I recently had an encounter with a young mother and her child that got me thinking about rekindling childhood innocence.
The little boy was about 3-years-old and having a complete meltdown in the middle of the shopping mall.. The young mom looked embarrassed, overwhelmed, and exhausted. I walked over to her and said, “Wouldn’t it be fun to have a tantrum too?” She looked at me perplexed. I smiled and continued, “Imagine, we get on the floor and just scream ‘NO’ over and over again.”
The good news about being an adult is the wisdom we’ve learned along the way. Yet the downside of being a grownup is that we’ve lost that youthful innocence; that ability to live in the moment and not think too much. Little ones live in the moment. Indeed they don’t have the burden of thinking long-term. They focus on their immediate needs and aren’t shy about CLEARLY communicating them.
Often my brain is distracted and on overdrive. What about today? How can we fully enjoy and maximize the day? What can I accomplish today! Not this week, next year, but just today.
Here’s a thought – bring the innocence of your childhood years and introduce it to the knowledge of your adult persona. Side note – the word “persona” actually means mask in Latin. Sometimes a mask is a wise idea – we want to have a poker face when we’re at a friend’s house eating something we don’t like, but we want to be polite. Other times, the mask isn’t useful. We’re hiding our skills that can help others (and ourselves).
I’m not suggesting you go around yelling. However, I am inviting you to think about what you can do now (instead of what you can’t). What will make you feel that today, or the next 20 minutes, will be time well spent?
In my wallet I keep a photograph of myself when I was about 5 years old. I pull it out every so often and have a conversation with my younger self. I remind her that life is often bumpy. The journey, however, takes me to many amazing places. Would I really want to stay in the same spot forever? It’s doubtful. A curious mind is often an adventurous one.
At 2 pm every afternoon my alarm goes off. It’s the same one as my morning alarm. The way I see it, if I go to bed at 10 pm I have 8 hours left to make the day feel worthwhile. The 2 pm alarm let’s me “reboot” if I got sidetracked and need to realign.
What have you accomplished already today? Need to reboot?
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About the Author: Diane Darling knows the value of relationships and how to build them. The author of McGraw-Hill’s definitive book on networking, The Networking Survival Guide. Diane speaks and trains thousands of people each year on ways to build relationships, leading to opportunities and growth.
