Sharing Wisdom At Scale So Younger Generations Thrive
Making tough decisions can be incredibly overwhelming, even for adults. We’ve all been there, feeling lost and unsure which direction to take. It’s in those moments that shared wisdom and knowledge can be a lifeline. They offer us the clarity needed to make informed choices, build our expertise, and give us confidence in our decisions.
Tough moments may await younger generations in your family, but by sharing wisdom, they can navigate any challenge.
During difficult periods, seeking guidance from our families can be a great source of comfort, especially for children. In a sense, there is a ‘Family Compass’ that embodies the vast knowledge and skills accumulated within the family. But if they don’t ask for help, as many people don’t, it’s of little use…
Don’t underestimate the role of extended family members in providing guidance.
Even if the young members of your family do ask for guidance, it’s usually at home, in front of an audience of parents. Grandparents or cousins, who may have relevant knowledge and experience to share, can go unnoticed.
Often, the outcome is that family members research solutions on Google or seek guidance from social media influencers – putting their trust in strangers rather than someone in their own family.
As a family business with our own children, we find this concerning. We prefer younger generations to ask family when they face challenges, instead of strangers on the internet.
We built the Simirity App as a great way for families to share important lessons with all the people who matter, not just the select few within your home. In this article, we’ll explain how you can enjoy sharing wisdom and preserving it for future generations using the Simirity App, even with a free account.
We live in the Information Age.
There’s too much information. We are drowning in information, yet starving for wisdom.
Tony Robbins
With Simirity, there will be a single place to go for family members to cut through the noise and find meaningful advice.
Jump to section:
- Why Do We Share Wisdom With Family?
- What Is the Simirity App?
- Sharing Wisdom in Simirity
- The Impact of Wisdom and Experiences Being Shared
- Additional Benefits of Sharing Life Lessons in Simirity
- Summary of Sharing Wisdom
Why Do We Share Wisdom With Family?
Humans naturally want to share their lessons from our successes and failures. This process should be seamless, with wisdom quietly circulating within the family, offering support and feedback when needed. In the days when all family generations spent plenty of time together, this would happen person to person when the timing felt right. This transfer of wisdom happens less these days as our busy lives and living apart make having sufficient time together a challenge.
Preserving family wisdom is not merely about recording past events’ learnings. It’s about delving deep into those lessons and incorporating them into our loved ones’ lives. Although there are other ways to learn, assimilating the knowledge of others is arguably the least painful way to advance.
By three methods we may learn wisdom:
First by reflection, which is the noblest;
Second, by imitation, which is easiest;
and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
Confucius
As elders within the family, we share wisdom and our experiences:
- With the noble intention of helping others avoid pitfalls in life. They can advance to the next level and make their own mistakes, without repeating ours.
- As it’s enjoyable to share our stories, especially when your words can improve someone’s life.
- As a form of personal legacy. It gives us purpose and meaning, knowing that the lessons we share can be passeddown through the generations. If the lessons are preserved, that is…
What Is the Simirity App?
Simirity App is a private storytelling app that unites your extended family in stories, even if you live apart.
Over time, your entire family can build an archive of digital stories, filled with memorable photos, videos and audio, that share your experiences and lessons from life with younger generations.
Simirity is a family business, and preserving and learning from our family’s experiences is one of the reasons we created this service.
Sharing Wisdom in Simirity
Simirity is a unique space that’s intimate, safe, and belongs exclusively to your family. It’s where ‘real’ stories from life find a home and change lives for the better.
Simirity isn’t just a platform:
- It’s a partner to your family, facilitating the sharing, preservation, and celebration of everything that your family’s learned over the years.
- It’s where your family’s stories are saved, heard, understood, and valued.
Let’s look at two ways wisdom can be shared in Simirity:
1. The wisdom within regular stories
I’m a fan of nonfiction books as a source of learning, but I too, recognise that fictional stories can sometimes teach me more. Learning from fiction has happened throughout history, as discussed here.
Stories offer a far more relatable, personal, impactful and memorable alternative to the underlying wisdom condensed into a paragraph. They might take longer to write, but the additional context they provide makes it easier to learn from and remember.
