We all have wisdom

‘We must not only obtain wisdom we must enjoy her’ Cicero

We all have wisdom, the young and the old, but what we all don’t have is the ‘I’m brave enough to share my wisdom’ gene.

Most people have sagacity and insight parked inside them but instead of sharing it with others it lies unheard and unused in a dark corner within.

We can all learn though, tentatively at first, to share our thoughts. It feels like self-selling when you start to speak up and some of us will always find this hard.

But what have you got to lose?

‘My biggest limiting belief is that I should not push myself forward’ The Fifth Column

Some other things I have learned about wisdom.

First and most importantly, there is no fast lane to wisdom like at the airport.

You can’t buy it or get someone else to do it for you. You cannot delegate its acquisition.

Gathering wisdom is an incremental type of journey not a rocket-ship type of journey.

I have also learned that there is a misconception that being wise and being certain go together.

I don’t think so.

Everyone who is certain certainly isn’t wise.

‘Doubt is the origin of wisdom’ said Augustine of Hippo a wise Berber from Algeria who is also the patron saint of brewers. ‘We all have doubt’ he said.

Wise people continue to doubt themselves and that’s why they are wise.

I would like it known that I excel with doubt.

Wise people I have met also talk less and are not, it seems, afraid of silence.

Good things come from silence they understand.

Wise people also seem to me to be happy to let silence do the heavy lifting in their conversations.

They don’t HAVE to talk.

The wise among us seem to understand that our most powerful emotions often sit somewhere hiding in silence.

Wise people and the word arrogant are also rarely coupled and instead wisdom and being humble seem more comfortable companions.

Think about it

He is a wise and arrogant person.

Bad fit.

Today we also often mistake noisy cleverness for wisdom.

We have come to think that racket is a substitute for, or a part, of being wise and we are diverted into believing that popularity and likes and fame and power mean someone is wise.

They so don’t.

Certainty is also the enemy of creativity and of learning and for me it’s a salient wisdom stopper.

Certainty is like a station on a train journey and if you get off at the station called certainty your growth and your learning cease.

Understanding makes our minds lazy. Never stop asking questions.

I am certain of few things and less as I age, and therein lies the confusion in some people’s minds that because you are not certain you are therefore not wise.

People who are certain of stuff scare me, a lot.

‘The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wise people are so full of doubts.’ Bertrand Russell

Note here about wise words.

Wise words of themselves are wasted on people who are not ready or able to absorb them.

Wise people know this important piece of the communication puzzle.

They know that the communication of a message is the sender’s responsibility and even if the message is clear and concise in your head you will still need to sell it and check in to see if it was understood.

Wise people know that the recrafting and the repeating of a message until it properly lands in the inbox of the receiver is the core of good communication.

When I think of wise people I think of the obvious people like Mandela and David Attenborough and Mother Theresa and Angela Merkel.

‘He has existed only not lived who lacks wisdom in his old age’ Publius Syrus

But my mind is also full of images of older women I have met who have a calm wisdom garnered over decades and bereft of ego.

Wisdom sits snug and soft and comfortable within their voices as their words move across their aged lips and through their wide-open smiles.

You are drawn to them and you want to listen because you know their words mean something.

They have earned your attention.

They have a peaceful - solid wisdom not a loud type of wisdom.

They are the best type of wise.