MINDSET
The Meaning and Relevance of Wisdom
(ThinkBig Magazine)
By Amir Zoghi
Most people believe that to be wise is to be of superior intelligence. They believe a wise person must have years of experience and possibly even a few grey hairs to prove it. But if that is what you believe about wisdom then I am hoping, in the space of this article, to turn that illusory image on its greying head of hair.
Wisdom is our natural state of being; it is our birth rite to be wise. I am not talking about the birth rite of one or two of the “special” people amongst us, I am referring to anyone who is (and is not) reading this right now. You, Think Big reader, are inherently wise.
Having wisdom has nothing to do with your intelligence or the skill sets you have acquired through life to date. It has nothing to do with your family or the country you were born in, nor does it have anything to do with the clothes you wrap yourself in daily. It has nothing to do with the home you live in or the work that you do. Wisdom does, however, have everything to do with your willingness to acknowledge who you truly are, and allow your actions to be driven from a place of intuitive, authentic and unconditional Love.
As human beings we all have an inner feeling that speaks to us often. It is called intuition. Our intuition speaks to us in feelings that guide us towards what our soul is truly seeking from life. The thoughts and feelings that well up from your being’s core is your intuition attempting to communicate with you, and acting on its guidance creates wisdom.
Most people, when faced with a problem, allow their learned logic and analytical minds to get in the way of their authentic inner voice. When life decisions are made using your head instead of your heart, more often than not they are fuelled by fear; the fear of lacking or losing security, possessions and/or status.
As I sit here, ponder and write about wisdom, I am allowing my own inner intuitive voice to speak to me about the subject matter and spill forth onto the page through my own soul expression. When you act on your intuition, intuitive knowledge becomes wisdom. The biggest hurdle for most people, however, is their willingness (or lack of) to listen and, most importantly, then to act on their intuitive guidance accordingly. Most people will afford their intuition only minimal consideration before weighing up the analytical pros and cons to make their final decisions in life.
Then there are people who very naturally allow their heart driven thoughts and feelings to guide their life actions and expressions and ultimately become known as being part of the wise set amongst us. Those who allow their thoughts and actions to be driven from their heads end up seeking counsel from the wise when life gets tough. But we all have the ability to listen to our hearts and follow its guidance to live wisely.
Mastering the art of wisdom by tuning into the inner heart feelings is a challenge worth accepting. He or she who is able to listen to their heart, clearly interpret its message and act on its guidance becomes truly wise and will live a life rooted firmly in love that is protected by wisdom.
So how do you transform your intuition into wisdom for every day use?
Intuition is a soul expression that is begging you to release it into the world. The more you can tune in to your inner voice, the more intimate knowledge and information you will gain about yourself and soon you will have everything you need in order to be live a life that is full of Love and wisdom. If you are not used to acting on your intuition, it is a practice that may be somewhat daunting at first, but it will become easier quite quickly and your wisdom will enable you to lead a life that empowers you to be, do and have only things that you Love in your life. When you allow yourself to live with wisdom, you allow yourself to be truly free.
So if wisdom is already part of who you are, expressed through your intuition, then the only person who can possibly getting in the way of accessing it is you. How? Every time you actively use your head rather than listening to your intuition to answer your questions, you are in the way. How many times have you felt an answer to a question rise up within you, or felt drawn to a particular course of action, only to talk yourself out of it after giving it some good logical thought?
This is the process people who are not accessing their wisdom go through almost every time they make a decision. By using this decision making formula, they will never feel 100 per cent happy with the choices they make. What these people don’t know, however, is that all they have to do is act on their inner voice and allow their wisdom to lead them to a life full of happiness, love and fulfilment. Wisdom is the transformation of intuitive feeling through speech or action, and has everything to do with your ability to hear and then act on what your intuitive feeling is trying to communicate.
But let’s stop for a minute to look at the difference between a feeling that comes from the heart, your intuition, and one that is produced by the head. Heart feelings are short, pure, authentic and clear. They arise from the present moment rather than the future or past and they talk to you with a sense of knowingness. There is no need for justification and there is no agenda attached to them. They are what they are. Head feelings, on the other hand, are driven by logical thought and use future ideals or past experience as their reference. Head feelings always have a story attached to them to justify the feeling.
Most people are not aware of their heart feelings (intuition), and if they are, they find it difficult to distinguish between them and their head feelings. Instead of acting on an intuitive feeling to transform it into wisdom, most people start thinking and allow logic to talk them out of what their intuition was guiding them to do in the first place.
The type of feeling that you act on the most – heart or head – will become the dominant inspiration in your decision making process. If you act more consistently on your heart feelings, then heart will become your dominant personal counsel and wisdom will become an active component of your daily life.
So I hope you can now understand, or maybe you have even have felt in your heart, that wisdom has nothing to do with the quality of your intellect, or the number of grey hairs on your thinning or full head of hair. Wisdom is, in fact, available to every single breathing human being at any moment in time.
To access your deep well of personal wisdom, first stop to become aware of your inner voice and then act on its advice to lead a life full of wisdom. Intuitive knowledge that is not applied in the world is just a shadow of wisdom, and can never be wisdom itself.
Go ahead and live your wisdom now,
Amir Zoghi