Strategy #3: You Can Use the Past to Cultivate Wisdom
Part 1 - Valuing the Past
Seven Strategies for Positive Aging by: Robert D. Hill, Ph.D.
Summarized by: Justin Hill, M.Ed.
As we age we change. This happens within the natural evolution of our psychological selves. Change can also come from the outside as daily events shape us into who we are. Sources of change can come from within or without, can be positive or negative. But either way, they alter us as we age.
At the same time, aging means stability. Life-span stability is based on rehearsed patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. It is from these predictable cycles that we derive meaning. We take comfort in knowing the consequences of their behavior.
Long-term stability in our self-perceptions, and how we feel toward others, connects our past to our present and brings us peace of mind.
This stability-change dialectic also influences how we anticipate our future, including our hopes, dreams, and desires. All three dimensions of time – the past, the present, and the future – should be in sync if we want to be happy in old age and experience Positive Aging.
Wisdom is the skill of harnessing your past experiences to guide you in the present and help you chart the future.
Summarized by: Justin Hill, M.Ed.
As we age we change. This happens within the natural evolution of our psychological selves. Change can also come from the outside as daily events shape us into who we are. Sources of change can come from within or without, can be positive or negative. But either way, they alter us as we age.
At the same time, aging means stability. Life-span stability is based on rehearsed patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. It is from these predictable cycles that we derive meaning. We take comfort in knowing the consequences of their behavior.
Long-term stability in our self-perceptions, and how we feel toward others, connects our past to our present and brings us peace of mind.
This stability-change dialectic also influences how we anticipate our future, including our hopes, dreams, and desires. All three dimensions of time – the past, the present, and the future – should be in sync if we want to be happy in old age and experience Positive Aging.
Wisdom is the skill of harnessing your past experiences to guide you in the present and help you chart the future.
Maps are guides that diagram terrain, roads, and geograpy. The traveler uses a map to plan routes through unknown areas.
Like a map, events from the past hold information about navigating the future.
If the past can be construed as a psychological road map, then it should help us efficiently navigate.
However, unlike a road map, the signs and symbols embedded in the past are more difficult to discern. A past experience, for example, could be a source of knowledge for making a future decision. But a past experience may be difficult to interpret because, unlike the universal symbols found on a geographic map, past experiences carry different meaning for different people. For example, losing a job might mean failure to one person, but an opportunity to another.
So reading a psychological map of your past is not as simple as just following a route on a road. Still, even the clearest road map is useless unless it depicts the precise terrain through which one is moving.
Our metaphorical map of the past may have an advantage in this regard, that is, past experiences are more flexible since they encompass an array of information that can be applied to a new situation or circumstance.
In addition, experiences from the past often come in the form of templates (or sets) of knowledge that may be loosely tied to a specific situation or event. Like a geographical map, there must be a link between the experience template and a new situation. For example, "how did moving to a new city kick-start my business?"
But, unlike a geographical map, past experience templates are malleable and can be changed or modified to fit for a present situation. An individual who is good at identifying these experience templates and knows how to apply them in future problem solving possesses a skill known as wisdom.
Bridging the three dimensions of time yields "Continuity."
Are you the kind of person who seeks change or continuity?
Like a map, events from the past hold information about navigating the future.
If the past can be construed as a psychological road map, then it should help us efficiently navigate.
However, unlike a road map, the signs and symbols embedded in the past are more difficult to discern. A past experience, for example, could be a source of knowledge for making a future decision. But a past experience may be difficult to interpret because, unlike the universal symbols found on a geographic map, past experiences carry different meaning for different people. For example, losing a job might mean failure to one person, but an opportunity to another.
So reading a psychological map of your past is not as simple as just following a route on a road. Still, even the clearest road map is useless unless it depicts the precise terrain through which one is moving.
Our metaphorical map of the past may have an advantage in this regard, that is, past experiences are more flexible since they encompass an array of information that can be applied to a new situation or circumstance.
In addition, experiences from the past often come in the form of templates (or sets) of knowledge that may be loosely tied to a specific situation or event. Like a geographical map, there must be a link between the experience template and a new situation. For example, "how did moving to a new city kick-start my business?"
But, unlike a geographical map, past experience templates are malleable and can be changed or modified to fit for a present situation. An individual who is good at identifying these experience templates and knows how to apply them in future problem solving possesses a skill known as wisdom.
Bridging the three dimensions of time yields "Continuity."
Are you the kind of person who seeks change or continuity?
