The Sage's Journey: Unraveling the Path to Wisdom

Being a wise sage means that you understand some things and you put them into practice that you have not been doing before. All of us have made mistakes. All of us wish we could have a do over concerning certain situations. What I'm going to be sharing with you are ten of the most vital principles and truths that I've learned about becoming a wise sage. Welcome to becoming wiser with Dr. Robert A. Rome, author and world renowned public speaker as he shares stories involving his experiences and lessons learned in a good spirited, positive and fun way. Here's Dr. Robert A. Rome.

As we think about being a wise sage. First of all, I want to explain what the word sage means. S A G E. That's not a common word that we use in everyday vernacular and everyday conversation. One of my students asked me one time, isn't sage a color? It's close to the color green. Well, perhaps sage. And someone else said, maybe sage is a plant that you can grow. I know there are a lot of. In the English languages, there are many words that sometimes get very confusing, one of which is the word trunk. T R U N K. There are at least five definitions of the word trunk. An elephant has a trunk. A tree has a trunk. A car has a trunk. We put clothes in a trunk or a foot locker. And also the telephone company buries all of their wires in a trunk line. So the only way you can really know what word means is by knowing the context. Well, I'm going to share with you some context concepts, I.e. words and situations and what I would really call.

Principles that will make your life better. But they're not easy. They're only simple to discuss and then they become difficult to put into practice. Here we go. The first one is understand the three R's. Oh, you say, I know what those are. Reading, writing, arithmetic. No, the three Rs are face reality, accept responsibility, acceptance, and do right. This was popularized by Dr. William Glasser, who was a psychiatrist probably back in the 60s where he worked with people who were having such a difficult time creating a life for themselves, people who had basically run into a lot of challenges in life. And he started therapy or counseling with many of them. He developed what he called the three R's. Face reality. What is the situation that you find yourself in right now? Don't run from it. It, don't hide from it. Just recognize it. You may be in a bad, bad situation. You may be going through a rejection in a marriage, or you may be kicked out of your family, or you may be on the street, homeless, whatever it is face reality. Then number two said, accept responsibility. What can you do today about this to make things somewhat better? Face reality, accept responsibility. And then he said, the third most important point was do right. I believe the secret to life is to just do the next right thing. I even wear a bracelet. I'm looking at it right now. It says, just do the next right thing. I was taught over 25 years ago, you want to have a great life, Just do the next right thing. If you do that all day, you'll have a right day. Do that seven times, you'll have a right week. Do that 4.3 times, you'll have a right month. And do that 12 times, you'll have a right year. And then do that continually, you'll have a right life. That's our first principle that you need to put into practice. Face reality, accept responsibility, and do what's right. The second, this. These are. These are going to be challenging. Now, if they were easy, everybody would do them. The second one is learn to understand the truth. You've heard the old saying, know the truth and the truth will set you free. You see, I don't want to know what's going on in the world. I want to know what's going on behind what's going on in the world. For example, I believe the American educational system is designed to create workers to earn money to put in the bank and then retire. That is a terrible way to live life. Yet that's pretty much what's taught. You want to have a successful life, go to school, get a job, make some money, put it in the bank, put it in the stock market, save your money, and then retire.

May I tell you something that doesn't require a lot of thinking? That is a herd mentality. I have learned slowly and painfully.

That if I will spend a little bit of time trying to learn and grow and think through different situations, that it pays great dividends. I have studied the American educational system and I have come to the conclusion, or let me put it to you like this. Did you ever take a class in school on investing? Did you ever take a class in school on understanding the difference between assets and liabilities? Did you ever understand or take a class in school on how to start a business? I never took a class on how to handle a payroll. Can you imagine? Everyone wants a paycheck. Where do paychecks come from? Paychecks come from payrolls. Where do payrolls come from? Well, they come from a company that creates goods and services and sells products and hires people and Pays them to work there.

That revolve involves a little bit more of understanding. I would encourage you spend some time studying history.

Education.

Finance, business. And most of all, find someone that you know and trust who is involved in business and ask them questions like, how did you get to the place you are in life? Now, hear me well. I'm not against education. I have five college degrees. I'm probably the most educated person you'll ever meet. But again, I have taken education with a grain of salt, asking myself, how do you know what you're telling me? I have a friend, his name was Dexter Yeager. Dexter was very concerned because he went to the school parking lot one day and he noticed all the teachers. He looked at all their cars and all of their cars were pretty junky. And he asked himself the question, what are these teachers teaching my children about business success and finance? And as he met with them and talked with them, he found out they didn't know much of anything about business and finance. Business and finance will come into play in your everyday life. Learn to think, learn to understand what's going on behind what's going on. Number three, remember, you cannot talk your way out of a situation that you behaved your way into. However, you can behave your way out of a situation that you behaved your way into. Now, you got to think about that for a minute. Most of us get ourselves in trouble and then we want to talk our way out of it. I have not found that to be very productive. Now, this does two things. Number one, it protects you on the front end of doing things. Knowing my behavior will have consequences. If I have bad behavior, I'm going to have bad consequences. If I have good behavior, I'll have good consequences or I'll have good results. But it works both ways. It works both ways. If you plant bad seeds, you get a bad crop. If you plant good seeds, you get a good crop. Both work, but the question is, what do I want to do? I have raised all of my children and now six grandchildren, for example. To say, yes, sir to adults. Yes, ma'. Am. You might say, well, that's so old fashioned. It still causes adults to look at a younger person and think, wow, that was different. That was respectful. When you say, yes, sir, thank you, ma'. Am. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir, no, sir, no, ma'. Am, thank you, ma'. Am. You learn to say things like that. It cuts a different mold and path in your life. I thought growing up, everybody would say, yeah, huh? But when I began to grow up and get, especially when I was in two years in military school, we couldn't even answer the role with here. It was here, sir or here, ma'. Am. Point I'm making is this behavior counts. You can't talk your way out of a situation you behaved your way into. But if you get yourself in trouble, start behaving differently. Simple example, if you kick your dog every day, after about two weeks, your dog is going to run from you when he sees you. But if you change your behavior and start petting your dog and giving your dog a treat and speaking kindly to your dog, after two or three weeks, two or three months or maybe longer, your dog will think, wow, they're different. And they will respond to you in a different manner. Number four, never say, I'll be glad when this is over. Whatever you're going through right now. If you say, I'll be glad when this is over, you're missing the point. Here's what you need to learn to say, I'll be glad when I learned what it is that what I'm going through is trying to teach me. I'll say it again.

