How to Turn Information Into Self-Transformation | 64

You read the books, you did the courses, you learned the thing, you know the information, but you can't seem to create the transformation. I am Dr. Betsy Guerra, and I have studied clinical psychology for over 26 years. I have a doctorate in the field, and I know why people know the thing but don't do it, why it's so hard to apply and transform simply knowing the information. Information does not equal transformation, and today you're going to learn why. I was at a business conference, and there was a speaker who was very renowned, very knowledgeable, and he said that there was one main big expense in every business. The highest expense in every business is the exact same. I'm like, what? What does this guy know? And he said, well, before I tell you the highest expense, let me tell you what the second highest usually is. The second highest expense is usually taxes. People and businesses have to pay taxes. But the main, the most expensive thing that you experience in any business, no matter what field, Is drum roll, please. Not knowing. Not knowing that you can sell this in this manner will put leave money on the table. Not knowing that you have access to an audience who really needs what you are offering leaves money on the table. That is the most expensive thing that you have in every business. Not knowing. the thing that's going to get you to just explode and experience the success that you're meant to have. And I remember staying with that and be like, my gosh, that's why I invest so much in personal development and coaches and business mentors. I'm always, always, always paying people to help me be and do better because they're the ones bringing the knowledge, the experience, and helping me grow in wisdom. But I have learned through my experience in the psychology field and through my personal experience as a business owner who hires coaches and mentors, that information alone does not create change. Knowing what the problem is does not create the outcomes that I'm desiring to create. It doesn't create the changes, the transformations that I am looking for. Knowledge alone does not suffice, and that's because knowledge is very different from understanding and from wisdom. And today I am going to teach you the difference between the 3 so that you, my friend, may finally break through and go from knowledge— having the information— to wisdom Which is actually pursuing and receiving the outcomes that you desire. I once heard a pastor talk about knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. I wish I remembered who it was so that I could quote him. Just let it suffice that I didn't come up with this, although I wish I would've. He explained that knowledge is having information, Knowing the thing that you're supposed to do, the problem that you have, like having the awareness. And from a psychology perspective, I can recognize that having the awareness is the most important first step in every process of transformation. But I also recognize that having awareness alone does not suffice in our field either. Knowing the information, knowing that texting and driving is not good, is not enough for you to never text and drive and avoid a tragedy. Knowing is not enough. Knowing is just the information. Now, understanding is when that information becomes personal. You experience it in your own flesh. Like, you didn't just study it in a book. You lived it. You experienced it. You know it, not from other sources, but from your inner wisdom. It's just, you understand it. So if I, God forbid, have an accident because I'm texting and driving and I hurt somebody, I will understand better than anybody that texting and driving is not good. I knew that already. I know texting and driving is no bueno, but I'm gonna understand it differently. I knew about the stages of grief and loss and pain. I read all about it in books, and I graduated with a doctorate in it. I didn't know crap until I understood it in my own core, until I experienced that excruciating pain of loss. I remember, I remember I used to see a lot of kids when I first graduated, and I look back and I'm like, oh my goodness, I knew nothing. What was I? What was I thinking? How? How did I dare like offer support to families with their kids or with family therapy and couples? You know, couples I've always had experience because I've had a lot of noviositos. I've had some boyfriends here and there, but families, I used to see a lot of families. I'm like, I didn't know anything. I wasn't a parent then, but I had— I knew about the information. So notice, I will say God will use us all, always. Like, if we are in surrender and we're a vessel of the Lord, He's going to use us to help others, even if we haven't experienced the thing that they're going through, even if we don't understand. understand it in our core, He'll use us. So knowledge is still valuable and it's important. And it, you know, it's— it has— it has the— it equips us. Knowledge still equips us. So because I know that I served people and I helped them, I just don't know how I helped them because I realize now that I didn't know anything compared to now that I've experienced