It may sound tough, but it isn’t. Unconsciously, people are actually already doing it from a certain age onwards. Yet life lessons, besides being entertaining, can also be very educational. If it doesn’t come naturally, there are some questions you can bring up during a conversation. A mix of experiencing yourself and learning from other people’s mistakes, as far as you can speak of mistakes.
Experience it yourself
Many people first have to encounter something themselves before they learn something from it. In itself that is a learning experience that leaves a mark in your memory that you will never forget, but that does not alter the fact that you can also benefit from someone else’s life lessons. Besides the fact that the better storyteller can also turn it into a good and juicy story, these may be topics that you can approach differently in order to prevent possible mistakes in the future.
Using the life lessons of someone else…
If, in addition to a juicy story, you also want to learn something from someone else’s life lessons, there are some questions that will get you straight to the heart of the matter. Let someone look back on his/her adult life and let him/her express a number of things about it. Consider:
- What are the five most important life lessons in your life?
- What is the secret of a good relationship? (be careful to make sure it isn’t someone who has only had fiascos.)
- In line with the previous question, an alternative could be… What mistakes can young people avoid in their relationships?
- What is the best thing to do (or not do) to get to that ultimate job?
- Are there things that have given your life a different direction and if so, which ones?
- What are your core values in life and where have they helped you or given you something to hold on to?
- They say that “going deep” brings a lot of life experience, do you have an example of such a “going deep moment” and what did it bring you?
- What do you think is your own ultimate way to grow old and why?
Talk about life lessons
Many older people like to talk about life lessons and what they have learned from them. On the other hand, relatively many young people want to experience it all for themselves and often find it corny nonsense. To be fair, if someone makes a pedantic talk, it is not surprising that younger people drop out. However, you also have a role in this. You can guide such a conversation with targeted questions, so that you do not have to detract from the person’s beautiful story and you get the most out of it in terms of what is or could be of added value to you in the future.
Respect
However, what must always be clear is that a conversation must take place based on mutual respect. The younger respects the older and the older respects the younger. If you can work in this way, you avoid the well-known generation gap conversations.
Act in the now
On the one hand, the outcome of the conversations can be interesting, but on the other hand, it is also important not to push everything forward. This means that relatively many people live towards something. Although that in itself does not have to be disastrous, it is important that you live up to that (ultimate) moment and enjoy it. So enjoy the NOW.
Now it actually sounds quite simple, enjoying the NOW. Still, it’s good to think about some recent moments and think about whether you really enjoyed them. I’m not even talking about special moments. It could also be when you are walking the dog and you have walked through a beautiful lane and you have realized that. Or you are cleaning your house and suddenly, for whatever reason, you have a euphoric moment of being a privileged person. In short, think about the situation and consider to what extent you are actually consciously working on it and enjoying it. Far too little applies to the vast majority of them!
Finally
Learn life lessons yourself or also use the life lessons of an older person. It can go well together, as long as you remain open to new things and are not dull or too stubborn. But that is also part of becoming wiser as age progresses.