Contrary to what many believe, wisdom is not simply a byproduct of aging and getting old. Sure, for the most part we all will gain some wisdom from our life experiences over time BUT, that’s really just one facet of wisdom. True sage-like wisdom requires real effort and takes time to develop, however, it can be done and the best part is… YOU can begin developing and cultivating it at any age.
This article will
cover the fundamentals of developing and cultivating wisdom. This is a
deliberate process that requires diligent work in order to achieve the results
you desire. Seriously, this article is more than 3,500 words long but it is jam
packed with incredible insights. If you are pressed for time and you’re really
interested in the topic, I urge you to print it out for later… and read it as
you sip some organic Jasmine Green Tea.
Firstly, let me make one thing clear… wisdom is not simply a level of knowledge you acquire like a degree and then you graduate… rather it is an on-going and consistent process. Real wisdom lies in the constant growing and learning of an individual. This is a life-long process in your personal growth and development that requires a deep level of commitment.
The Fundamental Building Blocks of
Wisdom
Developing and cultivating wisdom requires that you consistently feed the four quadrants of you… your mind, body, heart and spirit.
True wisdom is found in the oneness of these four parts of the self. The more harmonized the quadrants, the wiser your decisions will be and the more successful and impactful your actions. The difference between success and failure lie in the decisions we make and the actions we take. Aligning the four quadrants of you will certainly serve you well in making positive changes in your personal growth and development… in your life.
I am sure that you
will agree that if you knew of a way you could guarantee that you made wiser
choices in your life that you’d at the very least be interested in trying it.
If that’s the case then this is your challenge because there is definitely a
way to guarantee you make wiser decisions and take wiser actions in your life.
Feed Your Mind
Wisdom begins with knowledge and as such, you must consistently feed the mind. Notice that I said mind and not brain. The reason for this is that feeding your mind doesn’t just consist of the knowledge you consume into your brain, it also includes stimulating the mind with ideas and new experiences. It involves communicating and connecting with others on an intellectual level. It requires the desire to understand things and people on a deeper level rather than just a superficial one.
Here’s a starter list of some examples of feeding the mind.
Read
Reading is fundamental and it could not be truer than in the case of the pursuit of developing and cultivating wisdom. From books, to articles, to blogs and all types of literature, you should always be reading something. You should even read literature that is not in line with your core principles and values because it will either make you more convicted in your beliefs or give you a new perspective.
Either way, you
grow in your knowledge and understanding of the world. I can tell you flatly
that these days I am virtually never without a book to read (or listen to in
the car).
I read constantly and emphatically… I have a
genuine thirst for knowledge.
Talk
You have to talk to people if you want to gain deeper insight and understanding of them. When I say talk to people, I don’t mean walking up to your random stranger and striking up a conversation… although I have done that. Start with people you know, your family, your friends and co-workers. Exchange ideas with the intent to understand their point of view so well that you can repeat it back to them with clarity. This will help you develop a sharp wit and intuition about people in general and also help you hone in on what makes a person tick.
The one caveat here is that you have to be absolutely genuine in your actions. You have to desire to truly exchange ideas and understand the other person or people to whom you are speaking. Simply put superficial and meaningless chit-chat won’t work.
Share Experiences
Another effective way to develop and cultivate wisdom is to gain insight to how others experience the world and have them learn how you experience it. It doesn’t much matter what the experiences are so long as they are real. Although you will find many commonalities, the real gems are in the discovery of how two people can experience the same thing in entirely different ways.
For instance, take the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center at which time I was working at the Financial Center directly across from the towers joined by an overhead walkway. Some of the people I spoke with afterwards who had watched the whole thing unfold on television were absolutely horrified at what they saw. Watching people jump/fall out of skyscrapers to their death was extremely traumatizing for many of these people.
Now, for those of us who experienced this on the scene like I, it was more humane to see these people fall because from our vantage point we could see that many of them were literally on fire. So, it was either burn to death or jump to death. I don’t know about you but if death is certain and those are my choices, jumping seems quicker and less painful than burning.
Do you see how much you can learn when you see things from different perspectives? I apologize if I stirred up any ill feelings with my choice of example because this was probably the saddest and scariest day in my life so I understand… like I said, I was there. (Maybe I’ll cover this in depth in another article… we’ll see)
Go Places
The mind needs constant newness in order to continue growing so you have to go places and see new things if you want to do this. When was the last time you visited a museum – which reminds me I’m overdue on that one myself? Have you seen a Broadway show lately?
Seriously, when was
the last time you went some place where you really learned something new… saw
the world in a different light… from a different angle? I can’t stress enough
how important this is. I am not saying that you have to be some kind of
history, art and culture junkie but it wouldn’t hurt to gain some insight on
how other people lived and live besides you. Learning about the world around
you is an effective way to feed the mind. Equally, so is learning and
understanding the past as it will give you insight into where we are coming
from and foresight about the future.
