We all have gotten tripped up before. We’ve believed the wrong thing, we’ve made wrong decisions, we’ve had wrong beliefs, and we’ve gone down the wrong path. This is part of being human, it’s happened to us before and it’ll happen to us again. The way to success, to a life of meaning is not through never making mistakes. If that was the case then no human could ever achieve success or a life of meaning. Instead it’s about constantly moving forward, not giving up, and constantly learning and growing with each and every day.
However with that being said the less mistakes that we can make the faster and further that we can move each and every day. That’s not to say you should beat yourself up for making mistakes, not at all. All of us are going to make mistakes, no matter what. Put another way, mistakes are inevitable and beating yourself for something inevitable is pretty foolish. Just make sure to learn from your mistakes. But back to how to make less mistakes and streamline your way to achievement, success, and a life of meaning.
Wisdom, in a word, is the key to moving down the path to where you want to go in the most efficient and effective manner possible while also ensuring that it’s a generally good path. But how does one acquire wisdom? Wisdom is something beyond simple acquirement of knowledge, it’s also the ability to think critically, to recognize patterns, to make connections from those patterns, but then something even more than that, an intangible quality that’s hard to describe with words.
Ways To Help Yourself Gain Wisdom
There are two general ways to gain knowledge that should lead to wisdom. That is experience and being told something. So for example you could learn that a glowing red stove is hot by touching it and burning your finger or by having someone else tell you that the stove is hot. In order to learn and grow we need both experience and what we’ll call “learning” to progress in the most efficient and effective manner. To progress in the most healthy and natural manner. Two things I’ve talked about before but I’ll mention quickly here.
The first is to read books. Books, as great as articles, social media posts, videos, lectures, audiobooks, and the like are, nothing can replace a book. So make sure that you’re reading books. In the reading of books, both fiction and non, you can lessons and knowledge easily that others have often worked their entire lives for. Giants are offering their shoulders to stand on, if we would just take them up on their offer. Trying to do everything yourself means you’ll never get much of anywhere fast.
But with that being said you need to mix that with your own knowledge and experience. You should always be seeking out new experiences, ways to challenge yourself, ways to get outside of your comfort zone. Things that’ll put you in something new and unfamiliar. Visit a foreign country, try to learn a new skill, try a new restaurant, take a dance lesson, visit museums, natural wonders, and so on and so forth. Always seek out new experiences so that you can learn and gain knowledge. Try something new, the rewards might be richer than you think. Doesn’t have to be always, but every now and then make sure you’re getting out of your comfort zone.
Beware The Trappers
Read and try new things. Two simple but powerful things. However those only deal with yourself, what we’re going to look at next is avoiding those that would trap and limit you for their own purposes. Understand that our society is designed and functions on a sort of trapping system. People need to be limited and put into their tiny boxes in order to be limited, counted, and controlled. And there are thousands of professions designed to make sure that you stay in line.
You have to be careful who you trust and always ask yourself, whenever someone is giving you information or advice, what is this person’s stake in this? It’s ironic people laugh at how in ages past, people would believe the greatest nonsense simply if the individual speaking the nonsense wore the robes of a priest. Yet today we do the exact same things. The robes may have changed to white coats or three piece suits but the same amount of nonsense gets spewed and passed around.
Remember that if you ever find yourself in agreement with the crowd, with the masses, you might want to take a second and rethink some things. Know that most out there are not working for your benefit, they are working for their own. Don’t trust everyone you’re told to trust. The news lies, politicians lie, the media lies, teachers lie, preachers lie, scientists lie, doctors lie, family lies, you even lie to yourself. I’m not saying become paranoid just don’t always accept things at face value.
Look at things and ask yourself “Is that true? Or is there another reason this person is pushing or saying this?” ask yourself “why?”. And keep digging, seek the truth of things, look beyond the shining facades. Think about things. The world is full of trappers that want you locked in a cage so they can do what the will with you. So you are useful and pliable to their wants and desires. Most end up off track because they trust the trappers, they trust their enslavers.
Think.
The Path To A Life Of Meaning
So there is a two parts of advice here. The first is to develop wisdom. Two of the best ways to do this are to seek our new experiences and read, read, read and then read some more. And books, not articles, posts, or whatever else. Read books that someone took the time and effort to make. Think critically, recognize patterns, then make connections from those patterns. Everything is connected in the world around you, most are just too blind to see.
Second, beware the trappers. Seek to cultivate wisdom in yourself and then learn to identify and then either avoid or mitigate the trappers. They come in many shapes and sizes. Learn to identify thoughts, thought patterns, and beliefs that may have been placed there by the trappers and see if its limiting you and your development. We’ve all fallen to trappers before they generally strike when we’re young and vulnerable. But awareness is the first step to gaining freedom. So be aware and go out there with both eyes wide open.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it.
-Charles Sledge
