What We Do With Wisdom

There are two ways to respond to the wisdom people give.

1. Appreciate. Appreciate the wisdom others have gained throughout their lives. This may come from the homeless man at the corner of the street whose life is not one you aspire towards but has managed to gain the wisdom of survival. And it can also come from the person of high status, their wisdom being not just how to survive but how to thrive.
2. Take. You always want to be teachable. You are a finite human being who does not know it all. You have limits, personality flaws, limited life experience no matter who you are. Being someone who is able to take wisdom is a key in life to get ahead.

But there is a danger.

Just because you can appreciate wisdom from anyone does not mean you should take wisdom from everyone.

This may make you come off to some who are trying to “teach” you as unreachable but the reality is, just because everyone has acquired wisdom over the course of their life that does not mean that their wisdom matches your trajectory.

So if you should appreciate all wisdom, how do you know which wisdom to ultimately take?

Assess. What people in your life, do you look at and aspire to be like? Now this does not mean you have to aspire to be like this person in every area. Maybe you pick and choose which wisdom to take from these individuals. But it is important to pick and choose who you take wisdom from. 

Not everyone’s wisdom will align with your personal convictions and values. Say you have ten people in your life, trying to impart their collected life advice to you. They may very well give you ten completely different pieces of advice that will inevitably take you ten different directions. Therefore you must narrow that down. Choose three of those ten people to take wisdom from. 

You can still appreciate and find the value in the remaining 7, but you’ll only give weight to the three whose wisdom will push you closer to become the person you are aspiring to be. 

Taking wisdom from everyone leaves you at a standstill because everyone’s advice will be pulling you in a different direction. So be discerning, choose wisely. Assess the givers of wisdom in your life, and focus in on a select minority whose wisdom will get you to where you’ve been called to go.