The Gift of Wisdom
Wisdom is one of life’s richest harvests. Unlike knowledge, which can be gathered quickly, wisdom ripens slowly, like fruit that needs a full season of sun and rain before it can truly nourish. As I reach my senior years, I am grateful for the understanding that grows when experience, reflection, and compassion meet.
I have come to see wisdom as a garden I have been tending over many years. Each book I’ve read, each class I’ve taken, and each experience I’ve lived has been a seed. Some sprouted right away. Others lay dormant until the soil of my life was ready. Looking back now, I see a field filled with lessons, each one bearing fruit in its season.
Broken, and Then Beginning Again
My intentional journey into wisdom began in November 2016, just after the presidential election. I was broken. The world felt unstable, and so did I. I walked into Unity Palo Alto on a Sunday morning, not knowing then how deeply that community and its teachings would shape the years ahead.
From the very beginning, I kept a record of every class I attended and every book I studied. At first, I think I was clinging to structure, some way to steady myself. But over time, I realized I was building something more: a harvest of learning that would nourish me through the hardest seasons of my life.
Seeds Along the Way
In 2017, my word of the year was Courage. I studied works like The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, and The Universe is Calling by Eric Butterworth. Each word I read, each principle I practiced, gave me courage to keep walking.
By 2018, my word was Synchronicity, and I began to notice how books, teachers, and opportunities appeared just when I needed them most. Edwina Gaines, Eckhart Tolle, Emilie Cady. each voice planted a seed that would grow at the right time.
In 2019, the word was Joyfully Create. That was the year ThankU.io came into being, born of a desire to turn gratitude into something tangible and shareable. It was also the year I discovered Emerson’s Self-Reliance and Cady’s Lessons in Truth, wisdom that gave me strength to build and create.
Wisdom as Lifeline
In 2020, everything stopped. COVID brought lockdown, and in 2021 I faced my own unexpected silence: sudden hearing loss and hyperacusis. Every day sounds became painful, and I could not go anywhere without headphones. It was terrifying and isolating.
And wisdom became my lifeline. Teachers like Pema Chödrön, Tara Brach, Martha Creek, Reverand John Riley, and Jon Kabat-Zinn helped me reframe my suffering. Books like Radical Acceptance and When Things Fall Apart gave me courage to trust that even in pain, there was growth. I practiced gratitude not because it was easy, but because it was the only path to peace I could see.
The Harvest Matures
In 2022 and 2023, I continued to study deeply, Rohr, Singer, Wayne Dyer, Paul Selig, and A Course in Miracles. My word of the year shifted to Grace, then to Be. Grateful. These weren’t just words on a page; they became guiding lights, reminding me that wisdom is not abstract. It is lived, practiced, embodied.
By 2024, I had completed A Course in Miracles, a milestone I never imagined when I first walked into Unity feeling broken. That year, my words were Serve… Harvest and Accept… Not Judge. They reflected the deeper maturity that comes when wisdom has been lived through fire and trial.
A New Season of Hope and Wonder
Now, in 2025, my words are Hope and Wonder. After years of fearing sound, I find my brain has rewired. Noises that once felt dangerous are no longer lions waiting to pounce. I can walk into the world more freely. Gratitude fills me when I notice this progress.
I am also grateful for the encouragement of others , even strangers on the hyperacusis subreddit who reminded me to be brave, to try new vitamins, to trust my healing. Wisdom is never ours alone; it is always shared.
Grateful for the Harvest
When I look at the record I’ve kept of classes and books, over 40 classes and more than 100 books, I see not just titles and dates, but stepping stones across a river. Each one carried me a little further. Each one added to the harvest that sustains me now.
Today, I am grateful for wisdom, for the voices of sages past and present, for the teachers who walked beside me, for the journals where I wrestled with truth, and for the quiet inner knowing that grew stronger with time. Wisdom is the harvest of a lifetime, and I give thanks for every step of the journey.
Wisdom is not just what we learn; it is what carries us. It is the harvest of courage, patience, and grace , and with gratitude, we pass it forward to those who will walk after us.