Feed Your Body
Many people think
that the body has nothing to do with wisdom. These are the same people who
probably live inside their own heads without ever taking the time to come out
and play with others. They are completely clueless – seriously, anyone who
believes the whole world exists in the mind is on his/her way to the abyss
because it is impossible to learn anything new or add any real value to anyone
if you never step outside yourself.
Feeding your body
is vital to the process of developing and cultivating wisdom because your body
houses the mind – just for starters. Think about it for a moment… how will you
diligently seek to feed the mind or any other quadrant for that matter if you
are physically incapable? Without a healthy body, you won’t be able to mount
the effort it will take to develop and cultivate wisdom.
Your body needs many things in order to function optimally. Here are a few suggestions on the more important elements to feed the body for the purposes of developing and cultivating wisdom.
Exercise
Didn’t you just
know this was going to come up? Well, at the risk of sounding cliché, exercise
is an absolute must. The fact is that it is proven that you feel better, have
more energy and radiate more positivity when you exercise – not to mention improved
sex drive and vitality.
You don’t have to
become a gym fly but you do have to consistently exercise your body. This could
mean 30 minutes of walking everyday, which can do wonders for your body, or
hitting the gym 2-4 times a week. If you are pressed for time, you can schedule
time to work out at home. I’ve always loved doing a lot of calisthenics…
pushups, pull-ups and sit-ups, etc. It’s not exactly going hard at the gym but
it gets my juices going which is what’s important.
Rest
This is so important and in many cases the hardest to accomplish. I personally struggle with this one daily because my wife and I haven’t found the right balance yet… we have two young daughters. Our older is a 2 years old and our younger is 1 year old as of the publishing of this article. It’s extremely challenging but I have also experienced the other side and the profound differences it made in my attitude, my creativity and my energy.
Rest is vital because it keeps your body fresh and balanced. It renews you when you’ve had enough and makes you feel revitalized. A good rule of thumb is to aim for approximately 8 hours of sleep between the hours of 10 PM and 6 AM. This time frame is considered by many experts to be optimal for the body’s calibration.
Eat Healthily
Now, this bit of
information could be considered subjective, however, speaking from experience,
I’d say that it makes a major difference. Your diet is what fuels the cells of
the body allowing it to function appropriately. It stands to reason then, that
if you feed the body crap food, you’ll get crap functionality. You know…
garbage in – garbage out.
Without getting on
a soap box and going off on a fanatical tirade about eating a healthy diet,
I’ll just provide some simple tips on how you can begin to improve your eating
habits and preserve a healthy body.
- Do not
eat in fast food restaurants –
the food in these places are toxic at best and promote obesity and a
plethora of fatty-food derived diseases
- Stay
away from processed foods –
this for the most part means any mass manufactured food because they are
loaded with preservatives and artificial colors that are made in a lab and
therefore no good for you at all; processed foods also have a major link
to obesity and heart problems among other things that are bad for your
health
- Eat
natural and organic foods – eat
as much food that is closer to nature as possible; science is good and it
has its uses but science no matter how good is not better than nature. Natural
and organic foods have no preservatives or artificial additives that are
made in labs and therefore a thousand times better for you
- Drink lots of pure filtered water – I am extremely challenged with this one but I know from experience that it works; 8 glasses a day should do the trick
I know that a
healthy diet might seem way off base for the topic but trust me, it’s very
relevant. Personally, my family and I now eat close to 95% pure organic foods
at home and rarely eat out at restaurants. I am not saying that you need to
make that commitment in order to achieve your goal but I am saying that I feel
a thousand times better than I did when I ate crap foods all the time and my
energy level has gone through the roof since the transition began in early
2007.
Feed Your Heart
If you don’t feed your heart, you will be much less able to connect with people on a deeper level. Most wise choices require a strong synergy between the mind and heart. Feeding the heart will make you more apt to deal with emotional situations; it will help you discern the best course of action in seemingly muddy waters. Many believe that it is in the matters of the heart lies the greatest wisdom. I don’t know if I’d go that far but I’d say that there is certainly a great deal of wisdom in dealing with matters of the heart.
Feeding the heart does not mean reading a bunch of romance novels or watching meaningless soap operas on television. In order to feed the heart you have to seek out and develop true connection with others. You can simply start with connecting and re-connecting with your family and friends. These are the people closest to your heart and whenever you can be of service to them, it will feed your heart. Simply being a strong shoulder to cry on or an empathetic listener can go a long way to helping someone and even further in feeding the heart. These are real connections when approached with genuine intent.
You can make connections through direct or indirect channels. By direct channels I mean that you can seek to truly connect with the people you know, meet and come in contact with. By indirect channels on the other hand, I mean that you can volunteer your time and/or services to help those in need or donate to a cause that moves you. Either way, you feed your heart… real connections with people feed the heart.
Why is this important? This is important because through these acts you will gain invaluable insight into the different things that motivate others. You will discover the little things that inspire and give others direction.
