Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 438 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

The Five Trails on Life’s Trek – Philosophy Part 4

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy podcast. This is Day 438 of our trek, and today is Philosophy Friday. Every Friday we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life, and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy. Each Friday we are in a multi-week trek as we explore the teachings from some of my virtual mentors, such as Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, and Earl Nightingale.

The core of our current trek is based primarily on Jim Rohn’s book called The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle. I have learned a considerable amount from reading and re-reading this book on my own trek of life, and I trust that it will benefit you also. Keeping with the continuity of Wisdom-Trek, I will be adapting it to The Five Trails on Life’s Trek.

We are broadcasting from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tuesday evening we had my sister Rebecca over for dinner to continue our trek through old family pictures. The box that we are working on now was from when our parents were in their early 20s.

My dad was in the Navy around Japan, and mom and their first of ten children, Christina, were living with Granny and Gramps, who were my dad’s parents. Some of the notes between Mom and Dad on the back of the pictures were great to read, and it gave us a better understanding of their life as a young married couple. The trails that they forged were part of the extended trail that we now continue on today.

On our trek for today, we will continue on the first of five trails on life’s trek, which is the Philosophy Trail. Specifically, we want to continue our exploration of How to Develop a Powerful Personal Philosophy. If you have missed the past few Philosophy Friday treks, it would be good to go back and review them to get caught up on our progress so far.

We have a lot of ground to cover today, so let’s break camp and continue on the first trail of this extended trek as we cover…

The Five Trails on Life’s Trek –Philosophy Part 4

As a reminder, our overall extended trek will cover these five trails are:

1. Philosophy

2. Attitude

3. Activity

4. Results

5. Lifestyle

Last week on our hike, you discovered how to learn from other people’s failures and successes as well as capitalizing on the power of positive influences in life. We continue on that same trail today by learning how to become a good observer and a good listener, so let’s look at how to:

· Become a Good Observer

You must never allow a day to pass without finding the answers to a list of important questions such as: What is going on in your field of vocation? What new challenges are currently facing your government, your community, your neighborhood? What are the new breakthroughs, the new opportunities, the new tools and techniques that have recently come to light? Who are the new personalities that are influencing your world and local opinion?

You must become a good observer and an astute evaluator of all that is going on around you. All events affect you, and what affects you leaves an imprint on what you will one day be and how you will one day live.

One of the major reasons why people are not doing well is because they keep trying to get through the day the same way they do every day. A more worthy challenge is to try to obtain as much insight as possible from the day. You must become sensitive enough to observe and ponder what is happening around you. Be alert. Be awake. Let life and all of its subtle messages touch you. Often, the most extraordinary opportunities are hidden among the seemingly insignificant events of life. If you do not pay attention to these events, you can easily miss the opportunities.  To take advantage of every opportunity for success, you must constantly be observing the situations around you. King Solomon wrote about his observations during the latter years of his life in Ecclesiastes [9:11],

“I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.”

While I understand that Solomon was the wisest person to ever live, I also know that you can greatly influence your chance of success through an astute power of observation. Next, you need to:

· Become a Good Listener

It is challenging today to be a good listener. There are so many voices that cry out for your attention, each with its own special message and each with its own special appeal. One of the best ways to deal with this important challenge is to develop the skill of selective listening. You know, the type that your children have when they are growing up, and many maintain throughout adulthood. 

We have all sort of devices and opportunities shouting in our minds, so we need to learn the fine art of listening to only what is most important. I realize with streaming music, podcast, and video feeds of today, it is a bit different, but follow along with this example to grasp the concept. Selective listening is like tuning a radio or channel surfing on TV to find the station that most appeals to you. As you advance through the channels, you listen or watch for a few seconds and then either keep searching or stop on a particular station, depending on what you have just heard or seen. It is the same with many aspects of life. Whenever a voice calls out for your attention, you must pause for a few moments to ponder the message. If the message is shallow or ignorant and does not advance you toward your primary purpose in life, then you must discipline yourself to move on. You must touch the “scan” switch and move on to the next voice so that the ignorant and shallow messages do not affect you.

Everything you hear and see is being recorded in your mental computer and forming a new connection in the brain. You might listen to some voices for a time, out of curiosity, but if the voice is not leading toward the achievement of your goals, then you must exercise great caution in how long you listen to them. Only when you have found a source of valuable information should you allow the message to touch you so that it might add value to who and what you already are or are becoming.

We are all leaders in some aspect of life, and one of the greatest attributes of leadership is effective communication. Learning what to say and when to say it comes only when you have learned how to listen. The art of listening is an opportunity to add to your knowledge and to increase your value. The process of speaking, on the other hand, is the act of putting on display what you have learned. The more you learn, the less you need to say in order to teach others.

You must first master the art of listening before your spoken words will have any great value to others. Jesus taught us in Mark 4:23-25, “‘Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.’  Then he added, ‘Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given—and you will receive even more.  To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.’”

Here is a practical example for your life that can be applied to many areas. The best way to learn what to say to your children or grandchildren is to listen to them. You should read the books they are reading, listen to their songs, watch the videos they are watching, and become familiar with the messages they are receiving from a variety of sources. Listening to the information that is reaching your children or grandchildren will not only increase your awareness of their decision-making process, but it will also help you to talk more effectively with your children or grandchildren about what is valuable.

We are deliberately taking our trek slowly as we ponder How to Develop a Powerful Personal Philosophy on our continued hike up the Trail of Philosophy today. This is not an easy hike to make. It requires absorbing new information that may challenge your current philosophy.  It will require becoming a good observer and a good listener.

Next week on Philosophy Friday, we will explore how to gain insight from what we read, what we write, and much more in our pursuit of a powerful personal philosophy. Make sure to join us for the continuation of our trek on the Trail of Philosophy next Friday. I know you will find these insights interesting and profitable in living a rich and satisfying life.

Our next trek will be Motivation Monday when we explore more trails of how to get and stay motivated to bring value to your world. So, encourage your friends and family to join us, and then come along on Monday for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. As you enjoy your daily dose of wisdom, we ask you to help us grow Wisdom-Trek by sharing with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person inviting them to come along with us each day. If you would like to listen to any of the past daily treks, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek, so each trek will be downloaded to you automatically. I would also appreciate it if you would rate and review us on iTunes or Google Play so that others will find out about Wisdom-Trek and join us.

Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you in through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you on Monday!