We have taken about 18 months off to collectively take a breath and work through all those Covid variants – Delta, Omnicron and whatever is happening now. But there does seem to be a renewed optimism as we transition to the fall and back to school. New York City just lifted their subway mask mandate and our children don’t have to wear masks in schools anymore. It seems we can now re-emerge into our new normal world with fresh eyes and renewed perspective. The timing seems right for more wisdom and more lessons.
Since we last connected a lot has happened – you and I have changed more than we probably recognize. We are growing and improving more and more all the time. Better at being a spouse, or a parent. Better at being a colleague or friend. We are certainly learning lessons from these past 2.5 years that will stay with us for a lifetime.
I recently heard my pastor say that wisdom is knowledge applied, skills for living well. A simple, yet stunning definition of wisdom that has become imprinted on me. I have been challenged and inspired by this idea of applying knowledge to life. The experiences we all have become wisdom when we learn from them. And when we let our greatest difficulties, obstacles and losses become greatest educators – it is then that we start to see as my friend Lindy might say – life as abundance and not scarcity.
Richard Rohr is a Franciscan Friar who leads the Center for Contemplative Action in New Mexico is one of the deepest thinkers I know when it comes to wisdom. In Rohr’s book Falling Upwards he shares an insight from Carl Jung that life comes in two halves. When I read this I was so overwhelmed by the idea I literally had to put the book down and go outside. Because the idea simply floored me. I will paraphrase here, but in short it goes like this…
Life comes in two halves. The first half is about building a container – everything we achieve, accumulate, assemble and add to our lives in order to build a beautiful, identifiable, and durable container.
The second half of life begins when we understand what it is we are to put in it.
Beyond container building, but knowing what to pour out and what to pour into our collective containers. And I believe a lot of that is the collective wisdom – the skills for living well. This season we will have 10 new episodes that will come out like paychecks – every two weeks. So you have a week to process and think about the lesson that someone has taken a lifetime to learn – only seems appropriate.
So again, I hope you will join us on the journey. Tell a friend, I hope you will subscribe and rate and review the podcast on Apple or wherever you listen to podcasts.
I hope you will listen to all 10 episodes because this is what I know – this season will challenge and inspire, these conversations will shape us and grow us. Our perspectives will expand and our hearts will be full.
This is where knowledge is applied.
Where we learn skills for living well.
An inventory of wisdom.
This is Season 2 of the Everything is Lessons Podcast.