Why is this important? This is important because in order to exercise true wisdom in your decisions and your actions, you need to know what moves people. It’s not so much that you need to know what moves every single person individually but more that you need to understand how to reach people on a deeper level. This helps you develop your intuition and you will develop the ability to empathize with anyone in most any situation.
Once again, the caveat is that you have to be genuine in your actions. It is impossible to make true, lasting, impactful and meaningful connections with people if you don’t genuinely desire to do so. A good example of this came to me when I first met my good friend and mentor Ann Mincey. There was a going-away party scheduled for one of the executives at the company where I worked and even though I wasn’t on the invitation list, I ended up at this party. In any case, I’d heard of Ann Mincey many times but never had the pleasure of meeting her although it was an aspiration of mine.
Shortly after arriving at the party, in walks Ann and to my surprise, she made a b-line straight for me. It was unexpected and exciting all at the same time. She proceeded to introduce herself to me and then asked me what has brought me to this company. The amazing thing was that Ann didn’t simply want to know my name, rank and serial number, she wanted to know me. In her words, she said to me “Tell me your story.” For a moment I thought she was just making small talk but she was serious about the question. Needless to say Ann gave me captive audience in a room full of big-wigs for a whole 30 minutes. I’ve rarely felt more special, loved and connected with than in that moment.
We often reminisce about it together and I can tell you we made a genuine connection… Ann really went out of her way to connect with me on a deeper level and our relationship is stronger than ever. So suffice it to say that if you are going to connect with people, do it for real. In essence, you have to show love to others.
By the way, Ann
Mincey is one of the wisest people I know… I’ve learned many things from her.
Feed Your Spirit
Feeding your spirit really rounds out the others because the spirit is your body’s inner compass. It is the beacon of faith through which belief is strengthened. This is how you renew yourself on a whole so that you can continuously begin anew. As you gather information, learn new things and discover different insights, renewing is the part of the process that helps you boil it all down into meaningful experiences.
When I say feed your spirit, it is not simply about your religious beliefs, it goes much deeper than that. It’s about your personal growth and development and how you process the changes you’ve made in your life. It’s how you improve your self-awareness and align your values with your actions. Feeding your spirit is all about leading a life that enriches the soul and fulfills your deepest human desires.
There are many ways
that you can feed your spirit – this is truly an individual thing. It depends
on who you are and what interests you. That being said, there are a few general
concepts that tend to work across the board.
Private time
This is a time for you and you alone in solace. It is a time for reflection and re-evaluation. If you have a journal, you should be writing in it a lot during this time. Many people, including me, often make light of private time but it is so important to your growth. I have now put it on a schedule to ensure that I keep the appointment with myself. YES… it’s that important!
Give thanks
You should give thanks everyday for your many blessings. Say thank you to the ones you love often for their love and support and say thank you privately to the universe for delivering your blessings. I actually state this in my Personal Mission Statement as something I will do every day. This should be elementary but so often we forget to do these simple things… pay this simple tribute of giving thanks for the things we have. Do it until it’s a habit.
Meditate
This is an extremely powerful exercise no matter what method you choose. Meditation clears up so much clutter when you commit to doing it, it’s almost uncanny. I don’t think I meditate often enough but the times that I have, I have experienced deep cleansing and clarity beyond my imagination. In fact, it’s a huge part of my article writing preparation. Clearing your mind gives you a chance to re-work the pieces of the puzzle and put it back together in your head in a way that works best for you. It improves your lucidity and precision in your decisions and actions – you know development and cultivation of wisdom.
Seek fellowship
Whether you find it in your house of worship or around the dinner table, fellowship is crucial to the growth of the spirit. It renews your sense of why you are who you are and why you do what you do. It really brings to light the values that are most important to you.
Getting together with family can be an extremely uplifting experience especially when there is hearty laughter and unconditional sharing involved. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from and what you do, we all need to form bonds with other people. Whether we know it or not, there are no bonds more important than those formed between human beings. It is through these bonds that we learn, grow and change the most. There is a reason why people ultimately go crazy when they reside in seclusion for long periods of time… they lack human contact.
Fellowship with others nurtures synergy and helps you harness the power of oneness not only with self but with others. The pinnacle of excellence in building relationships is the ability to work effectively in unison with others.
If you are not
close to your immediate family, seek fellowship with your friends; if you don’t
have many friends, join a club. The point is that, fellowship is an important
part of developing and cultivating wisdom.
All or Nothing
If you are willing to practice in these four areas, I guarantee you will see significant and profoundly positive results in your decisions and your actions. You will realize, just as I did, that wisdom is not a level of degree you acquire but rather it’s an on-going journey of growth and personal development. Others will begin coming to you for advice because you’ve exercised such wisdom in your own life.
If on the other hand you are not willing to go the distance and practice feeding the four quadrants of you consistently, you will fall short in your wisdom development and cultivation. Eventually, as the world changes, your decisions and your actions will be out of touch with reality because you lack the right foods.
The fact is the
more closely aligned these four quadrants are, the wiser the decisions you make
and the actions you take.
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