motherhood and I've experienced loss and I've experienced so many— you know, so many things that I help people with, and I still have so much to go. But anyway, knowledge is what you study, what the information that you have access to. And nowadays, everybody in the world has access to a whole lot of information. You just go into ChatGPT or Claude and, and just ask away, and you know too. But then why is it that people are not transformed by that? It's because, number one, they don't understand it, which is the middle step. They haven't lived it in their core. It makes sense in their minds, but they haven't like dropped down to the body. And, you know, knowledge oftentimes lives in our brains. Understanding is experienced in our bodies because thoughts are the language of the mind, emotions are the language of the body. That's what Dr. Joe Dispenza says. So when we're thinking things and analyzing information, we're operating from the head, from the cognition. But when we are feeling and truly understanding that information, we have dropped down to the body. And that's like a really powerful way of experiencing. So both are important, but understanding goes a long way. It just, it really helps you connect at a different, more profound level. And then there's wisdom. And we use wisdom mindlessly, but this pastor defines wisdom As applied understanding, applied knowledge. So you have the information, which is the knowledge. You have the experience of that knowledge, that's the understanding. And then wisdom is when you don't text and drive because you know and you understand that it is not good, and it can cause harm and damage and tragedies and all the things. You know that it's good to exercise, and you have experienced the fruits of exercising, moving your body, which then may translate to eating more healthy foods because now you know how long it takes you to burn a few calories. So then you think about it twice when you're gonna consume the calories, right? Like, we know and we understand that exercising is good, but wisdom is actually— getting up and going to the gym or going for a walk or doing a few squats, like moving your body. It's applied knowledge and understanding. Wisdom is when we embody the thing that we know and understand. And I think it's not so much that knowledge is the greatest expense— forget a business— of your life. I think that's a great first part, which is why I think everybody should be to some sort of process that allows them to create that awareness, that, like, consciousness of why you do what you do, how do your habits, good or bad, serve you. Like, just really getting to know yourself at a deeper level, not from the audience seat, but rather from the producer and director of your life movie that you are. If you're able to go in and study yourself, get to know yourself— what do I love? What makes me happy? What brings me joy? What am I really good at? What robs me of my peace? What stresses me out? If you could really go in and explore, that's knowledge. That's awareness. But then understanding is the experience of that. knowledge. So now it's personal. And then wisdom is you being— you applying the thing that you have learned in the processes that you've been through and the experiences and the lessons that you've been exposed to. So knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are 3 different things. And if you keep thinking like, why do I know this and don't do it anyway? Well, now you know, you get to go through the experience. Like, so if you know something, like, let's say, like, what I need to do is start eating healthy, or I should make an appointment to go to the doctor, I should get the colonoscopy and the mammogram and the sonogram and the thing, like, you know, the annual usual thing. Like, I have— I feel like it's responsible for me to do that. If you could just take it a step further, And understand that maybe a family member or a friend had colon cancer because they didn't apply the wisdom of actually getting the colonoscopy or the mammogram. If you could understand through other people that have experienced it rather than wait for you to be the one that's experiencing it yourself, then you can skip the personal Experience of the that usually creates the understanding and skip to the wisdom. And that's what I want to invite you to today. They say in Spanish, nadie escarmienta por cabeza ajena, which translates to nobody learns through someone else's experience. And I disagree. I think every time we witness someone close. or even in the news, go through something very painful, we get like a reality check and a little bit of perspective and we're like, oh my gosh, like life is so short. Or that could, that could be me. Like if we could allow for other people's pains and experiences to inspire wisdom in us, we could skip the very painful process That typically yields understanding, because many times the way that we experience that understanding is in our personal lives. So my invitation for you today is for you to reflect on something you've been putting off, something you know you should do, something you know is right for you, but you've been— Slacking or omitting or avoiding it, or