Practical Wisdom and Living a Flourishing Life

Craig 00:01 

Wisdom isn’t just some abstract, ivory tower concept. It’s an eminently practical tool for daily living, a tool that will help you make decisions that align with being the sort of person you want to be and with living a flourishing life. In this episode, I discuss practical wisdom and how to gain and apply it so that you CAN live a flourishing life.

Welcome to Live Well and Flourish, where I help you understand what it means to live a flourishing life. I'm your host, Craig Van Slyke. If you're ready to think beyond material and external success, if you're ready to take control of who you are and the kind of life you live, if you're ready to flourish, this is the podcast for you.

Craig 00:55 

You want to be wise, right? Sure you do, otherwise why listen to this podcast? But what does being wise actually mean in daily life? That’s what I want to talk to you about today, what practical wisdom is and how you can cultivate and apply practical wisdom in your daily life.

What is practical wisdom? Well, the essence of practical wisdom is the ability to make good decisions and take effective action in complex and challenging situations. But before we can really understand this, we need to talk a bit about what “good” means in this context. What makes something good or bad? Suppose the Cardinals and the Cubs are playing. (By the way, the Cardinals and Cubs are American baseball teams. They have a strong rivalry that goes back for over a century.) Is it good or bad if the Cards win? Of course it’s good if the Cards win! Right? Well, not if you’re my friend and Cubs fan Nancy; for her the Cardinals beating the Cubs is a very bad thing. This trivial example illustrates how the notion of good and bad depends on your perspective. Sure, there are some things that we can almost universally agree are good or bad, but much of life is in the gray area where it’s not entirely clear if something is good or bad, it depends on what values are being applied. Keep this in mind as I go through my thoughts on practical wisdom.

Craig 02:23 

Virtually every philosophical and religious tradition includes some notion of practical wisdom. Greek philosophers often referred to “phronesis,” which to them is practical wisdom. For Christians practical wisdom is often called discernment. Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Stoicism, Epicureanism,  Hopi, Navajo… name a religion or philosophy and you’ll likely find the idea of practical wisdom. They may come at it from different angles, but the basic idea is there. So what? Well, if almost every philosophical and religious tradition include something like practical wisdom, that tells me that practical wisdom is pretty important.

Craig 03:07 

What is practical wisdom? Well it boils down to the ability to make decisions that align with your values and with being the person you want to be. If you don’t remember anything else about this episode, remember this. You cannot act with practical wisdom if you do not know yourself. It’s just not possible. Practical wisdom demands self-knowledge. If you don’t know yourself, your values, your goals, and virtues you seek, you can’t make decisions that lead to a fulfilling, flourishing life.

There’s a subtle point here. Since knowing yourself is an ongoing journey of evolution, so is acting with practical wisdom. It’s not one of those things where you can say, “Yay, now I have practical wisdom, so I can check that box and move on.” It’s something that you have to practice consciously and continuously. Practical wisdom is an ongoing practice not a static event.

Craig 04:04 

So, you might be wondering, how can you start cultivating practical wisdom in your own life? To me It comes down to three key components: developing self-knowledge, building a habit of conscious awareness, and applying practical wisdom in your daily decisions. Just like building a fire requires starting with a foundation of suitable wood, you need to start with a solid foundation of self-knowledge. This is like laying down the kindling and arranging the logs, setting the stage for a strong and lasting fire. Building a habit of conscious awareness is like striking the match, igniting the kindling and coaxing the fire to life. And applying practical wisdom is like tending the fire, keeping it burning bright and hot with the right amount of fuel and attention. So, if you want to start cultivating practical wisdom, focus on building your self-knowledge, practicing conscious awareness, and tending to the flames of wisdom in your everyday life.

Craig 05:05 

Let’s deal with each of these in turn. I’ve covered some of this in earlier episodes, so be sure to check out the show notes. To develop self-knowledge, I recommend a consistent practice of reflection. Set aside time each day to think about your values and the virtues you want to exhibit. Also, increase your knowledge of virtues by reading relevant books, listening to related podcasts (hint, hint) or whatever works for you. Combine reflection with the active study of virtues and you'll soon have a formula for self-knowledge. Imagination also has a role to play here as well, as I’ll discuss shortly.

You can improve your awareness by engaging in two practices. First, practice mindful habits, which I discussed in the last episode. This involves paying close attention to things that you do habitually, like making your coffee, or putting on your shoes. When you do these sorts of things, pay attention to the physical sensations, background noises and other hidden aspects of the experience. This will help you become more mindful in other, less trivial situations. Also, when you engage in your daily reflection, look for instances in which practical wisdom was a significant factor. For example, you might decide to forgo an impulsive purchase in order to practice the virtue of frugality. Or maybe you take a deep breath and calm down when having a disagreement with a friend, practicing tranquility and kindness.

