Wisdom: it comes from experiences both good and not so good.

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"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." "A penny saved is a penny earned." "Make sure you wear clean underwear".  OK that last one might be a stretch, but lets face it, we each have been taught certain things in life.  This wealth of wisdom from others who have experienced things in life is there to help us when we need it most.  Learning from the past, learning from other's misfortunes or missteps, is often one of the ways we are shaped.  The wisdom in all of this is to learn from things that will keep us from making the same mistake as others in the hope that we don't have to go through what others have gone through.

As parents we have tried to teach our children not to make the same mistakes we made, but with pretty much 100 percent certainty they will still make those mistakes.  Try as we might to help them out of a jam by explaining what to do, they seem hell bent on making those mistakes so they can experience whatever it is they desire to experience.  Not the wisest thing to do, but then again, wisdom does come from trials and tribulations.

I'm not certain what makes an owl wise.  It could be that the owl understands nature, the cycle of things, and with each cycle comes actions that come pretty natural to the owl.  The owl might be considered wise because it knows it's territory and knows what is available to it, and how to get it when needed.  I guess you could come up with a list of a hundred things that describe the wisdom of the owl, but suffice it to say, wisdom is what keeps this creature going.  Wisdom is what will keep each of us going, and with each situation we face, wisdom can change the outcome of pretty much everything in life.

I have learned over the years to not discount what has happened before, as it will probably happen again in the future.  It may not be identical to something that has already taken place, but you can pretty much bet there will be some similarities.  If one is wise, full of wisdom, then you will draw on past experience to help you through situations.  Why re-invent the wheel when you already have the solution to the problem?

I began writing this blog Sunday night, and mid-sentence was prompted to stop and when Monday came I was headed in a different direction.  I changed the entire entry and when it came time to publish the new blog I lost it all.  I went to try to find the one that I had written and behold this one popped back up.  I'm not sure what happened but I have learned over the years that things happen for a reason so I will continue on with this topic and see where it leads us today.  Sorry for the side bar, but bizarre is all I can say.

So back to wisdom.  Wisdom comes with a price tag attached to it.  Sometimes it comes cheap and at other times it has a hefty amount assigned to it.  Often people will run from those times that appear to cost too much, but like many things in life you get what you pay for.  There are times when we learn more because of the cost associated with something rather then going the cheapest route possible.  I know in my life that the wisdom I have accumulated over the years has always been worth the price I paid, even if I did not see it in the moment.

When we look at our lives we see things as we perceive them.  We may have others around us who see things differently, but in the end, it is all dependent upon how you see them.  You are the arbitrator of what goes on in your life.  How you handle each situation is going to be vastly different then how someone else might handle it.  What you gain or what you learn from each situation is going to be different from others who may not have been involved to the degree of your involvement.  We must get to the point where we focus on things that pertain to us and not be moved by what others think or say.  The wisdom that you gain from any experience is what moves you forward in your walk, your purpose, your destiny.

I may not have enjoyed everything that I have gone through in my life, but I can assure you that I have learned from every situation I have been in.  As much as I try not to make the same mistake twice I can also assure you that I have fallen down more then once in what I have done.  Each time I fall I pick myself up, think about what happened and try to remember what not to do in the future.  Wisdom is not so much never making the same mistake twice, but rather not stopping because in fact you are having to do things over yet again.  Wisdom is knowing that everything, as I have said before is a learning experience, and in said learning experience, you are growing with each occurrence.

I would love to say that gaining wisdom is never painful, but you and I know differently.   The great thing about wisdom is that you will always have the opportunity to prove things out.  You will always have the opportunity to do things over, and you will always have the opportunity to grow through each experience.  There is no lost opportunity in life if you will try to find the good in everything, even if the good comes from bad.

I have over the years been through some pretty crappy situations, but I have also grown to accept those things I cannot change, and not loose sleep over things that in the end mean very little.  I focus on what I can do, and not on what I can't do.  I will never change certain things in life.  As much as I might dislike certain things in life, they are there to teach me something.  Wisdom is letting life happen the way it needs to happen, and then making your next move.  Wisdom says there will always be a tomorrow and you will be a part of it.  Your spirit is eternal, thus making you eternal.  There is a lot you can accomplish when you know of the infinite nature of your being.  Wisdom is a part of you, and when you accept this, you are one step closer to enlightenment.