By Duncan Rinehart, Ph.D.
Seems a common view that wisdom comes with age. As we gain experiences, deal with setbacks and hardships, make mistakes and experience their consequences over many years we gain a broader and more subtle understanding of people and situations. We gain wisdom.
In some cultures, older people are respected, even revered for having survived into old age, but also for the wisdom they likely have gained and the benefits that wisdom offers to their families and communities. Here in the US, older people are not as respected as in other parts of the world and the wisdom elders have gained may not be as valued. Yet one of the “gifts” that seniors may find is an enriched, deeper even enlightened understanding – wisdom.
Wisdom and age
Wisdom is not automatically conferred with age. Wisdom needs to be cultivated and nurtured to some degree in earlier years. I have often thought that wisdom is where intellect or reason meets intuition, how thinking balances and blends with “gut feeling”. Now in my 70’s I think it is more than finding that balance. Developing wisdom seems to also need introspection – the practice of reflection on and awareness of subtle changes in our thoughts and feelings. To ground that statement a bit, the practice of looking at how we work through hardships, and being honest about our mistakes and how those have hurt others and us are some of the ways through which wisdom may emerge in our later years.
Wisdom and wellness
So, how can we older folk access the gift of wisdom, of our decades of life with its inevitable challenges, struggles, triumphs, and joys? (This is where this blog ties into wellness.) If you don’t have a reflective practice, consider developing one. There are many reflective practices. Some of the common ones are meditation, journaling, and contemplative prayer. Of these, there are many varieties or different ways of doing the practice. Find one that fits your lifestyle and gives you greater inner peace then do it consistently. Psychotherapy can be a reflective practice.
A reflective practice can not only help you consolidate your lifetime of experience into wisdom, it can also help you cultivate emotional and spiritual aspects of your wellness which can support you in healing and dealing with some of the physical challenges of aging.
Aging and wellness
If you do have a reflective practice or are interested in how your lifetime of experience can benefit the people and/or issues you care about, consider some of the exercises in Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ronald Miller’s book, From Age-ing to Sage-ing (1995) or Ron Pevny’s book, Conscious Living Conscious Aging (2014). These can help consolidate your lived experience with your reflective practice in your senior years.
Using it?
If cultivated, wisdom can come with age. And there is wisdom in pursuing wellness especially as we age. There is wisdom in minimizing health care costs, in slowing loss of capacity, in staying engaged with our communities and people we love for example. How each of us translates our experiences and what we have learned from them to benefit our families and communities remains our individual choice. Pursuing wellness certainly seems wise and promotes the emergence and use of wisdom.
These are just some thoughts on wisdom but certainly not the final words. Watch this blog for more thoughts on wisdom as they emerge. Also, please send comments about this blog to me through the “contact me” part of this website. Stay well!