Creating Wisdom
Creating Wisdom
A Sixty-Word Short Story: *
No one could tell Jonathan anything. He knew it all, and let you know it when he was in your presence. He was always the smartest person in the room; even if we knew he wasn’t, he acted like he was. He was the boss, and he had all of the answers, except when it came to his own feelings.
And more…
Knowledge has quite a bandwidth. There is so much that we can know and categorize and memorize and build upon because, as we learn, we add to our perspective. We merge the new facts with the old and we temper the process with experience, context and intuition. The net result is intellectual growth, and it’s often translated into success based on the formula of the more we know, the more we can achieve.
Emotional growth however is not so simple. Emotions are not easily separated and distinct. Anger, fear, love, greed etc.- all of the primary emotional possibilities exist in partnership with and are intermingled with other emotions as well as facts. Anger has a reason it appears and so does love, fear and the rest. And unlike intellectual growth, which allows us to build on what we learn, emotional growth can be elusive, and hence there are folks like Jonathan that know it all but somehow don’t “get it.” They seem to lack the emotional empathy needed to grow.
We’re all on a learning curve to somehow create balance between the what’s that we learn and the how it makes us feel when we do. A combination of both helps us translate life’s many challenges so we can understand “why.” Knowing why we are who we are, and do what we do, gives us the emotional leverage we need to truly succeed. Where the smarts meets the heart. That’s where true wisdom forms. And from there the possibilities are endless.
Final Thought: When we meld the facts of our lives with our feelings about those facts we can emerge into a new realm, where perspective, context and insight collectively yield power. It’s called wisdom.
* The Premise (Opening short story): Always 60 words. No more. No Less. For more stories like this and information about my books, please visit www.szenzone.com
Szenzone – Stories of life and the power to change yours – is sent via email by request and is published weekly or thereabouts. For back issues or to receive this publication directly please email [email protected] © Gary Szenderski 2025 All Rights Reserved. Gary is an author, branding specialist and teaches at the University of California in Irvine. He specializes in helping people and organizations navigate change – if you or your company needs assistance contact Gary directly. Gary resides in Southern California and welcomes your comments.