The beginning of Wisdom

is the most sincere desire for insight

and concern for instruction is love for Wisdom

* * * 

If you aspire to develop yourself and to become more useful in your world, you would ensure you acquire the tools necessary to energize and activate you to become that which you want to be. The realization of the fact that there is a need for self-development is, in the first place, a mark of wisdom. And a wise man is one who has the understanding and knowledge that there is the need to embrace and to quest for the acquisition of the wisdom and insight to guide and guard himself on the path of life he intends to tread.

One who is desirous of growth and development in his/her life would ensure to plan and propel his/her life in that direction. To love the acquisition of knowledge is to attract knowledge toward you; as like naturally attracts like. Working toward acquiring knowledge for self-development requires commitment toward having that which is sought after.

To aspire for self-development and to build steadily and progressively on the quest, you should always keep in mind that:

* * * 

The saying of the wise are like goads,

and like nails firmly fixed are collected sayings

and those who give heed to instruction will treasure them.

* * * 

Giving heed to instruction is a tonic necessary for activating one toward becoming well-instructed and wise. To treasure instruction is to love wisdom and to love wisdom is to attract same to yourself. Anyone engaged in the construction and building of houses knows that the building of a structure always starts from foundation and so does the attainment of self-development. The foundation for self-development is the love and the longing by one to develop oneself. The next step, which relates to putting one piece of brick over the one just above the foundation, is paying attention to instruction and learning to grow gradually.

* * * 

Listen to advice and accept instruction

so you’ll gain wisdom for the future,

and do not praise a man before you hear him reason,

for this is the test of men.

* * *

When one listens, one most definitely would comprehend and when one comprehends, one would acquire knowledge. It is said that the quality of a man is the content of his heart and that from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. This goes to show that; to be in the most appropriate position to judge the quality a man is made of, you should be patient enough to hear him speak. Patience in itself is a quality of greatness and to cultivate the attitude of being patient is to develop yourself a step further.

Having listened to words of instruction and sieved out the wisdom contained in them, it is essential that you guard these words in your heart and use them as ingredients required to make you self-developed and richly endowed.

To keep words of wisdom and discretion is to act wisely; and to act on them is to strive for even further growth. By keeping sound wisdom and discretion you would be certain to mould your character and your reputation would precede you. The character you develop by your conducts gives you your personality. Character is said to be like a tree and reputation like its shadow -the shadow being what we think of it, while the tree is the real thing. What character do you put up and what is your reputation with others?

A self-developed individual is a confident individual. Self-development gives you the courage to act and the knowledge that by acting, there is even greater room for further self-development. The process of self-development can never be completed, for the more developed one becomes, the more one understands that there is even greater need for more development. To develop is to improve and improvement is one room that can never be filled. Think about it!

* * * 

Words of inspiration are like cold water to a thirsty soul.

They bring life to a broken spirit.

* * *

Imagine how much havoc would be caused where a man who has not even the faintest idea how to a fighter jet works, attempts to put it to flight without as much as an instructional manual. Instructions are bridges across the vault between ignorance and knowledge. To heed instruction is to align with the channel of achieving your set goals. Instructions give us a sense of direction and purposefulness. Instructions are to the inspired man what the cane is to the blind. They constitute the cradle for greatness.

To ignore instruction is to deny oneself the opportunity for self-development and one who lacks instruction works blindly. One who is reputable for ignoring instruction would generally be seen as malevolent. Whatever reputation you set for yourself is a product of what choices you make at being disposed to accepting useful instructions.

* * * 

If one ignores instruction one despises oneself,

but one who heeds admonition gains understanding;

for when the sieve is shaken the refuse remains,

so a man’s filth remains in his thoughts.

* * *

The one who desires to and actually ignores and/or objects to instruction, is the one who exposes himself to being ignorant and irresponsive to the opportunity for growth and self-development. One who is admonished for the wrong act or action and takes offence, lacks insight and has not the understanding that one who accepts a blame for his/her behaviour or lack thereof, learns to become self-developed. To think about making amends for misconduct is to think about growing beyond the level of repeating that same action in future. All humans have the tendency of faltering, but it takes intelligence and maturity to accept a fault and to strive to improve.

When you hear a sound instruction and are willing to abide by it, you relatively feel a peace in your heart which is as soothing as a soft wind. Once you follow your instinct to live by what the instruction provides, you will find yourself feeling like a rock has just been lifted off your shoulder. That feeling is the feeling of growth and increase.

* * * 

Sound instruction is a sweet breeze that heals depression.

One who gives heed to instruction gains Wisdom.

* * *

Every human, irrespective of race, class or creed, lives through each day with the desire to satisfy the basic needs of man. These needs are essential and cannot be compromised, though the hunger for them may differ from person to person and from time to time. Whatever the case, it takes wisdom and foresight to know where to draw the line between compromising one’s integrity and satisfying one’s needs; and a man who is instructed on the way to conduct his life and affairs would be on guard.

