The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it. – Niccolò Machiavelli
How well can you see?
What does that mean?
This is a polite way of saying that old people rule! Seriously, it is a call to everyone to listen to their experience and use it to become wise. As we age, we do things, we make mistakes and we gain experience. But it is up to us to actually learn from what we have done.
Wisdom doesn’t come from making mistakes, but from learning from those mistakes. As we age, hopefully we also learn, and hopefully we begin to see more clearly. The quote goes back to the hourglass metaphor by saying as the sand slips thru, the more clearly we should be able to see the lessons of life through it.
Why is learning from our mistakes important?
While the question sounds nonsensical, it should still be answered. We need to learn from our mistakes so that we can go on to make other mistakes. By learning from our mistakes, we (hopefully) come up with a better method and avoid that mistake. However, it inevitably leads to our next mistake, and then our next.
By continuing to learn from our mistakes, we can make progress, we can continue to move forward in our endeavours. We learn to roll over, then to crawl. In the process, we make many mistakes, and learn from them. On surpassing each mistake, we increase our capability, and find new ways to make mistakes. In this manner, we learn to walk, run, jump and climb stairs, until we can go no further.
Where can I apply this in my life?
We all make mistakes. Sometimes we learn from them. Sometimes we learn small lessons, like the bar fighter that keeps getting in fights but slowly gets better at fighting. Other times, we learn big lessons, and quit going to bars after the second fight. What we want to do can shape how we learn and what we take away from our experiences.
What in your life have you tried to do something, and been unable to get it to work? For me, I’ve been working with a slightly reluctant fuel injection system in one of my cars. I’ve tried all the usual things, but even the diagnostic software can’t catch the problem.
With a difficult problem, we can continue to beat our heads against the wall, we can give up, or we can learn from our experience and try something else. In my experience, an intermittent problem like this is typically one of two things: an intermittent wiring problem, or a slightly broken sensor.
By learning from prior mistakes, I hope to be able to get past this problem and get the beast running smoothly, and a little more efficiently. What issues did you come up with when you thought about your present road blocks? Or did you have to go into the past to find something?
Either way, think about your experience, both with the road blocks, and in other aspects of your life. Can you bring any new observations, thoughts or ideas to bear? Sometimes, I get inspiration from difficulties overcome in other areas of my life. If you still are having trouble finding a way forward, perhaps you can find someone who sees more clearly than you.
Do you know anyone, personally or by reputation, who has solved this before? Perhaps they have applied a little more of the sand from the hourglass to the roadblock and can see, with clarity, the path around it.
There is no shame, in my mind, to seek the counsel of those who have more experience. By learning from them, you get to learn from the mistakes they made, and are leveraging their experience into your life. Just remember to treat the guru kindly. They are giving you something of value.
At some point, with enough sand having escaped from the hourglass of your life, you will be the guru, the one who sees clearly. It will then be up to you to pass on the hard-won knowledge to the next group of seekers.
From: Twitter, @philo_quotes
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/niccolomac120257.html
Photo by Mattastic!