Continuity Theory
Continuity Theory, proposed by Atchely in 1999, is based on three constructs – “internal” and “external” continuity – and a third term that is descriptive of change, which he labeled “discontinuity.” Atchley used discontinuity as a specific phenomenon that alters stability or the occurrence of a substantial shift in what is otherwise a routine life situation. Discontinuity is a disruption of break in the flow of an everyday life pattern.
Internal Continuity
Internal Continuity is a consistent inner structure of your self, including temperament or disposition, emotional lability, and energy level. Others can identify you as well because they have picked up on your patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
You may wonder if it is possible to change how you present yourself to the world and if your traits get more resistant to change as you get older. In fact, one stereotype of old age that has persisted for generations is that as people age they become so singular in their outlook and behavior that it becomes a psychological entrenchment or internal prison from which a person cannot escape.
Self-consistency can work in your favor, in that cultivating stable qualities of acceptance, good will, and optimism can make life easier for you and help you to be more pleasant to live with. It can also work against you as well if you persist in rehearsing maladaptive routines, such as complaining and negativity. These then become an automatic part of your nature and your presentation to others. Either way, our inner self has something to gain in our remaining consistent over time.
You may wonder if it is possible to change how you present yourself to the world and if your traits get more resistant to change as you get older. In fact, one stereotype of old age that has persisted for generations is that as people age they become so singular in their outlook and behavior that it becomes a psychological entrenchment or internal prison from which a person cannot escape.
Self-consistency can work in your favor, in that cultivating stable qualities of acceptance, good will, and optimism can make life easier for you and help you to be more pleasant to live with. It can also work against you as well if you persist in rehearsing maladaptive routines, such as complaining and negativity. These then become an automatic part of your nature and your presentation to others. Either way, our inner self has something to gain in our remaining consistent over time.
External Continuity
External Continuity involves the physical and social environment in which you live and the environment that you create for yourself that helps you feel meaningful.
It includes your social roles, your relationships, where your life, and your activities.
Some scholars of life-span development have asserted that there is an interrelationship between our living environment and our personal dispositions.
Continuity theory suggests that we create and shape our own environment so it is more amenable to our internal sense of self – the clothes we wear, how we fix our hair, where we like to shop or eat, our favorite bar or coffee shop, brands of food that we prefer and so on.
People notice when you change your patterns of dress or your hairstyle, your makeup, or even your weight because personal manifestations of external continuity are stable and represent who you are.
To explore factors that affect your external continuity, try this exercise.
Look around your living space and notice features about it that appeal to you. Then think about a previous living arrangement. Note the features of your previous living space that have carried over into your current living situation. As you do this you will discover just how predictable you are in your choices and preferences.
As you grow and age, you mature. And, at its most fundamental level, maturation is a form of learning that involves getting better at living by learning through experience. Whether good or bad, experiences teach us that we can change and adapt to our situation and circumstances. Those who are good at this are mature.
Those who are unable to learn from experience will become more entrenched in their ways as a function of aging and are at risk of becoming living examples of old-age rigidity.
We act and behave in certain ways because of the forces of internal and external continuity. Our propensity to repeat behaviors is adaptive because it creates predictability. Patterns are something we can count on. On the other hand, the world is a dynamic place and we must change and adjust ourselves and our circumstances if we want to adapt.
It includes your social roles, your relationships, where your life, and your activities.
Some scholars of life-span development have asserted that there is an interrelationship between our living environment and our personal dispositions.
Continuity theory suggests that we create and shape our own environment so it is more amenable to our internal sense of self – the clothes we wear, how we fix our hair, where we like to shop or eat, our favorite bar or coffee shop, brands of food that we prefer and so on.
People notice when you change your patterns of dress or your hairstyle, your makeup, or even your weight because personal manifestations of external continuity are stable and represent who you are.
To explore factors that affect your external continuity, try this exercise.
Look around your living space and notice features about it that appeal to you. Then think about a previous living arrangement. Note the features of your previous living space that have carried over into your current living situation. As you do this you will discover just how predictable you are in your choices and preferences.
As you grow and age, you mature. And, at its most fundamental level, maturation is a form of learning that involves getting better at living by learning through experience. Whether good or bad, experiences teach us that we can change and adapt to our situation and circumstances. Those who are good at this are mature.
Those who are unable to learn from experience will become more entrenched in their ways as a function of aging and are at risk of becoming living examples of old-age rigidity.
We act and behave in certain ways because of the forces of internal and external continuity. Our propensity to repeat behaviors is adaptive because it creates predictability. Patterns are something we can count on. On the other hand, the world is a dynamic place and we must change and adjust ourselves and our circumstances if we want to adapt.