I'll be glad when I learn what it is that what I'm going through right now is trying to teach me. We all have challenges. Oh, I'll be glad when this is over. That means you're not even paying attention to what you're going through. Are you having a challenge in school? Are you having a challenge with your parents? Are you having your challenge with your children? Are you having a challenge at work? Well, I'll be glad when this is over. That means you're learning nothing. But when you adjust that to you know what, I'll really be glad when I learn what it is I need to learn in this situation I'm going through right now because I don't want to have to go through that again. I want to become wiser. That's what becoming a wise sage is all about. When I'm in a situation and I do not like what's taking place, and my thoughts are, I'll be glad when this is over, or I'll be glad when I get finished with this, I find out it's not a week or two later before I'm involved in the same mess, just a different set of circumstances or a different situation, learn to open your eyes and recognize what you're going through is for a purpose, for for a reason. Life has different seasons, and in those different seasons come different reasons. Take notes. Learn from your circumstances and situation. You will be glad that you do. And then Number five. We're just going to do five of these in this particular broadcast and then we'll pick up five in the next one.

A wise sage has predetermined dedication. I'm so glad someone explained this to me when I was growing up. Do you know what predetermined dedication is? That means you decide today while you're healthy, in your right mind, not in a bad set of circumstances, you have predetermined dedication. I'll give you some examples. I have predetermined dedication concerning morality. I'm going to be a moral person and not be unkind to females. I'm a male. I'm going to treat females with respect and dignity and not hit on them and belittle them and treat them in an unkind, unprofessional way. How about this? You have to have predetermined dedication concerning substance abuse. Or are you going to wait till someone offers you alcohol or illegal drugs before you decide whether or not you want to get involved in that? That is a bad time to be thinking, what should I do? Years ago, when I was a youth director, I had one of the young girls, her name was Connie. She said to me, when I get to the drive in and, and I'm in the back seat and sometimes I do things I shouldn't. Do you have any suggestions for me? I was a youth director. I said, connie, don't go to the drive in and get in the back seat. She looked at me like, and she did. She said to me, I'll never forget it. She said, I never thought of that. You see, predetermined dedication means you don't go to the drive in and get in the back seat of a car with someone you barely know and do something you'll later regret that has lifelong consequences to it. So whether it's impurity or selfishness or here's an old fashioned word.

I just have predetermined dedication that I'm going to stay away from sin.

You say what? What is sin? I don't have to give you a lesson. Someone once said, sin is what you know you shouldn't do if other people are watching. Well, I would just want to encourage you. And this is a hard one. I think the person that helped me the most helped me to see that predetermined dedication basically has the concept of you don't need to find yourself. What you need to do is lose yourself. Now I'm going to explain that. You see, finding yourself is. It's all about me, me, myself. And I, I want what I want and I want it right now rather than no. I'm going to lose myself in predetermined dedication of I want to find out what's good and pure and wholesome. I want to hang around good people. I want my friends, my associates, my co workers to be the kind of people that I want to be. I'm not interested. I jokingly say, well, I found myself one time and I discovered I'm not my type. Losing yourself means I am not going to put myself first. I am going to lose myself in learning and growing in how to become a more successful person. Rick Warren wrote a book a few years ago. Perhaps you have a copy of it. It was called the Purpose Driven Life. It sold 22 million copies. The first four book words. The first four words in chapter one are these. It's not about you. That's what I'm trying to say. That's what I'm trying to teach the concept. You don't really want to focus your life and center your life around me, myself and I. Learn to meet other people, learn to have predetermined dedication. Be a good person. Reach out, care about others. Be respectful. Don't get involved in things that you will later regret. Don't get involved in things that you know in your heart. If other people were watching this, if my parents or my grandparents or my co workers were watching me, would I do this right now? I don't think so. Then just learn to walk away. These are five truths that will help you to become a wiser sage and have a wiser life. If you choose to practice them, put them into daily living to become the person you will be proud that you become one day. I look forward to our next time together when we explore five more of these important truths in becoming a wise sage. Thank you so much. For more information about this podcast, please visit www.becomingwiserpodcast.com.