Ngooi Notes: Children's Day Special

How to Be Childlike

“All children are artists. the matter is the way to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Picasso 

It never fails to go away, the sense of wonder, of pure joy, of a return to innocence and an easier time.

As grown-ups, we’ve lost this childlike sense of life. And that’s actually a tragic thing.

It’s not almost happiness and innocence either — being more childlike also helps us to be more creative, more imaginative, more innovative, and hospitable worlds of possibilities.

Consider: as children, we are naturally imaginative, curious, ready to play without a worry in our minds. Some qualities of young children that happen naturally:

they live in the present

they have no concerns about money, productivity, or being cool

there are not any limits to their imagination, except what they’ve been exposed to

they play and lose themselves

they create with abandon

they are endlessly curious, and ask questions … ad infinitum 

they love showing off to their parents

We could learn tons from children. Sure, they need qualities we'd not want, but in my eyes, they're already perfect. We don’t get to mold them into people, we'd like to be more like them.

We lose this childlike nature, the character we’re born with, due to society — it's certain institutions and systems in situ that beat childishness out folks, so we will be more productive citizens and consumers. I feel it’s unfortunate.

We shouldn’t abandon all responsibilities, but we will learn tons from children and be more like them in some ways.

How to be childlike

We must first acknowledge that no change is instantaneous, that any change worth keeping takes time. But you'll start today.

Start by deciding to abandon caution and to offer this a try. Start by identifying the qualities of youngsters you’d wish to emulate: curiosity, play, living within the moment, abandoning worries, imagination, creativity, pure joy.

Observe children. Watch how they play, how they live, how they create, how they ask questions. Sure, sometimes they are doing dumb things like throw tantrums, but even therein you'll see their pure abandonment of everything but what's happening to them immediately. Watch and learn.

Play with children. If you've got a number of your own, great. If not, play with children of friends and family. Lose yourself within the play. Be a dinosaur, or a gorilla, or a villain. Have a joyous time. Make them squeal in delight, and be happy.

Talk with children. Ask them questions. Answer theirs. Don’t talk right down to them with baby talk, but don’t be too grownup either.

Play by yourself. Go outside and frolic, jump, slide, kick a ball around, pretend. ditch who could be watching.

Create sort of a child. Don’t be constrained with what people expect. Be wild and celebrate. Imagine that things are often different, that there are not any limitations, and see what happens. Most of your childlike drawings are going to be tossed within the trash, but some could be put abreast of the fridge.

Be curious sort of a child. check out things with a child’s eye, and ask questions you’ve never asked before, explore with a beginner’s mind. Don’t be afraid to ask why, and what if, and why not?

Live in the instant. Ditch what happened yesterday, or that conversation you had. ditch that meeting that’s arising or those deadlines. Just do, and be.

See the planet with new eyes. it's a wondrous place, a miracle happening every second, a source of immense fascination which will knock you on your ass if you let it. you're a miracle, and each moment you've got a gift. what is going to you are doing with the gift?

And last, if you've got children, allow them to be childlike. Stop trying to get them older. Stop trying to shape them, criticize them, make them your own piece of clay, as Marvin Gaye said. allow them to be, and luxuriate in the gorgeous way they already are.

“Adults are always asking sons and daughters what they need to be once they get older because they’re trying to find ideas.” – Paula Poundstone

If you’ve made it this far through the article, you don’t know how much it means to me and I can’t thank you enough. If you do have questions, I’d be most willing to sit down for a chat with you over a cup of coffee. Looking forward to more discussions with everyone! To have a chat:

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