How wealthy are ‘you’?

*Knowledge *Observation *Creativity *Experience

Wealth of Ideas and Information ((Courtesy: Mahara Tucker)

We gather information and ideas in different ways, subtly or obviously. Some are ardent readers, while some others enjoy gathering ideas from extroverted platforms. A few rely on their intuitions and some others draw conclusions from observations. However information is gathered, some learning occurs provided we open our minds to the process.

I recently listened to a speech made to the graduating students of Wellesley College, Massachusetts by the Award winning writer: Chimamanda Adichie and something interesting got me thinking & formed the basis for my write up. She said she was invited to deliver a speech at a European Feminist Event where she was to highlight how a past famous feminist had influenced her views. Now, before the invitation, she said she had struggled with completely reading any of the literature written by the feminist let alone categorically point out what she had been influenced by. So rather than tell a lie in-front of the audience in a bid to impress them, she chose to reference the female traders she had observed while growing up because these women had influenced her understanding and perspective to feminism more than any literature.

The key for this illustration is ‘Observation & Experience’. How well do you pay attention to your observations and experiences to draw lessons from them? 

Some may argue that relying on one’s interpretation and observation of events to postulate a view point is not credible enough, rather they rely on view points from people that have ‘researched & formed empirical norms’. A forgotten truth however is that ‘the so-called empirical norms emanated from people’s observations and experiences and have only been termed ‘credible or binding’ because they have been compared with other schools of thought and published.

While we appreciate and uphold the postulations of experts and renowned published works, we are however at liberty to discover or form our own norms from our experiences and observations.

In my opinion, there are no inhibitions to your analysis and discoveries when you choose to draw understanding from within. We have at some point dealt with challenges or resolved issues intuitively especially issues that required urgent attention. 

Wouldn’t you say that knowledge came from a reservoir of information gathered perhaps, from your experiences or observations?

If so, I guess it’s time to pay more attention to YOU because you just may be a pool of solutions or ideas. Step out on a ledge of discovery through meditation and reflection and you may find more suitable, innovative ways to address your situation and the truth is: you will always find more suitable ways if you only learn to trust your instincts.