Wisdom is the creative outcome of knowledge and experience that have become integrated and joined together, and it is our emotions that inform this process and make it possible. Our emotions are continually live and online. Like a navigation system, they are continually informing us. When we talk about quality of life, we are talking about the way that we feel. Our emotions let us know when life is going well, and in no uncertain terms, they let us know when it is not. This is how we learn and this is how we develop the understanding.
Wisdom is dependent upon our capacity to listen to and understand our emotional experience. Our emotions underpin every aspect of our well-being. When we talk about our mental health, we are not simply talking about our mind and the way that we think; we are talking about the way that we feel; and we all know that when we are emotionally stressed or unhappy, this will have a massive impact on our physical health and well-being.
Wisdom is an internal journey. It is dependent upon our ability to trust our own inner experience and our own inner voice and to be responsive to this. Our emotions are integral to every aspect of our lives and to our very experience of being. If we are shut off from our emotions then we simply cannot arrive at a place of integrity, a place of connectedness or of wholeness, either internally or externally.
Wisdom is dependent upon our capacity for reflective thought. To integrate our experiences and transform them into a wealth of understanding we will need to develop an internal place of reflection, of curiosity, and of interest. Paradoxically, reflective thought is both a place of stillness and yet also a place of profound growth and therefore a place of movement. When we develop an internal space inside our mind where we are open to receiving, it enables us to be engaged in a continual state of real experience, where every moment of life becomes a journey of interest and possibility. This is why mindfulness and meditation are so incredibly valuable.
True courage is about looking inwards, not outwards. Being able to stand firm in a place of vulnerability and to flourish and grow with honesty and humility is a strength beyond measure. This is the power of emotional wisdom.
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