I believe much of real-life education begins when we leave traditional schooling. I say this not out of disrespect. Rather because with time and age, hopefully we truly begin to form our own opinions rather than recite those of others. Ideally, with each year of life, we become stronger so that our confidence grows and we can surpass peer pressure. Getting to a point where we can really assess ideas and make our decisions based on fact— intelligently weeding out opinions presented as fact — even if they’re coming from people who appear very successful and might even be highly “educated.”

I further believe that life-long education is both a responsibility and a gift. Assuming our brain is functioning we have the capability to be open-minded, to listen, and learn.  Like a good old western movie star once famously said, and I paraphrase: We need to discuss our differences respectfully; leaving our guns outside the saloon, entering to engage in solution-finding discourse.

The responsibility part of self-education comes from understanding that we need to listen to extremes of opinions — as hard as that might be. Like a pendulum swings far right and then far left — it is the extremes that inform “the middle” or those all open to learning. This is how we ultimately learn to form reasonably informed opinions.

In life, we must continue daily learning. This comes from educating ourselves in all areas: Taking the time to read multiple resources, question, discuss, delve, doubt, and probe while also being willing to be the recipient of deep unearthing as to our opinions or beliefs from others, as well. Only by committing to daily learning, to self-educating, and to fact-finding, can we truly become wise.

PS: I’m learning how to mess around with photos 😉

Silver Disobedience® philosophy believes all healthy relationships begin with self-awareness. I’m @DianGriesel aka @SilverDisobedience ✨ I am a Perception Analyst and I wrote The Silver Disobedience Playbook. Here, I share my Daily Meditations for other Ageless, Passionate & Curious People.  More info in my bio, my websites and at Wilhelmina New York.