The expression “You can’t get there from here” is apt for the Miller’s Colorado residence. Sort of.
Though we live on a paved street, it’s impossible to get to our home without driving over a completely neglected, poorly maintained, incredibly lumpy and bumpy dirt and mud road. There’s just no getting around it.
Of course, it’s worth traveling because home is a good place to be.
It occurs to me that our unavoidable patch of rough road is much like growing up—and I don’t mean the obvious growing up that takes place from birth to 20-years-old.
I mean the maturation of our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, beliefs, desires, and needs, as well as our reactions and responses to people and events, that <hopefully> happens from age 20 to, say, 40.
It’s said that youth is wasted on the young, but what about this?:
Wisdom is wasted on the old!
As defined in the QBQ! book, wisdom is this: “What we learn after we know it all.”
To reach the destination of wisdom, humans must travel the difficult road of the third and fourth decades of life. Otherwise, we might still think we know it all. 🙂
Here are some learnings I believe are found at the destination of wisdom.
15 Pearls of Wisdom
- I’m not always right.
- We were created to create, produce, and work.
- I am not what I do.
- Life is really, really, really short.
- Wealth is not found in titles, possessions, or income.
- Nobody owes me anything.
- Victim and entitlement thinking rob me of my dignity.
- Excuse-making gets me nowhere fast.
- Some battles are worth fighting, others are not.
- Speeding isn’t cool, seat belts are.
- I’m the only person I can change.
- Letting go is a beautiful thing.
- “I’m sorry” works.
- Gratitude/gratefulness always beat griping/complaining.
- My best friend since 1976, Karen, is to be cherished.
Ben Franklin said, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” In a perfect world, we’d be traveling the lumpy and bumpy dirt road forever. With that said, it’s in our twenties and thirties when we <hopefully> find the path to wisdom.
A good place to be.
A final thought:
Watching a TV documentary of the turmoil of the 1960s, I heard a self-described former “hippie” say this:
“Yeah, we thought that all we needed was ‘peace and love,’ but after a year of that, we had nothing to eat so we all got jobs.”
Wisdom.
What can you add to our list of “15 Pearls of Wisdom”?
We’d love to hear your life lessons!
12 Responses
Love deeply
Be a giver
Be true to yourself
Thank you for another inspiring personal accountability quick note. Being a lifelong learner, and now age 55, I’m not sure I “hope” everyone matures mentally, emotionally, etc. between 20 and 40. If that happened to us all, where does that leave us between 40 and ? Personally, I think that we never stop growing and improving on how we see things/options/people, how we think of situations, etc. because unlike the past, the world and everything is changing so rapidly it’s even more important for every generation to see life as a learning and growing process up until they die (or dementia, etc). While we have much to impart on the younger folks, we must also learn from them too as long as we can still use our brain! Of course, that sometimes requires flexing our value system and learning to accept and not judge people who are vastly different than how we were raised/our generation.
Three things my son used to tell me before I went to work:
o “Daddy, don’t say shut up.”
o “Daddy, don’t call anybody stupid.”
o “Daddy, don’t hurt anybody.”
It’s amazing how much better my day goes when I heed his advice.
Also: “Grab opportunity by the beard for it is bald behind” Middle Eastern Proverb
So loved this! I always love your emails but this was especially special.
You don’t know what you don’t know.
A few of my favorite change quotes :
From my graduate school professor: Life is change, if you aren’t changing, you aren’t living
From my mentor: When the pain of change is less than the pain of staying the same, you will make the change.
From a Chinese colleague: The planning can’t keep up with the changing.
Always tell the truth
Nothing in life is guaranteed but change. The only thing we have control over is how we handle it!
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.
“Slowing down helps you to gain traction”
I learned this as i matured as my tendency is to “go fast”, “act fast”, and work “harder”, when sometimes it is actually more productive to slow down and make sure you have the right “traction” in order to move forward as opposed to spinning your wheels and saying in place. You waste a lot of energy spinning your wheels.
Spend your day smiling, it not only changes you, it changes others.
Love is the greatest force in nature
It only takes a small change, a space, to go from God is nowhere to God is now here.