Wise as Fu*k: Simple Truths to Guide You Through the Sh*tstorms of Life

Dedication

I dedicate this book to anyone and everyone who wants more out of this life. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, there is a way.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

1.What to Do, What to Do . . .

2.Bad Wisdom

3.Love

4.The Wisdom of Love

5.Loss

6.The Wisdom of Loss

7.Fear

8.The Wisdom of Fear

9.Success

10.The Wisdom of Success

11.A Wise as Fu*k Life

12.The Contributing Factor

About the Author

Also by Gary John Bishop

Copyright

About the Publisher

1

What to Do, What to Do . . .

Wisdom gets your shit together. It allows you to bring some fresh perspective and cuts a clear pathway through the morass of life.

Whatever your shitstorm is, at least one thing is clear. No one ever showed you how to handle this.

Where’s the clarity or peace of mind or hell, just an inkling of what the fuck to do when life has crept up out of nowhere, kicked you right in the mouth, and now you’re stopped dead in your tracks?

How are you supposed to sort through the mess or ease the anxiety or awaken the slumbering possibilities of your life while at the same time combating the daily press of your job situation, your relationships, your family, your body, your past, your future, and whatever else you want to throw in the mix like, oh, I don’t know, some sort of global super-virus pandemic or something?

The truth is, we’re painfully ill equipped for the storms and crashes that can happen to any of us.

It’s not like we want to be flailing around in the chaos! No one aches to be anchored to the same cycle of a toxic relationship or a stifling career or to the painful reminders of love or failure or fear that we know all too well. We just want to move our lives forward, we want to know how to live our lives without the mysteries and confusions and complications. In short, we want help to make life better; we just don’t know where to find this help, or how to make the right decision.

When life starts going wrong, of course it would be a lot easier if you could simply ask Alexa, plot your next genius move, and smoothly tiptoe into the future with your devastatingly smart use of Amazon products on standby for whatever comes next. Playlist, check, alarm, check, dictionary definition, check, how to handle your years-long burning resentments or dream-crippling procrastinations or need to make a life-altering decision on the fly . . . dammit, Alexa, show me some love!

Hey, maybe it’s all in the diet, so perhaps I could interest you in a generous sprinkling of some tasty ancient, comforting wisdom on your avocado toast in the morning to help you navigate the day?

Yeah . . . no, not that either. It seems when we’re most tested, we’re least wise. The wisdom pantry is, unfortunately, mostly bare when you are starving for that all-knowing nutrient to help you powerfully take on whichever life-sucking situation is currently gnawing at the pit of your gut in any given moment.

Apparently you’re supposed to make it up as you go along in the vain hope that one day you’ll eventually stitch together some kind of useful life skills to manage your troubles and keep you in good order for what’s to come. In the meantime, get your struggle on, Susan, and oh, yeah, keep that suffering silent, we’re trying to be positive over here.

Yet we’ve all had those days.

Well, sometimes it’s weeks.

Or months.

In some cases it has lasted so long it’s hard to see anything else. The shitstorms of life can become so persistent they’re just that. Life. The skies are gray and that’s just how it is. Bring your brolly.

So we get on with it. None the wiser.

None the wiser? But I AM wiser from my life experiences!!

Not quite. If you think about it, I’m never going to do that again isn’t really wisdom, is it? That can just be put down to good practice in life. My five-year-old has that down already and he’s . . . well, he’s five.

Nor is it a practice that applies to everything either. It’s okay never to stick your hand onto a burning stove again, but the implications of never exposing yourself to love or opportunity or risk again can be devastating. You can become caged, trapped by your own doing. A dumbed-down, bored/scared out of your freaking mind version of yourself. Not so wise now, huh?

Simply put, you, like most people, take the completely wrong approach to both acquiring wisdom and then having it make a difference in the nitty-gritty of your life. Try on the idea you are looking for something to attach to your life, some insight or guidance or one-size-fits-all strategy that you can just plug in that will magically undo whatever shitshow you’re currently starring in.

Let’s set the record straight here.

That’s not how wisdom works.

DEFINING WISDOM

I define wisdom as a personal set of truths, a collection of perspectives that become the foundations of your thinking and that you come back to throughout the twists and turns of your life to guide you. These truths not only give you clarity as you’re making decisions, coming to crossroads, and trying to figure out which path to take, but they also make your next steps appear as obviously as your next breath.

Why do you need wisdom in your life? Well, first, if you’re asking yourself that question and you’ve purchased a book called Wise as Fu*k, that’s probably a bit of a clue!

But seriously, wisdom is something we all rely on from time to time, it’s that all-knowing nugget of life that you either learned through lived experience or in a book or course or conversation.

I’ll give you a simple example of the kind of wisdom I’m talking about and how it works right here: Have you ever heard the phrase you have the life you’re willing to put up with?

Be with those words for a minute. As you let them sink in, think about and compare your own life to the statement and how you’re currently living. What do you see there? At some point there will be something for you to consider or reconsider when you apply this wisdom to how you live.

There’s a lot in those ten simple words, but they irretrievably put you in the spotlight, don’t they? When you look at them it’s hard to wriggle out of taking ownership of your life and how it’s going. They bring to mind a view of life that demands you work your stuff out for yourself, to tolerate or procrastinate no longer. They root you to a truth—if you’re willing to adopt them as your own, that is. This uncomplicated statement deals with any temptation for blame or gossip or victimizing oneself or others. Try it out if you’re ever faced with a situation where you want to blame someone for what’s going wrong. I dare you to turn to this statement. Here’s what will happen. It will tell you what to do.

And that’s how wisdom works, by this process of first understanding, adopting as your own, and then applying to your real life. Keep this critical process in mind as we navigate these pages together. You are your own hero, but you could just as easily turn yourself into the one who constantly needs to be rescued. Good wisdom will end those days. It puts you back in charge of your life, your future. You get to create the life you want. No one else can take that from you. Isn’t that empowering?

If wisdom comes from a set of internal, guiding truths, how do you determine what those truths are for you?

Let’s broach this process of thinking first. Have you ever pondered something? I don’t mean just a fleeting thought, or just a brief reflection. Have you ever sat with an idea or a question long enough to open it up for yourself in new ways such that you taught yourself something? Your own personal aha. A proper discovery.

That’s the beginning of where the wisdom in this book will take root in your life. From your own inquiry, the kind of introspection and retrospection that enlivens and enlightens, inspires and invigorates an otherwise stodgy and numb existence. The cool thing is, real wisdom can never be undone, because when you discover something for yourself, such as a thunderous, penetrating discovery, you cannot undiscover that thing. But it doesn’t stop with the discovery. You take it on by consciously adopting it, then plow straight into your life and live from it. That’s what makes it so distinct from knowledge. Just about anyone can read something, maybe even memorize it too, but not everyone is learning from it and then living from what they’ve learned.

It does, however, take some work to think deeply and discover the truths at the center of your life. It’s easier, it seems, to look for a how to strategy instead. The problem is, that doesn’t work because it only scratches the surface of your life. We want instant answers without diving into what’s at the bottom, to a place where lives a boundless wisdom that could provide you with far more than turn-and-burn solutions to irritating, passing problems. That’s why your five steps to success strategies just fall apart at some point, because you are never at the source of them. Everyone wants a simple answer; everyone wants to be told how to do success or dieting or love, because at some level they just don’t want to think beyond the limits of their own confusion or apathy or the story they’ve created about themselves.

Most people also believe that to experience lasting personal transformation, you need to hear or read something brand-new. Not the case. It all comes down to you