Introverts, Tap Into Your Practical Wisdom

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” Aristotle

What is wisdom?

I grew up believing that you had to be old to be wise. Now people are turning to AI for answers. But artificial intelligence doesn’t know everything and you don’t need to be old to be wise. Perhaps the ultimate wisdom is in knowing yourself. But how do we truly know ourselves? Humans have been asking this question forever. Here are some ideas to help you get started.

5 Techniques for Developing Wisdom

These 5 techniques are from The University of Chicago‘s Center for Practical Wisdom.

1. Be open to new experiences even if it means moving out of your comfort zone.
2. Show compassion and empathy. Try putting yourself in another person’s shoes and seeing life from their perspective.
3. Accept that you will make mistakes and take time to learn from your failures.
4. Know when to ask for help.
5. Set a good example and find ways to mentor others.

The Benefits of Developing Your Own Wisdom

When we think of wisdom we may think about people who we can ask to help us solve problems or make difficult decisions. These might be people with more life experience than we have or who have succeeded at something aspire to do.

We may not think of tapping into our own wisdom.

“Everyone has this incredible wisdom inside. We only need to stop and listen.” – Catherine Roscoe Barr

The Cambridge Dictionary defines wisdom as “the ability to use our knowledge and experience to make good decisioins and judgements.”

The Introvert Advantage 

The first step in tapping into our wisdom is to spend some time on our own. Introverts may have the advantage here since we are comfortale spending time in solitude. Being on our own will make it easier to stop and listen for the answers we are seeking.

Personally, I like my solitude. I’m never bored. The challenge for me is quieting my mind so I can “hear myself think”. If I want to tap into my practical wisdom I need to be able to hear the answers.

I may enjoy spending time on my own but my mind is often racing: reviewing what I’ve done, what I need to do and constantly analyzing everything. One of my biggest challenges is being able to focus on my writing.

Focusing on the Present

My lack of focus, or being in the present, seems to be worse than in previous years. And I’m not alone.

According to psychologist Ellen Langer, rather than finding ways to focus on the present people find it easier to distract themselves with mindless activities. Scrolling through our phones is one of them.

Unfortunately this type of mindless activity is making us unhappy and less aware.

Instead of reaching for your phone try taking a moment to pause and listen, really listen, with all of your senses. Listening with all of your senses may sound like a strange thing to do but necessary if we are to become more self-aware.

I have found that Mindfulness Meditation is helpful. It can help us slow down by connecting with what is going on within ourselves using our senses of seeing, hearing, and touching.  Mindfulness Meditation also encourages us to become aware of our thoughts. Just to notice them and then let them go.

The emphasis is on being in the present instead of thinking about the past or the future.

Mindfulness Resources 

If you are new to Mindfulness Meditation and want to learn how to do it you will find hundreds of sessions on YouTube. Many of these are free. Some are only 5-10 minutes while others are longer. Some of the videos have background noise: birds singing, water flowing, or music playing. Some of the classes are silent except for the voice of the instructor.

When I first began meditating I took an 8 week in-person course which was taught by two registered psychologists. There are lots of ways to learn how to meditate. Yoga classes often incorporate mediation.

And for those of you who don’t like sitting still for very long walking meditation is a great option. I find that if I’m struggling to answer a question or come up with a solution to a problem going for a solitary walk often helps provide some answers.

Self-Reflection 

Self-reflection or the ability to reflect on one’s own thoughts, feelings and goals is ongoing so don’t forget to keep a journal or notebook handy to write down your insights.

Tapping Into Our Inner Wisdom 

Sometimes we can do this work ourselves and sometimes we may need assistance from people who we trust and who can help us see things more clearly.

When faced with a new opportunity or a difficult decision we may want to ask someone else for advice: a partner, a friend, a teacher or even an AI bot.

Perhaps most importantly, you can tap into your own practical wisdom (knowledge and experience), to make decisions that are right for you.