Why are we too shy to own our wisdom? I’ve seen teenagers and young adults come out with deep, powerful words from the heart, but at some stage, we learn to say anything like that with a self-deprecating giggle: “don’t take this too seriously-I’m just me”.
Anybody who’s been through a few decades of life has gained experience, insight, and a deep knowing of how things work on the inside. But we somehow feel like we lack the right to speak, or the right to know. We expect other people to lead from a place of wisdom, while we hide our light under a basket.
People struggling with chronic illnesses, with debt, overwork, diet problems and lack of sleep are the most likely to be wise in the ways of the world, and also the least likely to be able to tell others what they have learned. What would it take to cultivate your wisdom and also your voice?
Wisdom is speaking from a place of deeper knowing, not surface reacting. It means acknowledging the possibility that you might be wrong, but also the reality that you are always growing and increasing in wisdom – it is not a static condition. Wisdom is seeing connections between the seemingly unconnected, the agreements among the disagreeing, the way forward when it looks like there is nothing but a deep gulf in understanding. Wisdom is looking straight at life and really seeing all the pain and all the exultation that human life is made of.
I’m wise, and I’m working on becoming wiser still. It’s not a good bumper sticker, but it could be a motto or reminder for living. What resources are you hiding deep inside? What knowledge do you have that your world needs? What knowledge about your own life are you hiding from yourself, and how far could you go if your looked at that hidden knowledge and used it to get you where you want to go? We are all more than our surface daily lives. We are more than what others see in us. We are more and we have more to give. Because the world needs that wisdom that we are being shy about. People are waiting to hear how you do it. How you continue to be yourself even in the face of the harsh realities of your life. You have a lot to offer.