When asked in a recent survey to indicate what sources they use to develop personal wisdom, the responses of 18-35 year olds were evenly distributed across the nine choices presented, as they highlighted “it’s important to have a healthy balance between them.” In addition, the most frequently named categories were also corroborated by comments that described their “favorites.”
Favorite Wisdom Sources from highest to lowest
- Reflecting on Life Experience–43 respondents
- Friends and Family–43 respondents
- Articles and Books (workshops and podcasts)–39 respondents
- Being in Nature–37 respondents
- Creative Pursuits (music, art, poetry….)–36 respondents
- Spiritual Practice–24 respondents
- Personal/Journal Writing–21 respondents
- Religious or Spiritual Leaders–21 respondents
- Sacred Texts–13 respondents
A good portion of my Millennial and Gen Z respondents were grappling with life experiences, turning to their friends and family for guidance and reflecting on what they were learning. This practice included “observing the behaviors and actions of others that I want to emulate” as they identified wise mentors and sought workshops and podcasts to help them become “more self aware.” They also preferred to be in nature and pursue creative endeavors to express their spirituality. Many were seeking to be more mindful as they were making sense of their world.
While I was disappointed that more respondents did not check personal writing as a source for developing wisdom, I smiled when I noticed that the people who wrote the longest answers on the survey were often the ones who did not indicate writing helped them in their process of self discovery. However, many of them still expressed that reflecting on the survey questions was useful, particularly this one:
What is your reaction to thinking about yourself as a source of wisdom?
The response to this question varied from “terrified” to “completely comfortable and honored.” Clearly my group recognized the awesome responsibility of considering their own evolving life as a source of wisdom. The majority of them used words like humbled, proud and empowered as others indicated that they had never thought about it before or that it might be “a little weird.” Some of this reluctance seemed to be stemming from an awareness that they still had a lot of life experience to discover, but they were willing to continue learning every step of the way. For those who indicated that it “felt true” to consider themselves a source of wisdom, it was with the clarification that they were deeply connected to a source larger then themselves which gave them great confidence as well as humility.
As I continue to read the responses of these insightful young adults, it is not lost on me that they carry their wisdom into the future of our world.
Read next where they think that wisdom is most needed today.
To start at the beginning of the series click here