Growing your Wild Wisdom

Wisdom might be described as the intention to use accumulated knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgements, and to behave in ways that are appropriate for the moment and the long-term.

Everyone accumulates knowledge and experience as they go through life, but not everyone gains wisdom in the process. What’s the difference?  

People who gain wisdom over time pay attention. They intentionally and constantly observe what is going on around them, as well as within themselves. Later, they reflect on their observations and seek to gain new insights and understanding about the world, others, and themselves. With these reflections, they imagine how they might make better decisions and judgements, and might behave in ways that are more appropriate. Beyond that, they not only intend to follow through on what they imagine, they act on it. Of course when they act, they observe and reflect.  Wisdom is gained by following the Continuous Learning Spiral. 

Our current dominant cultural paradigm — what I’m calling the Conventional Paradigm — favors action and reaction over reflection and imagination. Who’s got the time for that? Instead of using our accumulated knowledge and experience to learn ever more, we look at them as personal assets to hoard and to keep ahead of or suppress the competition. The older we get the more we think we know — especially compared to others. Being open-minded, learning from others, imagining new ways to be in the world, and striving to become a better person suggests that you’re not already on top of your game. It’s better to show confidence than curiosity. That’s how it works in the “real world”.

By contrast, Nature’s Paradigm values curiosity, exploring and engaging with systems, and seeking synergies. Nature flourishes by continuously learning. Since you are a biological being, you are born with Nature’s Paradigm and the capacity for Wild Wisdom. You are operating from your Natural Paradigm when you experience wonder and awe, when your imagination runs wild, when you are inspired by others (including non-humans), when you are authentically listening, when you are humble. 

You can grow your Wild Wisdom by re-discovering, strengthening, and practicing living from your Natural Paradigm — especially when you’re engaging with the “real world”. In the process, you’ll flourish and contribute to a flourishing world. 
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If you’d like to explore this further, I invite you to download the [free] Tiny Transformation Workbook which will give you tiny peeks into the “Conventional Paradigm” and the “Natural Paradigm”, and then a tiny experience of intentionally living from your Natural Paradigm.