Craig 06:35 

Once you’ve built your awareness of opportunities for applying practical wisdom, start applying it! There are many ways to do this. Here’s one framework that I like. When you sense a meaningful opportunity to apply practical wisdom, first gather relevant information, then consider the available options. Look at each option from the perspective of your values, virtues, and purpose. Do some alternatives better align with these than others? If so, you can start narrowing your choices. Remember to consider multiple virtues. One way to do this is to use your imagination. Would a person with these specific virtues make this choice?  For example, if you were deciding whether to confront someone who's been treating you unfairly, you might imagine what a courageous and just person would do in this situation. Or, if you were deciding whether to lie to avoid hurting someone's feelings, you might ask yourself if an honest and compassionate person would approve of your choice. Be sure to monitor the actual outcomes of your decision, which can help you sharpen your practical wisdom through experience. You can include this in your daily reflection. Over time, with consistent practice, this sort of analysis will become almost second nature.

Craig 07:52 

Sometimes, though, practical wisdom is difficult to apply because you face a dilemma. Applying one virtue indicates one choice, but applying a different virtue would lead you to a different choice. Let’s run through an example. Suppose your friend asks you to give feedback on a project they’ve been working on. You know the project is really important to your friend, but, unfortunately, it’s pretty bad, this will be difficult for them to hear. The virtue of kindness might lead you to be gentle and pull some proverbial punches. The virtue of honesty tells you to tell the truth, regardless of the effect on your friend.

How can you resolve these sort of dilemmas? Well, it’s not easy. In fact, it took me two episodes to cover my thoughts on this. Check out episodes 36 and 37 by going to livewellandflourish.com/36 or livewellandflourish.com/37. The short answer is that you need to do two things, decide the relative importance of each virtue, and, more importantly, seek a third alternative that might do justice to both. This is another area where your imagination can be a big help. Maybe you can work with your friend to improve the proposal. This approach can be quite effective if you take on a coaching role and guide your friend rather than just telling them what they need to fix.

Craig 09:21 

Alright, let’s review. Building and applying your practical wisdom leads you towards flourishing by helping you live according to reason and virtue, and by helping you pursue your purpose. Improving your practical wisdom, and using it to guide important decisions and actions isn’t a quick process and it isn’t always easy, but it is always worthwhile.

Now let’s get more specific with things you can do in the coming week to build practical wisdom.

First, though, I wanna ask you to practice the virtue of kindness by sharing this episode with at least one other person this week. The easiest way to do that is by sending them to livewellandflourish.com/54. OK, let’s get to the three things.

Craig 10:08 

First, spend 15 or 20 minutes each day reading or listening to something that will help you learn about virtues. At the end of each reading session, or listening session, think about one of the virtues you studied and ask yourself three questions:

• Is this virtue important to you? Think about whether this virtue aligns with your personal values and goals. Assuming it is important, to what extent do you currently practice this virtue in your daily life? Consider your actions and behavior, and whether you embody this virtue in your day-to-day living.
  
  
  
• Finally, think about how you can improve and better live up to this virtue. Reflect on specific actions you can take to practice and embody the virtue more consistently.

By regularly reflecting on virtues and your own character, you can improve your moral and ethical values and become a better person overall.

Craig 11:05 

Second, set a daily goal of identifying two situations in which you had the opportunity to apply practical wisdom. These don’t need to be huge things. Maybe you want to work on the virtue of patience and you sat on a long hold with customer service, or perhaps you had to decide whether to have a second piece of pie. Whatever. The act of trying to recognize two opportunities for applying practical wisdom every day will make you more mindful of future opportunities.

Third, set aside time each morning to focus on virtues that are important to you. Pick two or three that you’ll focus on that day. Throughout the day look for opportunities for mid-course reflection and adjustment. Even four or five minutes is enough to focus on a virtue and how well you’ve embodied it so far that day.

In all of these, be careful to be evaluative, not hyper critical. As you've heard me say often, you’re not perfect and there will be slip ups. Just try to learn from them.

Craig 12:12 

Remember, nothing will pay dividends quite as well as your investments in developing practical wisdom. At the end of the day, practical wisdom isn’t some fuzzy theoretical concept, it’s … well, practical.

Aristotle supplies our closing quote. This quote reminds us of the importance of practical wisdom as an ongoing practice shaped through daily living. “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them; [people] become builders by building, musicians by playing music, and so too we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, and brave by doing brave acts.”

Until next time, be well my friends.