The Child Within
Don’t be childish! Stop acting like a child! You are not a child anymore! Grow up! Have you ever heard any of these? Or have you ever said these to someone?
Well, there is a big difference between being childish and being child-like. Let’s get into it!
The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.
Aldous Huxley
Have you observed a child lately? Did you really pay attention? How was her/his attitude?
We’ve all been a child. Now we’re a bit bigger in size. Some people become a bit more serious, some frighteningly more serious than they were a child now. But every now and then when you watch that favorite cartoon movie, or you ate your favorite snackie, or when you’re in a play ground you somehow touch that child again. You touch the child at least as a distant memory or as a dream.
The child has never left you, even though most of you have left it. It has always been in your heart and it still is. You just lost the touch with it. Some may say that they had a traumatic childhood etc. and they might but the thing is everyone whether they’re conscious of it or not had traumas in their childhood. That was always part of the game… Even though you had a horrible childhood, you had a dream about being a child and then you lost touch with it.
The experiences you gained in life are precious. All those experiences have brought you here today, you’ve become the adult today with them. And the adult knows, the adult knows what is safe and what is not safe unlike the child who just wants. Children don’t know what is safe and what is not, they just know what they want, they know what they need to be happy unlike the adult 🙂 What a great plot twist, huh?
So the idea is not to be childish, but to be child-like. Not to grow old but to grow. What I would suggest is to really go and pay attention to the children, to go spend time with them. Two of the greatest qualities they have are their enthusiasm and wonderment, wonderment in everything, enthusiastic about everything! You may find them astonished by a flower, a toy, a car, a sunset, a sea. And they express it in their own unique way. They are curious and always open to learning! They can play with a toy for a couple of minutes or a couple of hours but then they leave it and go for the next adventure, next discovery!
They know how to be happy! How to make the most of everything. And you might have forgot as the smart adult 🙂 Maybe it’s time for you to re-connect with the child within. Maybe it’s been a long time. Maybe it’s time for a deeper connection. No matter what your age is, it is not about the age, it never was. The child is still with you, maybe you got distant a bit but what if you give that child its favorite chocolate?
To not growing old…
Only love,
CDHR
