What Makes You Feel Like a Child Again?

Question: “What makes you feel like a child again?”

After many years of meditation, I know exactly how to feel like a child again and it needs no special setting. I feel like a child when I forget myself, when my focus is out of my mind and I am being as one with whatever I am interacting with. It comes down to a choice on how I want to be. Of course being with children, being in nature, and activities of various sorts help to take one out of the turning around of self mode, so they are good things to do to shake oneself out of the serious person mode. I love to play with my 5 year old nephew, and just do what he does or wants to do, going from one adventure to another, talking, doing nothing in particular but fully enjoying it all. I get a full exercise workout, when I copy his body movements; he totally wears me out, amazing how much energy 5 year olds have.

Now I can’t write this, without telling you the truth, that I rarely feel child-like, not when I consider the majority of my waking hours. I am way too serious, I take life too serious, and there is always too much I feel I need to do, that I tend to put my life on hold, waiting for another day in the future when I’m going to have more fun. It is sad, but I see it’s what I’ve accepted as my truth. Seeing my reality I don’t want to be this way, and now endeavor to take life less seriously.

I like this question because it brings into focus for me something I need to look at. It makes me remember how much more fun life is when you are being like a child. It reminds me of the underlying message Osho always stated, that being awake is not for the serious man, but rather when present or awake one is behaving like a child, yet not behaving childishly. One is just full of delight, and wonder, inquisitive and ready to partake and experience whatever presents in the moment.

Tonight instead of doing what I usually do, on a whim, I went outside and cleaned out the algae of the pool, i enjoyed getting entirely dirty and wet and spent some time playing in the water, splashing it around. I have no idea if this was effective work or not, but I enjoyed it! Normally this would be something I would consider as ‘a job’, but tonight it was so much fun. And now here I am writing what I feel, where the serious me should rather be doing the work I already put off earlier.

Oh well, it was fun. Tomorrow is another day and I hope to have more fun tomorrow too. I don’t want to put off having fun anymore; it’s just not worth it!

Thanks for asking such a good question.

Betsy
April 19, 2011