Experience + Conscious Journeying + Heart =Wisdom...Maybe

I have heard many people, who out of respect, no doubt, equate growing older with getting wise. I don't believe growing old,
by itself, makes anyone wise. I do see that experience, which accumulates with time lived, can offer many opportunities, for
learning about how to live life. However, learning lessons about life, depends on being open, at all times, to learning them.
A person, convinced from the start, he or she is right, and therefore, has no reason to learn anything about living life, could
live a thousand years on this earth, without learning much, in all that time...but stands a good chance of becoming, deeper
and deeper engrained, in his or her prejudices or backwardness. I think what likely makes the difference, on the journey to
wisdom, is your openness to reflecting on your dissonances and mistakes and all of your life, as it unfolds, and to the lessons always being offered, and being willing to heed them when they become clear to you. This is a big part of what I mean by "conscious journeying". Now to the third part of the "equation". Something tells me that, if our responses to life are based only on what our heads tell us to do, we are likely asking to live a cool and clinical life, that stands a good chance of being devoid of empathy, humour, compassion, joyfulness, funkyness, and loving inter-actions with others etc. This is why learning to live from the heart comes in, enriching our lives, and tempering our view of others and of life, with understanding, forgiveness, compassion, inclusion, thankfulness, balance, and recognition of our human fragility and vulnerability...and, hopefully, nudging us towards wisdom. The "maybe" in my formula, is there for a very good reason. I have found, that whenever I start thinking I have life figured out...it will unerringly test me, in some area I haven't had to deal with before, or more severely in areas I've visited before...reminding me that I don't know very much, after all the years of "conscious journeying"...and that I still have much to learn about this precious thing...called "life".................Quester.