OLDER? YES. WISER? MAYBE

NONE OF US ARE PERFECT – BUT EVERY EVENT IN OUR LIFE PROVIDES US WITH A CHANCE TO EVOLVE

It is a bit of a conundrum that, being human, it is inevitable that each day we are getting older and yet each day we are younger than we will ever be again … in this lifetime anyway if that is your philosophical belief.

The older I get, the more I feel that age is just a number and not a true indicator of anything really and yet growing up it seemed to be a constant factor.

The excitement of becoming a teenager, learning to drive, turning 18, leaving school, leaving home, renting for the first time owning my first apartment, always looking forward to the next adventure and the joy of youthful independence and exuberance.

And then you get to your late 20s with 30 looming; moments of dread and feeling old. Once the decade is past, there is a sigh of relief that it wasn’t so bad after all and so it continues with each decade.

Then life seems to rush past at increasing speed and it often seems like only yesterday that we turned 20 or 30 or 40 etc and we sense the absurdity of having felt old when still young. We probably still feel younger on the inside than our physical age would typically indicate unless our body has not aged well.

So yes, we grow older, but do we grow wiser at the same rate?

As time passes and life rolls along, the memory of many past events becomes less accurate, memories of memories that shift and change over time. Having said that, some of mine are still emblazoned on my memory as though they happened yesterday. Which ones are they?

The ones where I know I could have done things differently, whether it’s something I said or did when I shouldn’t have or didn’t say or do when I should have.

The growing realisation of the hurt I have caused to myself and others in the past, although unaware of the impact of my behaviour at the time, has been deeply uncomfortable and troubling at times. So many things I would like to do differently, if I could turn the clock back. Sound familiar?

Every event, whether positive or negative, caused by us or others offers an opportunity for us to evolve; they happened to teach us something. Can I change what happened? No. Have I learned from what happened? Definitely. Have I applied that learning to my life since? Absolutely … well mostly anyway, I acknowledge that I’m human and therefore perfectly imperfect and a work in progress.

When we recognise that we are doing the same thing(s) over and over again and getting the same (undesirable) result(s) then it’s time to do things differently.

If we want things around us to change then we must first stop blaming other people, circumstances or events and instead work on changes within (thoughts, beliefs, behaviour, emotions etc) learning to apply what life has taught us so far.

So, to me, wisdom doesn’t automatically come with age, and it isn’t always the result of intelligence in fact many ‘intelligent’ people are not truly wise.

I have certainly met some very wise young people and some not so wise older/intelligent people.

I suggest then that wisdom comes from observing life and the lessons it offers and then responding (rather than reacting) to them and that intelligence follows wisdom as the practical application of those lessons.

Just a thought.