These are excerpts from the author’s book “Deep,” which contains eight of his small books published in the form of Wisdom Literature covering different aspects of life: Facing troublemakers, dealing with pain, personal financial issues, gastronomy, reading, criticizing, inspiring, and feeling always good to go.

Series 6: Criticizing.

Criticism and Age 

• Your criticism changes according to your nature and the circumstances you go through as you age, whether in terms of quantity (increasing or decreasing) or in the nature of the criticisms you direct to others.

• As you get older, you become more tranquil in front of the big picture of life, but your annoyance about small irritating things may increase. Make sure that you reflect tranquility in your criticism of others, and try to avoid disturbing others with regard to small irritations as much as possible.

• While it is unwise to underestimate the others’ ability to absorb criticism, the age differences have a significant impact, not necessarily on the assimilation of criticism but on the criticized party’s acceptance of it.

• The forms of criticism that motivate you to mock and ridicule them are mostly those you direct at yourself or at others in your early life stages.

• As you get older, you become more inclined to contemplate and reflect than to criticize.

• Your specific experiences and circumstances have a special and clear impact on your criticism of various aspects when you get older. The impact of advanced age itself on criticism, however, is almost the same for everyone, in terms of its being a trigger for a deeper acceptance of life, whatever the circumstances.

• As you age, those who are younger than you have high expectations of you, even if they show distress in adults’ tendency to theorize and control. Try not to lose your balance, whatever the challenges, when criticizing those who are younger; take into account what might help you to melt the ice caused by the age difference.

• Do not let your age and life experience, no matter how extensive, prevent you from contemplating criticism from younger persons or from considering the possibility of benefiting from it, whether it is directed at you or at others.

• The impact of age on the criticism process is not limited to the age of individuals only but to the development of society over time, to a large extent.

• No matter how extensive and deep your experience in the field you criticize or in life in general, there are doors of knowledge and awareness that you acquire only through advancing age. That shouldn’t be annoying to you; rather, you should feel the value of every year you experience.