A little wiser ...

Wisdom … ‘something you won’t get until much later in life’ , my father used to say. He was right of course, because wisdom is the progeny of ‘experience’ and ‘thinking’. ‘Thinking’, untempered by ‘experience’ is closer to ‘daydreaming’ that it is to wisdom. Likewise, ‘experience’ without thinking, is in no way a guarantee of wisdom (e.g.: animals may gain lots of ‘experience’ throughout the living of their lives, but we wouldn’t describe animals as ‘wise’). It’s the perfect marriage of both experience and analytical thought that gives rise to wisdom - over time; on the mat; and of course in life, off the mat. Wide-ranging experience coupled with an equal part of thinking, gives rise to that quality we label … wisdom. The hope of course, is that on the journey from white to black belt we gain wisdom ... certainly, 'mat wisdom' but ideally, wisdom also in the larger game we call 'life'. JBW