We all know how old we are, chronologically (well, most of us do!), but perhaps more telling is how we behave and think.

There are those who are old before their time, becoming set in their ways, and retiring into a fixed way of seeing things. There are also some who want to keep learning and developing, who are fun to be around, who make the most of their lives.

When it comes to wisdom, there is even more disparity. It isn’t necessarily a corollary of being older.

There are some who seem to be born with wisdom – we call them ‘old souls’ – who go through the normal stages of growing up, yet have an innate sense of values and perspective.

And there are others who become adults, but don’t really become grown-ups. They hold on to a black and white way of thinking, and prejudices and beliefs they absorbed as children.

And there is a third category: those who develop and learn from their experiences of life, becoming wiser, more nuanced in their thinking, as they grow older.

There is a tendency, if we are in this third category, to judge those who haven’t really grown up. We think they’re stupid or wrong. But maybe they are just ‘young souls’, and we could recognise them as such and allow them some leeway, just as we would if they were still a child.

Wouldn’t that be a kinder and more nuanced perspective?