Wisdom Articles

Medically Reviewed By: Aaron Horn, LMFT, MA

Wisdom

Wisdom can be acquired or gained at any time in your life, whether you are a child or a senior citizen. You are never too old to learn. Learning is a lifelong process. You can learn about yourself, or you can learn about others. Wisdom is something that we aim to develop throughout our lifetime. The more that we open ourselves up to learning, the more productive our lives will be. People sometimes assume that only older adults can be wise, but that’s not true. You can gain wisdom at any age. There’s always room to learn pieces of knowledge. Being wise is about opening yourself up to learning. When you want to learn, and you strive to educate yourself, you will become wiser than you were before.

How Do You Gain Wisdom?

One of the most traditional ways to gain wisdom is to go to school. When we were children, we went to school, or we were homeschooled. The purpose of being in a school setting is to learn about different topics and get ready for living a full life. School prepares us to go into the world and be successful. Although academic settings are by no means the only place that one can gain wisdom, they are frequently thought of as a primary place of learning. School is only one of the many places that you can gain wisdom. You can learn about English, Philosophy, Math, Science, History, and a variety of other subjects in an academic setting, but this doesn’t necessarily make you wise. You may be “book smart,” and you may know a lot, but being wise is understanding that you don’t know everything. Being wise is connected with humility. Part of being wise is knowing that you will never know all that there is to know in this world and that you are in a constant state of learning. We all are. The more you learn, the better prepared you are to live in the world and be successful at what you do.

Defining Knowledge

One piece of wisdom (or knowledge) that you already know is who you are. You know your name, and you know where you were raised. If you were adopted, you might not know who your biological parents are, but you know your story and your background. We are continually learning about ourselves. Knowing and understanding yourself expands far beyond the details of where you came from - it means gaining emotional insight. You’ve learned about yourself throughout your life, by going through different experiences both positive and negative. Life is a bumpy road, and you gain pieces of wisdom along the way.

A therapeutic setting is a great place to continue to look inward and learn more about yourself. One of the reasons that people seek therapy or counseling is to gain knowledge about themselves. Counseling can help you gain wisdom because it allows you to gain insight into your identity, your life, other people, and the world around you.

Online Counseling

Curiosity and wisdom are interrelated. The more curious you are, the more you will learn. You want to understand yourself better so you can form healthy relationships with others and be happy. An excellent place to learn about yourself and your emotions is online counseling. Gaining emotional insight is essential for all of us. This wisdom helps you in all aspects of life including work, school, social situations, and the way that you take care of yourself. If you understand how you relate to others and how your own emotions manifest, you are in a better place to navigate the world and succeed in it. Search our database of online counselors at BetterHelp and find one that you relate to so that you can gain knowledge about who you are as a person and identify ways to connect to others in the world.