DAY 63 – KEY ASPECT: WISDOM WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME (IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW)

I am sitting on my porch thinking about the time when I was a boy growing up and my father would give me examples of the things he did in order for me to better understand the consequences of my actions. While I sometimes would grasp what he was saying I fully did not comprehend what he was trying to do until years later.

One of his favorite things he would say is “If only I had known then what I know now.” He would describe some of the mistakes he had made during the course of his life that he wished he hadn’t made. He would tell me that those errors in judgement were really errors in his thinking. Over time he came to realize that with experience his insights into life had grown and if he had those same insights in the past he would not have done some of the things that he did.

As a person becomes older seeing one’s life from the perspective of hindsight gives us a view of life that we do not get while living life at that moment. Human beings can become engrossed in what they are doing to the point that they do not see the bigger picture and therefore sometimes do not act in their own best interests, let alone the best interests of their fellow human beings. When this happens is there any difference between a fully grown adult and a two year old child who does not even have the adult mind to consider the difference between beneficial and detrimental behaviors.

As a person ages adults comprehend that certain past actions have not been that of a mature human being. The wisdom that accrues over time contributes to the realization that each of us not only could have but should have done certain things differently. So many personal problems would not have occurred if only human beings could have the wisdom at an earlier age that most people get as the years go.

As I am looking back at my life, I now realize that there were times when I should not have acted as I did when I was younger. The insights into what makes my life better was wanting then but as I have become older I have a better understanding of what constitutes a better life and how it can be created. “If only I had known then what I know now” I would have said different silent words to myself and thus acted in a manner that did not make my life more difficult and did not cause other people to have problems.