#reverb10 - Wisdom

 

 

 

I'm semi-participating in #Reverb10 this December (as time allows).

Prompt:  December 10 – Wisdom What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out? (Author: Susannah Conway)

The wisest decision I made this year was to not put pressure on myself to partcipate in Reverb10 every single day this month!  OK, just kidding…well, not really .  December is a busy month and the last thing any of us needs is more pressure! 

Wisdom.  We seem to accumulate it as we travel through life.  It’s a trial and error kind of thing, as in, “sheesh, I’ll never do that again” or “WTH was I thinking!”.  Yeah, more like that. 

It’s not something we can read about, intellectualize and absorb…that’s called “smart”.  Wisdom usually comes with a  broken heart, a loss, maybe some anger, a lot of tears, a bruised ego; it’s much more experiential.

This year has been interesting for me because it’s like all the "wisdoms" I’ve learned over my whole lifetime just clicked.  They just went click, click, click, click, click…into one giant CLICK!  And what was this giant CLICK, you may be asking?

It may not feel very profound or even very wise to others, but the giant click for me was that all of life is uncertain.  We'll never get to a place where everything is "certain"...there will never, ever be any certainty in life.  As long as we’re looking for certainty, (read: control over life) we’ll be in pain. I always knew that intellectually, but my little inner controller hadn't really accepted it.

THERE IS NO CERTAINTY. 

And that’s OK.   I’m learning to relax into uncertainty. 

Accepting this has given me the permission to let go of the need to feel in control…which in turn, gives me a new perspective of being open to possibilities.  It’s about reframing the context of uncertainty.  "Uncertain" stops being “bad” or “scary” and begins to mean “new possibilities” that were unknown to me before.  

Do you remember, how exciting it was when you were young, to get one those new giant boxes of crayons with so many choices to colour with?  (I never actually got a really giant box, but I coveted them.)  Relaxing into the knowing that life is...and always will be...“uncertain” is a bit like that…it opens up a new and bigger box of crayons with unheard of new colours and hues to play with. 

So here I am, ending 2010 by colouring a new and uncertain experience with a brand new, giant box of crayons.  Ahhh, the possibilites!  I think I'll start with "Wild Watermelon".

Wishing you all a beautiful and colourful weekend!

Comments

[Olivia]

Oh, I so enjoyed this post, and learned from it too, kate. I'm like a broken record, I know, but I really like these posts in which you share a bit more of yourself! Thank you for sharing, xoO

[Serena]

That makes so much sense, Kate. Life experience does bring wisdom and the understanding that life itself is fluid and constantly changing.