Wisdom
“the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment”
When I think of wisdom, I’m reminded of the beginning portion of the Serenity Prayer:
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
From the perspective of this prayer I sense that we acquire wisdom from having had experiences where we recognized that no matter how hard we tried, not matter how painful it was, we surrendered to it knowing that it was out of our control to change.
We also acquire wisdom from having have had experiences where we recognized that “oh…this is something I do have control over…it scares me, it’s unfamiliar territory, but this is something I _CAN_ change, something I _MUST_ change”.
In some cases we don’t even have to have the experience ourselves. We learned from the experiences of others. With that awareness, we can better discern what’s ours to change and what’s ours to let go.
We can also delve into our memory banks to assess what has worked for us in the past and what has not. The important thing that we learn from both is how best to put this knowledge to good use, especially when it comes to our relationships with ourselves and others.
Essentially we learn that through experience and knowledge we gain wisdom. And as the title of this prayer suggests…through wisdom we gain serenity… along with happiness, increased courage, more confidence, and better decision-making skills.
How about you? Is wisdom a core value for you?
BTW…here’s what it looked like to begin with…
joyfully,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
inspiring and encouraging creativity, curiosity, and play through the art of mandalas
About the 2024 Mandalas of the Day
Each day I will create and post a mandala inspired by one of 366 “value” words chosen randomly. The objective being to discover for myself which ones would best represent my core values…and by doing so, I hope it inspires you to determine your own.
Mandala of the Day 