too busy to take care of it or prioritize it. Take a moment, maybe pause me right now, and think about what is it that you keep thinking you should do because you know knowledge—it's good for you. What is it? And now. Instead of waiting, procrastinating, and leaving it because, no, it's, you know, not yet, or I don't have time, or I'm so busy, like, how about you think of someone that didn't make that decision that you were avoiding on time and had to suffer consequences for it? Think of a person, maybe Maybe you don't know them personally, or perhaps you do. Think of that person and what they would do to have been wiser by applying the knowledge that they had, if they had it, right? They didn't— people didn't have as much access to information and resources as we have nowadays. There's no excuse for us. No excuses. It's literally at the finger— at our fingertips. The information that we need to know. Knowledge is very accessible to you and to me. So think about that. Reflect on another person who has experienced it in their own core, and let's skip to the wisdom. Make the appointment. Make the call. Write the letter. Apply. Do the thing. Pay for a gym membership, hire a trainer, buy the healthy foods, get a nutritionist, whatever that looks like for you. Do the thing. Wisdom requires action. Wisdom does not come from like, oh, I think very smartly, very intelligently. That's not wisdom. A person may sound really wise, but a wise person doesn't even have to open their mouths. to teach. They lead by example. That's the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is simply knowing something cognitively. Wisdom is being that information. I love the quote by Saint Francis of Assisi: Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words. That is wisdom, my friend. When you preach the thing that you know and believe in without saying a word, only when necessary. When people see you be healthy, when your kids see you be healthy, then they understand like, oh, working out and eating healthy and making good decisions is important. When they see you go to your doctor's appointments, they understand the same thing. When they see you have great self-worth and love yourself and feel confident and blessed and feel like, oh my gosh, God was inspired when He created me, then they know that they are valuable too. But when you're telling your kids, you're valuable, love yourself, you're so special and important and beautiful inside and out, but you're doubting yourself all the time, and you're insecure and you feel this sense of unworthiness and you self-sabotage, then what are you really teaching them? Wisdom is applied knowledge. Wisdom is practicing what you preach. Wisdom is embodying the beliefs that you stand for so that you can always be inspiring Inspiring others without having to say a word. Now here are three steps that you can take to go from knowledge to understanding. This is what I do whenever I know something and I've been knowing it, but I have been slacking and I don't do it. I'm like, okay, enough. You know, I get to a point that I'm like, that's it, that's it. No more talking about this. I am actually going to become this. The first thing that I do is that I offer it in prayer. I engage my greatest value, which is that of faith and spirituality. If I ever promise something to God, I will never, ever, ever break that promise. So I leverage that, and I offer it in prayer. So maybe I offer it for an intention that I have. Maybe my kids are going through something, and I'm like, Lord, I'm gonna give you this. I'm gonna offer this so that, you know, like, just to keep that intention in my heart. keep it in prayer, like just to stay connected to that which I am supporting a loved one with. I do this with sweets, for example. I— whenever I want to do something to like connect ever so deeply to an intention, like let's say a friend of mine is— has got a cancer diagnosis and I want to be present in more ways than I know how to, like spiritually, I offer sweets for a certain amount of time. And every time I crave sweets or I'm exposed to a temptation, I think of that person, I pray for that person, I connect with God, I connect with him or her. So it's a way of connecting it to an intention. So the first P is prayer, the first step. It's 3 Ps. So the first one is prayer, and it's Offering it as an intention so that it has a greater significance than just a desire or a thing that you wanna do, right? Like now it's connected to something greater than you. Then the second P or the second step is connecting it to purpose. When you bring purpose and intention to the thing that you're wanting to change, then it's not like a task, it's not an annoyance, it's something valuable, it's something with purpose, it's something that pulls at your heartstrings. So for example, I connected to prayer or spirituality by fasting sweets, if that's what I'm giving up, and by feeling like I'm connecting to my person that I'm offering it for. And then purpose would be like, I am also teaching my body that the spirit is greater and more powerful than the flesh. I happen to have a sweet tooth and food has had power over me in the past. My friends know that I stay