INsight is always 20/20

There is a popular saying that says, 'Hindsight is always 20/20' which eludes to the fact that if you would have known the significance of something in your past at the time that it was happening, you might have acted differently than you actually did at that moment.

Many see it as a very important tool in learning. However, I would suggest that its relative "insight" is much more important. Hindsight helps one to see the significance of things that occured in the past, but insight takes a deeper look to understand that significance. Insight helps us find the answer to the most important question..."why?" It shines a light on the underlying reasons and points to the truth. It is what enables us to learn from our experiences. Until you can gain insight of something that you have experienced, it remains useless to you.

So, how do we gain insight? We first realize that the initial statement of this journal, "hindsight is always 20/20" is not true. Our ego says it is, but if you have ever listened to more than one person give an account of the same story, you will see that hindsight is highly subjective if not extremely inventive. Also hindsight tends to keep us reliving things and battling in our minds to change the story somehow to a more comfortable ending. So, I suggest we lose the 'hindsight' theory all together and just shoot for insight.

What would happen if we started to ask "why" instead of asking questions like "what could I have done differently?" or "who's fault was that?" Could we not get a more objective account by seeking for understanding rather than justification or rationalization? When we hold an understanding of things, we can have a more clear picture of what is really happening. We are not so quick to judge when we have insight. Instead we are more prone to asking questions, which is so much more powerful.

A few nights ago I woke up with the word "insight" in my head, and as I have thought more about it over the last few days, I see how important it has been in my life recently to strive for insight into the 'why' of things that happen in my life and in the human experience in general. I realized that when you have insight or understanding, you can deal with pretty much anything that comes your way.

For example, my greatest insight has been that we as human beings are all equally valuable and significant; each built to contribute in our own unique ways. With this insight, I am able to remind myself that I have a responsibility to be myself and to share the gifts I have with others. I am able to remember that my fellow human beings are not my competitors, but my teammates. I am able to understand that we are all in this together, and that as I help others to become stronger, I become stronger. I can forgive myself and others more easily. I can have empathy for others who suffer. I have no reason to fear others or their judgment of me. When someone else is successful, I can celebrate with them instead of feeling jealous. I can work on mastering myself now that I don't feel the need to master others. I see that I don't need to try to be someone else to stand out from the crowd. I only need to be outstanding in who I really am. 

I could probably go on endlessly on the things that I have learned from this one simple but very important insight, and this proves to me without a doubt that INsight is 20/20. It is what helps us see the underlying truth that we might have otherwise missed.