As your family’s archive of digital stories, the Simirity app is a virtual place where the whole family can learn from others’ experiences.
2. Sharing wisdom with Life Lessons
In the Simirity app, you can add a ‘Life Lesson’ element to your story. A Life Lesson is a visually highlighted paragraph summarising a story’s key learning.
The entire story provides the full context, and the Life Lesson draws attention to the main takeaway.
It’s not in our family’s culture to show off by declaring what we’ve learned. We appreciated the subtle and non-preaching way of sharing our wisdom and experiences, using short Life Lessons as part of a larger story.
With Life Lessons, you’re not shouting: “Here’s something important for you to learn!”. It’s more like: “By the way, I learned this and you might find it helpful”.
For the following situations and more besides, the collective wisdom shared in Life Lessons is an unrivalled resource. Helping the people you love grow and reach their full potential:
- Navigating financial hardships.
- Making informed career choices.
- Learning about relationships.
- Addressing health issues.
- Coping with the effects of ageing.
- Overcoming grief.
- Homeownership challenges.
- Educational decisions.
- Trying to be a good parent.
- Spiritual or philosophical concepts.
- Living a balanced and happy life.
Life Lessons cover the full spectrum of topics, from challenging philosophical concepts to seemingly trivial tips and tricks around the house. Generally, if you wish you had known it earlier in life, share it as a Life Lesson to help others.
The Impact of Wisdom and Experiences Being Shared
Sharing your stories can be a catalyst for positive change. Here are several examples that illustrate the impact.
A mother — sharing learnings about life balance
Consider a mother who openly shares her struggles balancing her career and family life. She talks about her mistakes, the times she felt she could have done better, and the lessons she learned.
Her honest account provides her children with practical insights on managing similar challenges and reassures them that it’s normal that challenges are a part of life that can be overcome.
A father — sharing learnings about finance
Similarly, imagine a father who transparently discusses his financial mistakes and successes.
He provides his family with a real-world financial education by openly discussing a failed investment or a wise financial decision. This openness also encourages his children to approach money matters with a balanced perspective, learning from his experiences.
A teenager — talking about challenges at school
A teenager might share their experiences of peer pressure and their journey of self-discovery during high school.
This can be enlightening for younger siblings or cousins preparing for high school, and parents trying to better understand and support their children.
The act of writing your lessons down in Simirity, amplifies their reach.
You are no longer only helping a few individuals verbally! Now, your message reaches extended family members, so even those you rarely meet can also benefit. And it doesn’t stop there—as your family expands, new members will gain access, and they, too, can learn from your stories.
Additional Benefits of Sharing Life Lessons in Simirity
There are two additional reasons for sharing Life Lessons in Simirity:
1. Authentic stories build trust
Trust within a family is built on a foundation of openness and honesty.
When family members transparently share Life Lessons about their successes and failures, it creates a safe space promoting open communication. People will feel more comfortable seeking advice, sharing their concerns, and celebrating their accomplishments.
This is important for all ages of the family.
Even for adults—feeling confident about asking for help or sharing problems is priceless.
2. A go-to family resource in times of need
You might stumble upon a Life Lesson within a story you read, but those seeking advice will jump straight to the Life Lessons page. It is a one-stop shop that compiles all family Life Lessons. This allows individuals to easily access and filter the collection based on themes such as mental well-being, parenting, or achieving our potential.
Embedding learnings from life within stories allows for the spread of wisdom and creates a supportive family atmosphere where experienced members can reassure their less experienced counterparts that they are not alone in navigating their struggles – others are there to help.
Summary of Sharing Wisdom
Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.
Kofi Annan
The things we learn are among the most precious things we can share with our family. Our stories, with insights from triumphs and defeats, serve as a compass, helping to guide both today’s and tomorrow’s family through life’s unpredictable journey.
Simirity is an app for privately sharing and celebrating these stories and lessons, fostering an understanding and supportive family environment. Start compiling your family’s unique set of stories and lessons learned today, and you’ll be building a powerful and enduring resource that will transform lives.
Learn more about the Simirity app on our homepage, or explore the features. When you are ready to share some of the things you’ve learned, check out this 8-step guide to writing Life Lessons that children love.
