Where Are You Investing?
by Leslie Sann
I am wise because I know I don’t know.
Socrates
Have you ever made a purchase that didn’t work out for you? Maybe it was a kitchen gadget that didn’t live up to the ads, a hydrangea for your garden that didn’t come up the next spring, or perhaps a stock that went way down instead of way up?
I imagine there are few, if any, of us that enjoys that experience of investing in something that turns out not to reap a reward.
In a session with a client we were exploring the design of the mind, the aspect that searches the past and projects into the future. It became clear that hanging out in our thinking about what happened is akin to losing money on an investment. There is NOTHING we can do about the past other than learn from it. Hanging out in “I wish I wouldhavecouldhaveshouldhave” reaps no positive reward. There is no ‘interest’ generated from that kind of thinking. No increase, no growth, no positive bottom line. As a matter of fact there is loss. Loss of calm, peace, self-trust, opportunities to learn to do better next time.
This is a pivotal moment in our lives. A moment of choice we get presented with continuously. Where are we going to place our focus? In what is no longer, the past? In what hasn’t yet occurred, the future? Or are we willing to call ourselves present to here and now and live from this moment, and now this one, and now this one?
What I have realized after a lifetime of choosing the peace that is always present (or not choosing) is that it is the fear of not knowing that has me running away from this moment. I see it in myself and I see it in the people I work with. Knowing we don’t know can lead to anxiety unless we learn to calm ourselves in the face of the unknown.
Socrates is my new pacifier. When I find myself scurrying into the future trying to figure out what to do now from the meager resource of my thinking, I repeat to myself what he is known to have said, “I am wise because I know I don’t know.” In doing so, I find myself quieting down and listening for the wisdom in the not knowing.
We all have access to wisdom. Wisdom is sourced from someplace other than the thinking mind, what I playfully call the crazy brain. Wisdom comes from a quiet peace that is always present and available to us.
Learning to listen to the quiet within, instead of the frantic crazy brain is an investment I encourage. It is one that will reap a bountiful harvest allowing access to inner wisdom. From this place you will be guided forward from within how to make use of the resources on hand thus growing a more abundant future.
Blessings,
