Does Wisdom Come With Age?

Many people believe that with age, comes wisdom.  The truth is that unless we look at our experiences as we grow older and learn the lesson from these opportunities, we will not gain wisdom.  Sometimes we refuse to accept the lessons offered to us in these experiences.  We may be so prideful, stubborn, or insecure that we refuse to open ourselves to new ideas.  

Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age. Sometimes age just shows up all by itself.

Tom Wilson

I suggest we refuse to think of time as linear, but instead as like folding a fan with a piece of paper.  In doing this, we see that our life will be a continuous folding in upon itself offering us numerous opportunities with the same lessons.  Any mistake or lesson of the past, will be repeated for us until it is learned.  

Our feelings and emotions that were not dealt with in our past will be repeated for us so that we can process and deal with them in the present.  You can validate any emotions from your childhood now as an adult.

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

Socrates

Steps to validate your feelings:

• Stop: Pause what you are doing and recognize the feeling you are having.
• Notice: Pay attention to your surrounding events that initiated the feeling. 
• Identify: Name the feeling that is in your body.
• Track: Think back in your life and see if you can determine why you are having this feeling.
• Validate: Speak to yourself as if talking to a friend.  Be kind and understanding.  

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.

Michelangelo

Be determined to become a person who grows wiser while getting older.  Have an open, engaging way of thinking and be willing to face the truth of your life.  Cultivate an attitude of learning from your mistakes and you will become stronger and wiser as you age.