Wisdom: Sometimes I'm Wise and Sometimes I'm Otherwise

'Ducunt fata volentem, nolentem trahunt'

'The Fates guide those who go willingly. All others they drag.'

From the Profound to the Practical

Ever since 'Sammy the Psychic', a radio personality, showed up in my very grounded and concrete-thinking sister's dream years ago, we've referred to her intuition as 'Sammy', as in 'What's Sammy telling you?'.

Being the 'intuitive and insightful' one who loves leading life management workshops to ask people emotionally difficult questions, I would often test out the 'squirm-factor' to questions before I used them in workshops on my 'both-feet-on-the-ground' sister in the years before Sammy showed up. 

She hated answering the future-oriented questions I posed, but she did. Questions like 'If I had my life to do over I would...' or  'If I had all the time and money in the world what would I do with my life? or 'The most important thing I ever did was....' made her squirm.

Over the years 'Sammy' appeared more frequently as Nancy learned to trust her insights more, and today she's gained an acquired taste for dealing with the profound future-oriented questions of life. 

But before you think I see myself as the wise one and Nancy as the mere commoner walking on the path to wisdom, know I believe wisdom comes in many forms and everyone has their own form of wisdom inside to share with others. 

We are all but commoners walking on our path to wisdom, and whether we like it or not, life has a way of stretching and strengthening us to expand our vision of life no matter our starting point. 

The expression of wisdom can extend from the profound and insightful to the practical and present. It is not simply contained in a few to be bestowed on the masses. Wisdom exists in each one of us.

Nancy's horse, GUS, contemplates the universe

Horses, Not Zebras


Nancy's natural wisdom comes in the form of horse-sense...and that's a horse of a different color.

Too often 'wisdom' is viewed narrowly as the 'wise teachings of the ancient sages' or as someone having the insight or ability to discern inner qualities and relationships. Yet having horse or common sense is an equally valuable form of wisdom, providing practical good judgment for solving life's challenges. 

Nancy aka Sammy often advises me, look for horses, not zebras--encouraging me to look for the most likely commonplace answer rather than the exotic. She reminds me 'you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink', or 'when you fall off a horse you get back up'. 

The beauty of horse-sense is it is a practical, action-oriented form of wisdom. It states the obvious and encourages you to act on what you know.

We all start with our own wise vantage point. Listening to the wisdom within you can mean accessing the profound or paying attention to the obvious and acting on what you know. Wisdom begins by tapping into your own inner wisdom to recognize the solution to your problem is right under your nose.

Gus asks 'What solution is right under your nose?'

What Good is Wisdom if it Doesn't Enhance Our Lives?

While there are many interpretations of the meaning of wisdom, what matters is how we use it to enhance our lives and the lives of those around us. For me, the Hebrew definition, 'to apply what I know', is the more important one. Time and again I rediscover what I know in order to put it to good use in my life. For me, taking a step--any step--to move life forward is always the ultimate wisdom. 

Greek Wisdom:      'To have knowledge.'
Hebrew Wisdom:  'To apply what you know.'

It always amazes me when I discover I've put common sense wisdom on the shelf. We all need a Sammy the Psychic to live inside us and point us in the right direction. We need to stop and make ourselves pay attention to what we know. To be truly wise, we have to see when we are not.

Sometimes we're wise....and sometimes we're otherwise. 

Wisdom for the Ages:

 "Never try to teach a pig how to sing, it wastes your time and annoys the pig." 

Robert Heinlein

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.


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