In a time of information overload, when you and I are daily presented with all that we do not know and need to know, may we remember to slow down and take deep breaths and remember the long, slow ways of wisdom. For knowledge without wisdom is a long bookshelf that goes on for miles and miles, filled with books that we have read from cover to cover, binds worn, pages highlighted, and yet, no action has ever been taken.

Wisdom, on the other hand, is the way of slow learning - learning that propels us to move into action. And if we are ever desiring to grow, we must remember that wisdom comes slow. We can only take in so much information at a time. We can only give so many more tasks to our already overcrowded minds. In the same way that we do not expect ourselves to rush into action immediately after eating a meal, we must continue to remind ourselves and one another that we are allowed to take time to process all that we are taking in. For again and again, every single day, we will be reminded of all we have yet to know. All of the ways where we still have a long way to go. The only way to travel through this with grace is realizing that we must approach knowledge with a wise, mindful pace.

It will not make us weak. If it takes time to process things this week, we are allowed to say, “I need some time,” without fearing what others might think. We are allowed to take time to breathe even in the face of uncertainty.

As psycologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl once said:

Between stimulus and response, there is a space. And that space lies our freedom and our power to choose our response.

If you don't know what to do with the space, after taking all of this information in, breathe. Simply breathe. Inhale and exhale. You do not have to say or do a single thing. This is a part of the long, slow way of wisdom, a posture of listening, that will be cultivated over the course of your lifetime. This is a journey, and you're still learning. And you're still free to take this one day at a time.

Journal: If you experience information overload, what time of day does this usually occur? What changes can you practice making?

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