Discontinuity
This is a source of change that disrupts stability. It is change that diminishes the capacity for coherence with respect to internal or external continuity.
If I am in the habit of putting my keys in a dish on my dresser each evening before I go to bed, when I wake up the next morning I expect that they will still be in their place.
This represents external continuity.
If the keys are not where I left them, I will wonder where they are, and maybe become mildly distressed. Unless I find the keys, my day-to-day routines and appointments will be disrupted.
Misplacing of keys is a mild discontinuity, but there are large ones as well that can permanently disrupt your life routine, including the loss of a spouse, moving to a new home, or even winning a major prize.
Whether larger or small, positive or negative, discontinuities cause us to change. They are an essential feature of the life-span architecture. They shape who we are and how we go through life.
If I am in the habit of putting my keys in a dish on my dresser each evening before I go to bed, when I wake up the next morning I expect that they will still be in their place.
This represents external continuity.
If the keys are not where I left them, I will wonder where they are, and maybe become mildly distressed. Unless I find the keys, my day-to-day routines and appointments will be disrupted.
Misplacing of keys is a mild discontinuity, but there are large ones as well that can permanently disrupt your life routine, including the loss of a spouse, moving to a new home, or even winning a major prize.
Whether larger or small, positive or negative, discontinuities cause us to change. They are an essential feature of the life-span architecture. They shape who we are and how we go through life.
Consequences of Discontinuity
When it happens, we notice it. They cause us to stop, pause, and reflect on where we are and where we are headed.
A discontinuity immediately focuses us on the present. It’s a moment, even if it is for a brief period of time.
Sometimes a discontinuity can be so large that it will disrupt us for some time, and for these, we may need psychological tools to reestablish our life routine.
A discontinuity immediately focuses us on the present. It’s a moment, even if it is for a brief period of time.
Sometimes a discontinuity can be so large that it will disrupt us for some time, and for these, we may need psychological tools to reestablish our life routine.
Part 2 - Positive Aging and Continuity
The following Positive Aging techniques can help when a discontinuity throws our regular internal or external continuity into disarray.
Mobilizing Your Resources
One thing is to reflect on past experiences or times when you used your resources wisely. It is possible that the way you addressed an earlier problem might be useful if it is modified to fit a present concern. The goal is to harness experiences from the past to solve present problems.
Try to remember a time when you got yourself out of a tough situation or way of thinking. What did you do? Who helped you? Engage those resources for a current problem and you are mobilizing your resources.
Lists can be helpful in clarifying decisions. Make lists about pros and cons of a situation; make a list about your current situation and things you can do about it; make a list on the things you need to accomplish to get out of a current negative situation.
Medical decisions can also be a tough thing.
The Ottawa Personal Decision Guide includes four things to consider before making a decision.
Try to remember a time when you got yourself out of a tough situation or way of thinking. What did you do? Who helped you? Engage those resources for a current problem and you are mobilizing your resources.
Lists can be helpful in clarifying decisions. Make lists about pros and cons of a situation; make a list about your current situation and things you can do about it; make a list on the things you need to accomplish to get out of a current negative situation.
Medical decisions can also be a tough thing.
The Ottawa Personal Decision Guide includes four things to consider before making a decision.
- Clarify the issue.
- Identify your resources.
- Approach decisions flexibly and keep your options open.
- Commit to knowing that you have made the best choice under the circumstances.
Making Life Choice That Promote Wisdom
Our life situation is partly a reflection of the choices that we make over time. The longer we live, the more choices we make, which then sets in motion a life pattern due to such choices. This is perhaps the most compelling feature of continuity.
If you think about it, you are making decisions all the time, many of which you are unaware.
Once a life pattern is set in place, then decisions and choices from that pattern can be made with very little resource utilization.
This is why life patterns are attractive; they reduce our need to be consciously aware of what we are doing all the time.
Problems arise when we set in motion a life choice that is maladaptive.
If you think about it, you are making decisions all the time, many of which you are unaware.
Once a life pattern is set in place, then decisions and choices from that pattern can be made with very little resource utilization.
This is why life patterns are attractive; they reduce our need to be consciously aware of what we are doing all the time.
Problems arise when we set in motion a life choice that is maladaptive.
Cultivate Flexibility
The role of flexibility as a Positive Aging strategy for finding wisdom in old age is large. Past experiences do not always precisely fit a current situation or problem. The situation may require modifying a past experience to make it work for you in the present.
It is important to note that flexibility also involves some risk. To modify an experience or to think about something in a different way may create a whole range of possibilities for addressing a problem or situation.
Some ideas may not work as well as others, so in addition to cultivating flexibility, one needs to develop strategies for ranking or rating choices based on how well they will work in a given situation.
