What lessons have I learned…….
If I’m past mid-life….where exactly am I? I’d like to think I’m on the road to being wise – cruising through the wisdom part of the trip. Isn’t that the next leg of the journey. Let me check the itinerary….
Age: 45-50…….mid-life ✓
Age: 51 -60 not yet ready for dying…….age of wisdom – In Transit.
Yep, I’m in the age of Wisdom. Which begs the question – what have I learned. What wisdom have I gained over the years through trials and tribulations, every day challenges, wrongs done me and by me. Books read – paragraphs underlined, quotes taped to walls and mirrors, pithy and deep sayings on signature of outgoing emails, more than a few counseling sessions, journals kept. Ample opportunity. So, what have I learned…..how wise am I?
My mind is flooded with all the lessons I’ve “learned”. Pearls of wisdom are popping into my head so quickly I can barely type fast enough before new ones jump in and threaten to push the others out. So much learning over my 58 years. So many hard fought lessons have come my way. Must be some sort of guru, if I can just parse it well enough for publication. Drawing all these lessons up from my deep well of knowledge has tired me out. Time for bed. I shut the laptop…smug in my confidence at having made such an excellent start on this Wisdom chapter.
Next morning I get up early, feed Littles, grab his leash and head out the door for our morning amble around the neighborhood. We always go out early. I’ve learned if I wait until after 7:00 a.m. there are other dogs out and about. Our delightful, obnoxious and much loved screwy mix of canine genes believes it’s his job to bark ferociously at any and all fellow dogs – the bigger the better. It’s embarrassing. Messes with my contemplative state and everyone else’s.
We’re out early enough, no one disturbs our meanderings. I’m going over in my mind what I’d written the night before. All The Lessons Learned. A thought slips unbidden into my head – what lessons have I learned that I put into practice in my daily life?
Oh……….well, if I phrase it that way, not so many. Very few actually. If I limit my list to those nuggets of wisdom I have successfully woven into my daily life the list shortens dramatically. My answer would fit in a single Tweet. Crap! There goes my chapter…….
“You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him find it within himself.”
– Galileo
