I’ve just finished the ski season on my home mountain of Sun Valley, Idaho, and the 2015/2016 season was gratifying. I got in 71 days, and a good many of those were powder days. In addition the run down the mountain, which for me is usually in the bumps and junk, there’s always the ride on the chairlift back up to the top. And that’s when my ski buddies and I enjoy good conversation. We talk politics, national security affairs, cooking, relationships, sports, whatever. One day, we got on the subject of values and personal worth–how we grow and as we age (and in our case, most of us are past the seven-decade mark), just what have we learned? What can we still learn? After a few bottom-to-top excursions, we came up with this:
1. 
Facts and truths will lead to knowledge,
2. Knowledge and experience will lead to judgment,
3. Judgment and morality will lead to maturity,
4. Maturity and awareness will lead to wisdom.
Positive experience and personal achievement are key to growth; They lead to strong and healthy self esteem. Self esteem is important, even at our advanced stage of the game. Self esteem must be earned by the individual, by achieving one positive accomplishment at a time. It cannot be given or confirmed; it must be generated from within.
Personal growth is an ongoing, lifelong journey. It never ends. Each of us must seek out and initiate positive or worthwhile experiences in our lives. We can do this with the help of others, yet this effort cannot be outsourced. Each of us has an obligation to work to improve ourselves and to build on the past, become more aware, learn, and grow.
Personal effort is the only way anyone can improve. This is especially true for young people and disenfranchised people. Hand outs and entitlements only weaken and retard personal growth and development. Free lunches are very costly in the long run, unless they are a one time thing, an infrequent anomaly, and used to start the growth process.
So this is a little bit of chairlift wisdom. If I’d been able to ski a few more days, maybe I’d be that much smarter. But there’s always next season. For this and other insights, see www.dickcouch.com.
