Remaining Childlike

There is something to be said about remaining childlike even when we grow up and assume adult responsibilities.  We have watched children who do one thing at a time and are fully absorbed in it with pure, unadulterated, joy.  Children totally live in the moment and just do things spontaneously.  Each moment is fresh and they are wide-eyed and learning from each experience. They are also willing to explore without thoughts of failure or worries about criticism. Children come into the world pure and simple, innocent, naïve, and trusting, with a lack of wordily experience and no set barriers. They don’t come into the world with fear and anxiety, and living in the present like they do, there is no concern of the past or the future.  Fear, anxiety, and distrust are learned behavior from their observations and experiences. They only learn to be fearful and anxious when they are treated mean or are hurt mentally or physically.  Psychologists use a common phrase, “take care of your inner child,” meaning in childhood the one who was hurt and could not fight back.  We can learn a lot from children.  There is an eternal and unchanging child inside each of us who knows nothing of judgment or hatred. There is nothing to judge, no one to hate because the eternal child doesn’t see appearances, he or she only knows how to look with love on everything and allow everyone to be as who, and as, they are because they know no different.   It is often hard to grow up, absolve ourselves of our ideals and fantasies, assume adult responsibilities, and face the real world. Sometimes too, if we are sheltered too much, we are unprepared to grow up and become adults, “he remained childlike in practical matters as long as he lived.”  There is a difference between being childlike and childish.  Childishness is lack of maturity, a dependence, and undisciplined and uneducated in the ways of life.  Adults who have learned to retain the positive qualities of children are nonjudgmental, accepting, loving, and for the most part are able to live in the here and now.  Wayne Dyer, in his book Wisdom of the Ages, quotes Heraclitus: “Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.”  It would behoove us to make it a goal to be more childlike as children have the attitude and perception that they will live forever, and are full of wonder at the least little blade of grass!