in shape because I am disciplined and I have a lot of tools, but I have mente de gordita. Like, I have like a a chubby, chubby person mindset, like our mind, right? Like I tend to think about food and then want to get it. And I, you know, I can't stop thinking about it. I'll get in the car and I go get the ice cream. And I have some addictive traits in my personality that I've learned how to leverage and use really, really well. But sometimes they come out uninvited in these kinds of habits. So, so the— so for me, the idea of fasting for sweets, or fasting in general, is a way of strengthening my spirit and reminding my mind and my humanity that the spirit is greater and stronger than the flesh. That I can be without eating the thing that I'm craving. And I can have this superpower of, you know, this super willpower, if you will. Willpower, if you will. That sounds a little weird, but you know, sorry about the redundancy. When I connected to purpose, when I connected to my spirituality, I'm like, oh my gosh, not only am I doing this to support someone, to send them love, which also is very purposeful, but I'm also like growing spiritually. I'm also tasting true freedom because true freedom is not Eat the cookies that you want, buy all the ice cream in the world. True freedom is not having to eat the thing that you know is not good for you. That's wisdom, my friend. That's wisdom and that's freedom. Once you've prayed about it, you've offered it, you've made it bigger and greater than you so that you can't negotiate it anymore. Because, you know, if I say like, oh, I'm on a diet, I'm not gonna eat sweets, and then they put a pavlova in front of me, Or a brownie with nuts and ice cream, or better yet, a cheesecake from Il Gabbiano or Capital Grille, which I oftentimes cannot resist. Yes, I can resist it because my flesh— my spirit is greater than my flesh, but it's hard to. If I'm ever exposed to that, I don't even forget the diet. But if it's connected to prayer, to an offering, to a person I'm doing it for, I will not negotiate it. So prayer makes it non-negotiable, and then purpose makes it enjoyable. So you go from like, okay, I don't even have to like negotiate in my mind, to I'm actually excited not to do this, or to do the thing that you want to do, right? Because for me, in this example, it's like I don't want to eat sweets, but sometimes it's like I want to work out. I want to be kind. I want to respond instead of reacting. I want to not scream at my— you know, I want to talk gracefully to my kids, whatever it is that you, that you've thought about. And then the third step, the third P, is partner. Find yourself an accountability partner. When you communicate to another person what you're doing, it's harder to fail because You know, there's a little bit of shame, like, oh my gosh, I didn't do it. So you have a little more motivation, inspiration to be accountable. So an accountability partner is really supportive when you are saying you're going to do something and you're being asked, like, you're being held accountable. Like, hey, did you do it? Did you go to the gym? Or maybe that person goes to the gym with you. Or maybe your accountability partner is your trainer. And you're not going to leave your trainer waiting outside your house at 5 in the morning for the workout that you scheduled, right? Like, you don't do that to people because of your values, I hope. So that kind of accountability person or partner really supports us when we don't have the discipline or the strength to do things just for ourselves. And I think it's normal that in many areas of our lives, we're gonna struggle in that department. So why not leverage community and the other humans that God has created for us to be supported? We're meant to be supported, not just to serve others, but, you know, we're meant to be served as well. So make it about something bigger than you, and I call that prayer. Make it purposeful and enjoyable. And then find someone to hold you accountable. Find a partner that joins you in this, in this mission, in this process, so that you enjoy it with someone. And those are the 3 steps to go from knowledge to wisdom, so that you may use the information and understanding to transform your life and help transform others. By simply being. Because wisdom, my friend, is applied knowledge. It's embodiment. It's walking the talk. It's being the light that you're wanting to shine on others without having to say a word. I hope this inspires you. It serves you. It helps you understand why you haven't done the thing. And it gives you tools to take the first step to the thing that you're being called to actually take action on and be transformed with. I love you. Have a beautiful day. I'll see you next week. That's it for today's episode. I loved, loved, loved spending this time with you. So thank you for joining me. If somebody came to mind while you were listening Bless them with this episode. Send it to them. And if you may, please subscribe and leave a review. Those are really helpful to help us spread the message. And if you want to grow in faith and wisdom, join me at faithandgrowth.com. Thank you for spending this time with me. Love you. Bye.