A Circle of Wisdom

It is week twenty-nine of our fifty week calligraphy challenge and the prompt was circles. I like circles so that simple word conjured up a lot of ideas. I decided to fill a page with circles. My first attempt wasn’t very visually cohesive, so this was my second draft of the background. I wanted it to look like the smaller circles were pouring out or into the biggest circle. I originally planned to write out a different quote, then once I saw the outcome here I knew these words fit much better. The quote is written small on purpose, it reads: The next best thing to being wise is to live in a circle of those who are.

I am blessed to have many wise and wonderful friends, mentors and people who have impacted my world. When I was in my twenties I began to read a lot, learned a lot and began to make different choices than my peers. I figured out those who were wise and how to absorb their knowledge while navigating the life I wanted to create. I know that I am not wise in all areas of life so I figured out how to hang around those who had what I wanted to learn. Be it from a book, a class, a program or through creativity I have willingly gathered wisdom from all sorts of people and sources.

I have learned that knowledge is one thing, application is another. Wisdom has taught me that one. I know lots of people who read, study, research and even seek out wise council yet somehow forget to apply that knowledge to their own lives. They dedicate the time and energy to learn the information and then forget to integrate their new understanding by making different choices, better choices, or more complete decisions. Maybe I need to realize that not everyone learns the same way, some need to ‘feel’ the turmoil and strife before the light bulb goes on and the dots get connected between what they know and how they want to live. Some people may just like chaos or actually invent it as it is the only way they know how to do things. And still others may think they have it all figured out and the information applies to others and not themselves.

Whoever we are and however we learn, wisdom occurs when we apply what we know or have gleamed from others to our own lives in order to make life better. As we grow up what we need to fulfill our own definition of success changes, therefore the people we need to include in our circle may also need to change. We may need to find new people, new places, new ideas OR grow with the people in our life who are growing themselves. It is difficult to live life all alone, so let us take to heart C.S. Lewis’ words. Let us live in a circle of wisdom, one we find, one we create or one that is in process.