Wisdom and the Pursuit of Meaning in Life
I just got back from the airport, where I found myself with an hour and a few minutes to spare. So, of course, I pulled out my phone and started mindlessly scrolling through my Facebook feed. It wasn't until the middle of catching up on what everyone in high school is doing now that I realized how absurd this entire process has become.
We live in an age where we are constantly inundated with information about our friends’ lives—good or bad. The result? We spend our days focused on other people's successes when really we should be focused on living more fulfilling lives ourselves.
Let's take a moment to think about the concept of wisdom. Wisdom is defined as "the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment." In other words, we all have our own truths that we have learned through life. We all have an abundance of knowledge about the world we live in and are innately able to make good judgments based on this information. So why then do we feel the need to compare ourselves to others? We are all swimming in pools of abundance; yet we often feel like we're lacking in something or another. It's these feelings that make us compare and contrast ourselves with others and subsequently define our lives by what seems more successful.
This is where the concept of meaning comes into play. Meaning is something that helps us to define our lives based on our truths, to make up for what we feel we may have "missed" in life. For some people, this can mean a meaningful job, a nice house, or many other tangible things in life. Others draw meaning out of their relationships with family and close friends. Still others may find it in the simple act of being outdoors in nature or simply taking a walk around the neighborhood. The point is that all of these things can help us to live happier lives because they are driven by our truths and the intentions behind them.
The problem is that when we are constantly distracted by what others are doing, it is very difficult to stop and think about our own truths and the intentions behind them. We often spend the bulk of our days focusing on our "want to haves," neglecting the "have to haves." For example, I am a runner. During my freshman year, I was training for my high school track team. I had a coach who would run with me nearly every day after school in order to train me for track meets. After many miles of running together, he was talking about how he would have to focus more on recovery because he was getting older and needed more rest between workouts than when he was younger. I told him that it was no problem for me to run on my own because I could just do my training on my own. Sure enough, a few weeks later he stopped running with me and focused more on his own recovery. Not only did I not get to run with the person who had essentially helped train me for the past four years, but I also missed out on learning from him. What was worse, I didn't even realize this until weeks later when it hit me that without us running together, he wasn't around to help keep me motivated in my workouts.
Now let's relate this back to our Facebook newsfeeds—many people are going through the same thing but never realize it. In a world where information is speeding up at an astronomical rate, we have less time to process things. In order to do so, we naturally start comparing ourselves with others and finding fault in our lives because we didn't get the opportunity to go on that European vacation or become a CEO. Our minds are constantly trying to catch up with the technology around us; how can they not?
As so many people are familiar with the saying, "Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it," it's clear that this is a very important point to make. We live in an age where everything has changed but people—and that's okay! It's important not only for us as individuals but also for society as a whole. The reason for this is simple: the more we keep ourselves busy with other people's successes, the less time we have to focus on our own. The less time we have to focus on our own truths and intentions, the more likely it is that we'll end up going through life missing out on what really matters. We will be defined by what others are doing instead of by what we are trying to achieve.
I recently re-watched a movie I had seen many years ago called "The Pursuit of Happyness." In the film, Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith, is a struggling homeless man who struggles to make ends meet day after day. In the film, he is shown that being persistent and hard working can result in success. He then goes on to tell the audience, "If you want something to change, you have to change."
This is a very important point for all of us to remember. If what we are doing isn't producing the results we want it will be very difficult or impossible for us to change it. So how do we change things? The answer is simple: We have to learn from what others did in their previous lives and apply those lessons specifically for our current goals, then follow through with them. It's this process that will help us make progress towards our own truths in life.
So how do we get started? The first step is to spend time with people who have already succeeded. I'm not saying that all the best ideas in life will come from talking to people who have already made it; but if the person you're talking to has an interesting story, it's a good place to start. It doesn't matter if this other person is 30 years old or 60 years old; as long as they are living a life that you aspire to live, you'll learn something from them.
The next step is to learn from our mistakes. Our personal histories are filled with so many failures and countless mistakes that we make throughout our lives. But every good idea and successful achievement that we see used by others will result in something new, something better—if we simply learn from our mistakes. For example, when I was in high school I tried my hand at writing a weekly column for my high school newspaper. Instead of writing about whatever I thought would be interesting or funny, I focused on what other people were saying in the paper and basically copied it as best as possible. The end result was that nobody wanted to read the column because it was already being covered in the newspaper. That's why I always tell readers to never try and copy anything someone else is doing. It's relevant only to them, and they will likely have no interest in it.
The final point I would like to leave you with is this: If we want change to happen, we have to be willing to do the work ourselves. We can't expect others to help us turn things around; otherwise, we'll never know the results of what we are trying because they won't share them. We can only make progress by approaching each situation individually and making sure that what we are doing is what gets us closer towards our own truths and intentions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we are all going through the same things but may not realize our problems because we compare ourselves with others. This is why it's important for you to become aware of your own truths and intentions by spending time with other successful people and learning from your mistakes. This will help you become more productive in all areas of your life.
A very big thank you to everyone for reading this article and sharing it, as well as visitors who have left comments, which helps us remain motivated every day.