Have you made out your will? That’s something we all need to do, regardless of how much or how little we think we have in terms of assets.What about making a W.I.L.L. as in “Walk In Lifelong Learning”?

It is a pity that so many who seem to be so highly educated want to have nothing more to do with furthering their education. One of the main reasons for that is that schooling has been confused with education. When a schooling system teaches one to be exam-smart but not wise for life, there will be resentment amongst those brought up under its yoke. When appointment to positions of “higher authority” as it is commonly perceived are ruled by the degree of one’s pedigree, the result is predictable. A mad rush and superhuman effort to get the best grades, get into the desired “stream” of accelerated promotion for the anointed few, and then rest on your well-earned laurels for the rest of your natural life.

Even for those lower down the pyramid, this attitude seems to prevail. “Adult learners” will go for classes to improve themselves so they can get better returns in terms of income. Some may pursue subjects, courses and the like simply because “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do”. Many find emptiness even after attaining what they thought to be their heart’s desire. Is that your experience? Why is that so? Why is it that, after pursuing your dreams and finding something that you think expresses who you are, you are still not satisfied? How is it that contentment is so hard to find? Now, lest you misconstrue my meaning, remember that I have always said that contentment is not the same thing as complacency. One can be content with one’s current life situation but be constantly seeking growth in order to be continuously adding value all round wherever one happens to be at any particular time. One can be at the pinnacle of one’s career, so to speak, having the whole machinery and system that one has built up over the years running full tilt, producing many innovative products and giving solutions that others pay megabucks for, and one can become utterly complacent.

So, how then might one become fulfilled? I say by walking in lifelong learning. Not just learning about anything and everything, pursuing after each and every fad that comes along, but pursuing after what you know, deep down inside you, to be true, right and just. Learning, not just about the things that you naturally fancy, but also deliberately choosing those things that you know will stretch you and cause you to grow. An environment of plentiful abundance is not for us to relax and enjoy the fruits of our labour. It is not for us to be able to “retire”, eat, drink and be merry for the rest of our days, including how we try to prolong those days. A time of plentiful abundance is for us to help others with the resources at our disposal. Not to give them handouts, but to give them the proverbial fishing skills. We talk about that a lot, don’t we? How many of us actually do it?

So, choose to be wise. Wisdom is not the sole bailiwick of sages, gurus and those with lots of grey hair. A child, well raised, can possess much wisdom, well beyond his chronological years. Choose to be wise by walking in lifelong learning. By learning that which causes you to grow and be valuable to those around you. By applying what you learn continuously, tempered with what you already know. By sorting out your storehouse of knowledge and wisdom regularly, throwing out the bad and rotten, taking in the good and integrating what remains after that exercise into something more beautiful, more magnificent, full of increasing worth. Yes, indeed. Make a W.I.L.L. Walk In Lifelong Learning, and be wise!