The Wisdom Of The Elderly
The wisdom of the elderly is endless. They only need us to be willing to listen with our hearts to their life stories and about life. May we be willing to appreciate the wisdom that only years have enabled them to acquire. They are the best example that “if the devil knows more, it is because he is older”, to quote just this proverb. Seniors advise you based on their own experience, successes and failures. They are rich in it.
Life has nuances, not everything is white or black. In reality there are few things that are and you realize it when you listen to their stories. By paying attention you discover how different experiences build a lifetime. A life in which key moments, outstanding moments, even unforgettable moments, are what will forge our character and build our life story. Moments of love and family, or even something as inevitable as death.
Working as a helpline operator has allowed me to know many stories of users and family members. I had the opportunity to listen to them, to understand them and to imbibe their affection and, of course, their wisdom, the wisdom of the elderly.
Advice on love and the importance of choosing the right companion is part of the wisdom of the elderly. As many say, especially as many ladies say: sooner or later the children leave the house, it is the law of life. This stage can leave a void by causing significant changes in family dynamics.
Some parents may suffer from empty nest syndrome. When the children are no longer at home and one of the parents retires, they have more free time and much of that time is shared with the spouse. It is therefore advisable to have a good relationship, to understand each other well. Otherwise, loneliness will weigh heavily despite being in a relationship.
Also, chatting with older people helps you to believe more in love. Couples who spend more than thirty, forty, fifty or up to sixty years together. Overcoming difficulties of all kinds, like a great team. Widows or widowers who, with great sorrow, ardently regret their life partner. They remember it with affection and gratitude. They remember small and big details such as: the great father or mother he was, his jokes, his hobbies, how he liked to go for a walk or play with his grandchildren…
Others must separate during their lifetime from their partner, in some cases, from the love of their life. When one of them enters a residence, the other remains alone at home. The vast majority visit their spouse almost every day. It doesn’t matter what illness he suffers from, if he can speak or remember him.
Solitude
Loneliness is the framework for the sadness felt by many older people . Knowing loneliness is also part of their wisdom. The loneliness they sometimes feel because they don’t want to be in the way, because they have moved away from their family or because they hardly have any family or friends anymore.
There are all kinds of stories. Many children do not want to know anything about their parents, rightly or wrongly, I am not here to judge them. But I suspect that some older people, if they could go back in time, would do things differently.
When we are young, we never think that one day we will be old and that our actions today can have serious consequences for the future. That not treating others well, not trying to relate to others, can isolate us from human beings, from society and even from our loved ones.
We all need others, after all, human beings are social animals. Having hobbies or knowing how to find them at any age is important, it is an excellent remedy against loneliness . Some of these hobbies will be enjoyed in company and others, on the contrary, alone. But anyway, they help socialize. Like the case of an 85-year-old user to whom her grandchildren gave her a tablet with which she plays various games such as the famous Candy Crush. Thanks to this new hobby, she spends hours of fun, at the same time as she trains her mind and also promotes the emotional bond with her grandchildren.
Family
Valuing the importance of the family is part of the wisdom of the elderly. Family is very important for those who have it and for those who are not so fortunate. Children are important. But many nephews take care of their uncles and aunts as if they were their own parents. They go out of their way for them and it becomes evident when we speak with them.
- With a user who recited several poems his father had invented. He hadn’t written any on paper, but his father’s memory remained alive every time he recited his poems. Superb poems, full of life and popular wisdom.
- With another user who fondly remembered her father, who had taught them and her brother to read and write at night. Even today, at age 80, she vividly remembers the title of the first book he read at age seven, The Duck Adventurer .
Dead
Learning to accept death as a part of life is a fundamental pillar in the wisdom of the elderly. They accept the proximity of death without ceasing to live. They take even more advantage of what they have and highlight aspects that have ceased to be minimal to become important.
However, it is more difficult to accept other types of losses. The deterioration of physical and mental faculties or the loss of loved ones, such as friends and family.
The wisdom of the elderly
It is part of the wisdom of the elderly to give thanks. She s thankful for the life they had. They understand that their journey has been long and that the fact that their hearts are pounding is in itself a gift. They do not deny or regret the difficulties, they understand that they are what they are thanks to them, that it is a fascinating dialectic between luck and will that brought them where they are. They don’t turn their backs on the illusion. We can see her when they play cards after eating or when they share with their grandchildren.
They remind us that work humanizes us, constituting the foundation on which we develop a large number of our skills. But that we equivocate when we make it the center of our lives. Seniors often regret the times when they fell into this trap and not when they succumbed to offers to share time with family or friends.
Work also provides a sense of usefulness. There comes to mind here the case of a person who, at over 80, enrolled in painting classes without having painted before. Today, she offers tables to the whole family. This gives him that invaluable feeling of being able and useful despite and thanks to the years.
Many older people love to read. Their family environment promotes their interest in culture, despite the difficulties. They read the newspaper or books of all kinds, from the most classic novels to the most recent essays. They look for the content they like and the formats that are best suited to their physical capacities, especially their level of vision.
What can we learn if we listen carefully to older people? They have a lot to teach us about life, both from their experience and from the way they face it today. The elderly keep, for those who want to hear them, stories full of strength and courage, smiles and tears, sun and rain… Their stories are filled with anecdotes of all kinds, happy and less happy times , even sad moments. And best of all, they are willing to share it.
The wisdom of the elderly is endless …
