Tag: future

Day 35 Reflection: Build

“Build” is a verb that needs an object. We want to know what someone is building, whether it be a home or a skyscraper or a framework for a theory. In other words, building must have a goal. 

To build has different connotations than to create, because creating can happen out of seemingly nothing, while building connotates taking materials and putting them together in ways that make them useful.

This is why we talk about building our futures, not just creating them. Futures need to be solid and believable. They need to hold our future selves without buckling. We are not comfortable with simply creating our future; we want them to take form and show structural soundness. So we build upon the skills and abilities we already have, the existing structure of our lives, and the resources we think we can acquire. 

We are all builders of our own lives and those of our families. As builders, we must hone our skills, our abilities to put the pieces of our lives together to make a harmonious and functional whole.

Day 28 Reflection: Wisdom

We are told that our elders hold wisdom (and having just reached AARP age, I certainly hope so). But at the same time, as people get older, many become more resistant to change. 

We are told that wisdom comes from experience, but some people learn nothing from their experiences.

How do we discern wisdom, then?

Wisdom doesn’t bubble up out of fear or anger, although fear or anger may make us reach for wisdom. It rises from the still pool at the center of our being.  It may goad us to act or ask us to wait, but it does so with a sense of what has gone before and a great deliberation. The answer it gives is grounded in humankind’s best nature, deep in understanding.

Do not mistake wisdom with the resignation of “things have always been this way”, or the self-righteousness of “things have always been this way”. Wisdom is not about preserving or giving to the past. Wisdom is about learning from the past and using it for advancing a life, a people, a world into its future.