Wellness as a daily practice

Knowing and Doing

We often use the word knowing casually—“it’s on a need-to-know basis,” or “if you know, you know.” Yet the idea of knowing runs deeper than the phrases suggest. Recently, I have been reflecting on what it really means to know, and how different it is from simply doing.

When we discover a new interest, many of us rush headlong into the pursuit of knowledge. We buy books, join groups, and search endlessly for information. The desire to know more can be consuming, almost intoxicating. We gather stories, share discoveries, and quickly feel like we’ve gained a kind of mastery. But often, the excitement fades. The more we learn, the more we realize that what we thought we “knew” was never the whole picture.

This plays out not only in personal passions but also in the public sphere. Something happens in the world and suddenly everyone has an opinion. Many speak confidently about issues they’ve only read about, heard about, or imagined. But do they really know? True depth of knowledge is rare, and most of us only touch it when we bring together shared experience and reflection. Still, it can be painful when someone else’s so-called knowledge contradicts everything we believe we know. We retreat to those who affirm us, who share or at least respect our understanding, because that is where comfort lies.

And yet, there is a harder truth: unless we do a thing, we cannot fully know it. Few parents, for example, would welcome lectures on child-rearing from someone who has never raised a child. Their indignation is natural. Experience carves out a dimension of knowing that no amount of study can replace. This is not to dismiss the value of learning or debate, but to recognize that talking is not the same as doing, and doing is where deeper knowing begins.

So what do we do with this tension? Perhaps it comes down to intention. We can live in habit, responding without thought, or we can cultivate mindful responses born of reflection and practice. Meditation is a perfect example: reading about it is one thing, but spending time in silence transforms understanding into lived experience.

I am beginning to see that I have been in a long season of gathering—collecting knowledge, chasing information, filling my shelves and my mind. That has its place. But now, it is time to shift. The season of training calls. The move from knowing to doing is where wisdom takes root.