Wisdom Models--Finding Them and Using Them

A "wisdom model" can be thought of as someone or some organization who can act as a mentor for one or more people.  "Model" in this sense refers to examples of human behavior to be copied.  "Wisdom" refers to the recognized ability to organize learning, experience, insight, and other relevant inputs in order to make appropriate and effective decisions regarding behavior and values.  In short, a "wisdom model" is someone we choose to guide us in our learning and behavior for as long as we make that choice.

For infants, their wisdom models come from their environment--their immediate family or others who they interact with throughout their early life.  Much of the influence of these models is unconscious.  Unfortunately, infants may not be able to distinguish between positive and negative models in this stage of development.  The history of many abusers shows that they, themselves, were abused at an early age.

Children often choose teachers as wisdom models when they reach school.  As they become more independent, they may come to recognize some teachers as either positive or negative models.  Teenagers, as part of their growing development to make their own choices, may shift their focus of wisdom models to people expressing behaviors not endorsed by the mainstream--for example, "gangbangers" and "gangbanger-wannabe's" in grades six through twelve.

When we leave school we may move through a variety of wisdom models.  On a personal note, I have held some wisdom models in high esteem, then found that I did not want to do what they were successful at and I needed to change wisdom models to another that was more appropriate for me.

At certain stages in our lives, we can serve as wisdom models for our children and our friends and colleagues.  There may be an element that one person has that is worthwhile to copy.  Hopefully we become more descriminating as we move through our own stages of development.

Priorities in life will also impact who we choose as a wisdom model.  Adults at an early stage in their working life (which may involve multiple careers) may embrace work behaviors that include overbalancing their lives in favor of work.  At a later stage, they may want to move to a more evenly balanced lifestyle or even place more priority on family rather than earning and work.

Authors of many self-help books also serve as wisdom models--at least for their specific expertise if it is something we want to copy or to use.  More and more self-help books are being published daily--via the Internet as well as in paper and audio form.  We have a wide choice of wisdom models and may work with an abundance of them at any one time.

As we develop our own wisdom and expertise in working with wisdom models, we need to pay careful attention to the process we use to find them and then what we do with the examples and wisdom they provide.  How we use our wisdom models is important to our daily life experience.  Sometimes we may have them, then ignore their wisdom and exampleship.

Some key questions to ask ourselves:
Are we doing what we want to be doing in our lifes?  Who is (are) our wisdom model for our life right now?  How are we using the wisdom the model provides to our best advantage?