Often we look at our current situations in life and say, “I would be happy, if only I had …” (Fill in the blank)
We believe that our happiness or our success is dependent on gaining something we don’t have. The path to gain that thing can be obscured and seem daunting or even impossible.
I believe that life is to be experienced. These experiences whether they are pleasant or difficult are the seeds that sprout and grow into the learning that produces wisdom. Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Wisdom is the daughter of experience.” He was a man of unquenchable curiosity, considered by some as one of the most diversely talented persons to have ever lived. Look at all the things that he learned and experienced in his life.
Another incredible man, Albert Einstein said, “Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience. You need experience to gain wisdom.”
We can choose to stay stuck in the mud of a difficult experience or we can choose to grow from the struggle and learn amazing lessons as we overcome the hard things.
Experienced based learning is a particular model in formal education, but I believe that the practical application can be seen in everyone’s life.
There are basic four steps. 1 – Concrete experience which is the hands-on experience we learn from. 2 – Reflective Observation is necessary to learn, we consider and ponder what we have experienced. 3 – Abstract Conceptualisation is where we decide what we will do differently next time after we have identified and understood what we experienced. 4 – Active Experimentation is the phase of the cycle where we can test our plan of action to see if it works.
The difficult thing for me is to remember to try to do different things when I am faced with similar experiences. A Narcotics Anonymous quote from 1981 has become very well know, “Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.”
I am trying to gain wisdom through the experiences of my life so that I don’t run through my life making the same mistakes over and over.
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