The best way to do this is to be willing to try new things and then evaluate how useful they were, even when some options may set you back from time to time. This requires that you not only be careful in how you make new choices, but that you have a degree of compassion for yourself when you make an errant choice.
Developing flexibility takes work, effort, and practice, and even failure sometimes. However, the more you practice stepping back, weighing all your options, and probing for that new direction or way that may help you solve a situation or issue, the better you become at being flexible and the closer you get to attaining wisdom.
It is important to note that flexibility also involves some risk. To modify an experience or to think about something in a different way may create a whole range of possibilities for addressing a problem or situation.
Some ideas may not work as well as others, so in addition to cultivating flexibility, one needs to develop strategies for ranking or rating choices based on how well they will work in a given situation.
The best way to do this is to be willing to try new things and then evaluate how useful they were, even when some options may set you back from time to time. This requires that you not only be careful in how you make new choices, but that you have a degree of compassion for yourself when you make an errant choice.
Developing flexibility takes work, effort, and practice, and even failure sometimes. However, the more you practice stepping back, weighing all your options, and probing for that new direction or way that may help you solve a situation or issue, the better you become at being flexible and the closer you get to attaining wisdom.
Emphasizing the Positives
For better or worse, life situations change as you age.
It is rare that a person can see both pros and cons from a neutral perspective.
Positive Agers acknowledge both the positives and negatives in life while at the same time emphasizing the positive. This does not mean that you should ignore the negative because there are lessons to be learned from life’s difficulties and they reinforce meaning in the positive.
People who develop a habit of emphasizing the positive do better when they are confronted with challenges or difficulties in life. A life-span manifestation of emphasizing the positives is optimism.
A person who is optimistic looks for the positives and then affirms aspect of the situation or oneself that can be counted on to generate positive emotions even when the situation is difficult. Such an approach has the consequence of enabling resources that can then reinstate continuity.
With Positive Aging, everyone has the capability to be happy in old age. All that is required is that you discipline yourself to reframe perceptions and cultivate positive emotions as you cope with the dilemmas of late-life living.
It is rare that a person can see both pros and cons from a neutral perspective.
Positive Agers acknowledge both the positives and negatives in life while at the same time emphasizing the positive. This does not mean that you should ignore the negative because there are lessons to be learned from life’s difficulties and they reinforce meaning in the positive.
People who develop a habit of emphasizing the positive do better when they are confronted with challenges or difficulties in life. A life-span manifestation of emphasizing the positives is optimism.
A person who is optimistic looks for the positives and then affirms aspect of the situation or oneself that can be counted on to generate positive emotions even when the situation is difficult. Such an approach has the consequence of enabling resources that can then reinstate continuity.
With Positive Aging, everyone has the capability to be happy in old age. All that is required is that you discipline yourself to reframe perceptions and cultivate positive emotions as you cope with the dilemmas of late-life living.
Part 3: Positive Aging - The Pathway to Wisdom
Positive Aging represents a lifestyle which produces a “wise” skill set. Unlike the pessimistic view of age-related decline, wisdom seems to improve as one becomes older. In many respects, wisdom is enhanced by the ability to learn from experience and to make more effective life decisions.
Given that wisdom is considered by researchers and scholars to have components that are tied to skill acquisition across the life span, the question arises as to whether there are strategies or suggestions that can help a person learn how to be wise. Although wisdom is often developed by creating meaning from ambiguity, there are several features that are characteristic of wise people.
In the end, an essential ingredient in wisdom is life experience.
Given that wisdom is considered by researchers and scholars to have components that are tied to skill acquisition across the life span, the question arises as to whether there are strategies or suggestions that can help a person learn how to be wise. Although wisdom is often developed by creating meaning from ambiguity, there are several features that are characteristic of wise people.
- Be oriented toward others -
- Be open and willing to teach others.
- Help those who are less fortunate.
- Learn from your mistakes -
- Be careful to avoid the pitfalls of cycles that are evidence from the past.
- Practice integrating information -
- Study a problem from many different perspectives.
- Be reflective about issues and problems -
- Avoid choosing the first solution that enters your mind.
- Be willing to wrestle with ambiguity in order to find meaning in it.
- The speed of problem solving may not be the best marker of wisdom. "Leaders are decisive, wise people are reflective."
- Cultivate optimism -
- Be positive about yourself and others.
- Realize the world is not a perfect place and that bad things happen and cannot always be avoided.
- Focus on the positives to ameliorate aspects of negative life events.
In the end, an essential ingredient in wisdom is life experience.