A man may lack money and may not be financially independent, and still not consider himself as being poor because he knows how to channel his meagre resources to satisfy his most pressing needs. Wisdom offers you the insight to know the difference between your wants and your needs, and gives you the ability to guard your life toward the path of being a responsible individual -especially in your choices. Were you to make responsible choices you would know how to satisfy your needs with the resources you have at hand and how to make your wants phase off, for they are mere distractions you could most certainly do without.

* * * 

The essentials of life are water, food, clothing

and a house to cover one’s nakedness.

Better is the life of a poor man under the shelter of his roof

than a sumptuous meal in another man’s house.

* * *

The point here is that you should understand that, for all that it is worth, what you have is by far better than what you crave for from someone else. What’s yours is yours and no one can deny you that, no matter the circumstance. To ensure you exercise restraint and show self-discipline and respect is as essential to your life as the air you breathe. Choices we are required to make from time to time as we lead our individual lives, and the right choices, which uphold your integrity and give you peace of mind, you should always strive to make. Nothing could be better than making the right choice.

Granted you may not be at the position you may be desirous of being, you should not think of blaming others for your situation and so should not buckle yourself under their shoes. Whatever you don’t appreciate about the way your life is at any given time, you should strive to change. If you want to attain a level of financial freedom, think of yourself as being financially independent, work hard at becoming that which you want to become and then check your recklessness and unnecessary expenditure. Though nothing good comes easy, if you are resolute and dogged you can get there with time.

* * * 

At every point in your life,

You’ll face challenges, crisis and upheaval;

Whatever choices you make define you.

* * *

Choices most certainly define us, because the choice we make today will determine what we become or fail to become tomorrow. If you choose not to act positively, you choose not to develop yourself. When you are faced with difficult situations how do you act and react? Do you disintegrate from your hard, rigid nature to become fragile and brittle, or do you become tough and rugged as the condition becomes more intense, or do you simply melt and become placid? What you become in the face challenges would determine how you’ll act and/or react.

We all react differently to different conditions, be they physical, emotional, psychological or spiritual, and the choices we choose to make and the actions which follow these choices are what would either make or mar us. But you should always be guided by the fact that as long as you are living in this world and interacting with other humans and the rest of nature, you must encounter difficult and challenging moments every now and then. It is however most essential to note that the proper way to deal with and overcome these situations is to attack and not avoid them. If you don’t confront your situation, they will submerge you.

Since no one of us can run and leave their shadow at the point they took off from, no one can expect to attempt to run away from a confronting situation and actually be free of it. Issues must come up and situations must arise, you therefore ought to be ready for them.

* * * 

Most people think that stress is necessarily bad,

but what is bad is distress.

When we view stresses as challenges,

we strive to overcome them and grow bigger in the process.

* * *

You should always arm yourself with the understanding that winners are those people who make a habit of doing things losers are uncomfortable doing. Since most people see stress as being something that is necessarily bad, would you rather see these stress situations as challenges which would elevate your self-development level? The choice you make in this regard is what will define your personality.

Most people complain about virtually everything, but it is foolhardy to be grudging unnecessarily about something you rather should learn to change. Change is said to be the only constant thing in life and it takes wisdom to comprehend that you could change whatever situation you may not be comfortable with, if only you would be patient and tactical enough to learn how to effect these changes and so cause them to happen by your determined action.

To change a thing to become or to be in line with what you desire them to be, you must allow yourself to be tutored in that respect. To know what you want or desire is one thing, and to know just how to obtain it is yet another. To acquire wisdom you must learn from the wise. To be fretting about something is to be unproductive. One who wants to attain self-development would know the importance of associating with those whose lives would positively impact on him/her.

* * * 

He who walks with wise men become wise,

but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

* * *

Anyone who wants to become self-developed must learn to trust his/her instinct and resolve to make consistent effort toward acquiring that which is desired. He/she must realize that to get fresh water one must go to the source. If you listen to instruction you will be edified and will be guarded against groping aimlessly in the dark. And if you learn to be on your guard so as not to be derailed from the path you’ve set for yourself, you will be on your way to becoming that self-developed individual you’ve always desired.

Summary

To ultimately pursue the desire to become self-developed you should keep the following in mind:

• You must realize the fact that there is a need for self-development.
• You must plan and propel yourself in the direction in which you intend to develop yourself.
• You must give heed to instructions as these are bridges across the vault between ignorance and knowledge.
• You must learn to channel your resources, irrespective of the condition of your existence at present, to satisfying those needs that are essential to meeting your purpose.
• You must learn to make the right choices as the choices you make today will determine what you will become or fail to become tomorrow.
• You must learn to appreciate yourself for who you are today, in line with who and what you want to become tomorrow, because only by so doing can you see what changes you need to effect in your life and how best you can accomplish them.