In almost all aspects of our lives we have replaced our innate wisdom with an over reliance on intellectual information. It begins at school, we start to learn “facts” and theories and other information gleaned from books and other sources. This is not necessarily a bad thing, I’m certainly not suggesting we don’t educate ourselves.
However, I do believe we have to have a balance in our education. School, or any education should not just be about putting stuff in, it should also be about drawing out what we already possess and learning, from an early age, to trust our own wisdom and insight.
The human mind and brain are a powerful combination which when leveraged properly can produce the most profound advances in knowledge and inner wisdom.
We have an almost unlimited ability to process information and at the same time we have an incredible ability to create abstractions. It’s this ability to think differently and link abstract ideas that gives us our evolutionary advantage.
When we focus on intellect only, we lose our ability to trust in ourselves and to connect with our inner wisdom.
Einstein once stated “The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you don’t know why or how.”
I believe it is our connection to wisdom that allows us to imagine new possibilities and create leaps in understanding. We need to re-learn to tap into this gift we all have as human beings and begin to trust ourselves more.
We have access to this ability at all times, however, it most often seems to show up when we have little or nothing on our minds. Often people report having their best ideas in the shower, or out on a run, or other times when they are distracted from the busy-ness of over-thinking.
There are reminders everywhere in our popular sayings such as “sleep on it and see how it looks in the morning”. Instead of constantly searching for more information and reading endless books on a subject, try sitting in stillness and allowing your own mind to come up with ideas and cement your own understanding.
You’ll find it a much more reliable system of learning, particularly when you regain the ability to listen to your inner voice.
Learning to trust yourself is a key part of living a fulfilling and happy life, constantly looking to others for ideas and solutions is the road to a life of dependence and insecurity.
