one of us has a great deal of wisdom already. These steps are designed to help build a pattern of behavior and ways of thinking that increase the development and growth of that wisdom.

1. "Know what you Know" - Recognize the wisdom you have: We all have insights gained through experience. Pay attention as you go about your day to the ways in which you learn, use what you have learned to make better decisions and how you share that knowledge with others.

For example: You bang a finger with the hammer while setting a nail. You then change the way you hold the nail so you don't bang your finger. You show your child how to hold the nail so their fingers don't get banged. Witness wisdom in action and sharing it with others.

2. Use Reflection to develop your "Detached Observer" - Take at least 15 minutes each evening to reflect on the day and its activities. Take care to simply review what happened without getting caught up in anything in particular.

This is easier said than done! Don't be discouraged when you repeatedly realize you are gnawing at a memory like a dog with a bone. We all naturally feel the need to defend ourselves, justify our actions and relive emotional moments. When you catch yourself stuck on a memory, take a deep breath and go back to the review like watching a movie.

Learning to "detach" by setting aside our emotions is one of the greatest tools we can have in a crisis. Being able to consciously "watch" what is happening, while it is happening, gives us that split second of opportunity to act with thoughtfulness and purpose instead of simply reacting to a situation. Imagine how handy this could be in all sorts of situations from dealing with your job to handling your child's temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery aisle.

3. Educate Yourself - Make a point of learning something new each day. Take up a new hobby, read a book on world facts or do just about anything that will cause you to think in some new way. Exercise your mind the same way you do your muscles and you will soon discover increased memory as well as flexibility and quickness of thought. Wisdom is ultimately the application of knowledge in effective ways. The broader your knowledge base and more agile your mind, the easier it is to put what you know to good use.

4. Know the value of Silence - Silence is not only the ability to refrain from speaking. More importantly, it is the ability to silence your mind. Most of us have a constant "internal dialog", in other words, we talk to ourselves. When thoughts literally take the form of words in our head, we are slowing our thought processes.

I don't need to tell myself, "There's Sue!" I know Sue when I see her. Speaking the words in my head is unnecessary and downright silly! Letting our awareness flow without commentary allows our mind to provide us with full information. We become aware of, not only Sue, but what she is doing, the people near her and other endless bits of information that our eyes and brain are capable of taking note of in the time it would have taken us to tell ourselves "There's Sue."

When we stop the internal chatter we discover an increase in our problem solving capability. Silence allows our mind to sift, compare and correlate information faster than we realize possible. This provides us with more accurate answers than "discussing" an issue with ourselves. Additionally, those countless repetitious statements and arguments we have with ourselves cause a lot of unnecessary tension. To gain control of internal dialog, become alert to it! Noticing what a waste of time it is makes it fairly simple to reduce, if not stop altogether.

5. Cultivate Patience - We all know the value of patience, or should. Patience can help increase tolerance and it softens the emotions. Patience is learned only through practice. When you find yourself becoming agitated waiting in line for example, take a deep breath and consciously make the choice to use the time creatively. You might even use this time to practice "Silence" while simply observing others and their behavior.

6. Learn to recognize Truth - Truth, as I speak of it here, lies outside the artificial boundaries and structures of our cultures and societies. The Truth a wise man seeks resides within. It is the honest appraisal of our own beliefs. It is seeing the difference between the beliefs we live and the ones we simply give lip service to. It is learning to look in the mirror and know our own hidden agendas and motives for the actions we take in the world. Only when we truly know and are brutally honest with ourselves about what makes us "tick", will the subtle ways in which others attempt to manipulate our beliefs and actions become transparent.

7. Know what you Don't Know - One of the greatest pitfalls to being truly wise arises when others recognize our wisdom. When folks start praising our knowledge or thanking us for our wise counsel, it makes it terribly easy to think we know more than we do. Never lose sight of the fact that we rarely, if ever, have full information and that other points of view may be more valid than our own in a given situation. The genuinely wise person is humble. It is a humility born of the realization of how little we can ever really know in the grand scheme of things. Humility is the balance that allows us to think, speak and act with genuine wisdom.

Cultivating wisdom is a life-long endeavor. It is only when we begin to realize how little we know that we are able to see the limitless horizon opening up before us... When we realize we have no answers, the answers become clear.