Why living life like a young child may be the key to happiness…
Ok so I’m not saying to live in a childlike state 24/7 (or am I?), but hear me out...
Resilience
If you fall down in life, as many of us do, from time to time. Then you need to have the resilience of a baby when they are learning to walk and keep getting back up, repeatedly, until you have reached full mastery with whatever challenges you face.
Don't give up! Wallowing will not support your dreams. We all need to bounce back when we are faced with struggles, adversity, and failure. Resilience is not immutable “you have it, or you don’t sort of trait”. Being a baby teaches you have resilience inside of you. It is something which can be learnt and built upon in all of us.
Bounce out of Bed
Wake up with a big beaming smile and bounce out of bed, with joy, peace, love and nativity. Be in love with the world again. If you want to change a habit in the long term you need to make it feel good, getting out of bed will be much easier if you have something to look forward to, it might be a morning walk, a latte in bed, a delicious breakfast. Have a think, what would make it easier for you? to just be full of love for life and want to get up and embrace it.
Say No
If it doesn’t feel right, say No!...Own your power and mean it! fold your arms and scrunch your face if needed, live the 3-year-old you once were. Just stand up and make sure you are able to be heard.
The inability to say no, is likely to stem from a desire to please, fear of the consequences, wanting to be polite and liked. We are not born with the inability to say no. If this is something you struggle with, it is something you have learnt. But if you recall back to your childhood or you see a young child, you will know they like the word no and will use it to their advantage.
Think about it this way, you will not be able to be an authentic version of yourself if you are complicit in other people’s needs and it is not aligned with what you want, if you are resenting it, the energy you will emanate is harmful to you if you are always bending to please others. Have a look inside is there even the smallest amount of resentment?
Saying no gives you the power to allow yourself the chance to choose where you put your energy, doing things you don’t want to do, will not serve your needs and there will be resistance. By owning your power to say no, will be liberating and this is when you start to thrive, you are responsible for your inner space and peace. Take action and start practicing the word no, you can still be polite about it.
Trust Yourself
Trust your intuition and tune into your gut. We were born knowing to trust our instincts, how to breathe, when to eat and how to get our needs met and we just cry and expect someone to attend to those needs, it was our survival instincts kicking in.
Be carefree, don’t care what anyone thinks...remember YOare the centre of your universe. When you were younger did you care what anyone thought of your singing voice? Your dance moves? hair dos? But as we grow and learn, we take in so much information from the media, friends, family society and we can replace some of our instincts with false negative beliefs, fear, self-doubt, shame and embarrassment. Be strong about what matters to you and stamp your feet if it doesn’t feel right. You have an informant amount of potential, give yourself the chance to be in alignment with your calling in life.
Live in the Present
Nothing exists outside of NOW. Have you ever noticed how children want everything now? The past may determine who we are, and the future goals will determine what actions we take but living in now is where the magic happens. After all the now is the only reality. Stop putting your dreams on hold, stop waiting for the perfect moment, it does not exist. Don’t think, just do it!...NOW!!
Play
Make as much time as you can to Play, Get Creative, Messy and Dirty. Life is about joy and fun, find your passion, what do you enjoy? Leave the boring stuff until later. Don’t bother cleaning your room, it can wait.... Be a day dreamer and believe that anything is possible and feel invincible. If you can dream it, you can do it! Believe that if someone has something so can you! If you want something just live in blissful expectation that it will come to you. Why wouldn’t it!
Let it out
Say what you think and don’t bottle it up inside. Blurt it out and expect others to listen! Children say what they think and mean what they say a lot of the time. As adults we can be resistant to do this, we may have been shot down by parents, bosses, or teachers at school and so we learn to take the back seat. But life is too short get back into the driver’s seat and speak the hell up. Whilst speaking up does not mean you know everything, you still get to speak your mind and contribute, no one will stop you as long as it comes from a good place. You might have the latest idea, concept, you might change someone’s life, you might make someone’s day. Be unapologetically you and allow your dreams to come true! - Yes, I was cheese enough to rhyme it, and I am owning it!
Give randomly to others, children are givers. I truly believe random acts of kindness can positively impact on others and is good for our soul. Make someone’s day, it doesn’t have to be a big gesture. Smile at someone and say hello, the smallest thing can make someone’s day, it might be just what they needed.
Donate your time if this is something which you want to do, to help and support someone, send someone flowers for no reason, compliment others, pay it back, tell someone’s employee on how helpful they were.
But also let someone be kind to you, to be a good giver you must be good at receiving as well. You deserve nice gestures, if someone says you look nice, accept it with grace!
If someone wants to do something to help you, let them. By refusing help from others, you are rejecting their opportunity to feel good for helping someone. Don't be selfish and accept random acts of kindness back.
Swirl round on your chair, mess with your hair, fidget, dance, build a den, have a running race, roll down a hill, sing, dance and have moments where you relinquish as much as adulting as reasonably possible. Try it see how it makes you feel.... Why not?
It’s amazing how we get conditioned and how things change post puberty. But what if we just occasionally accessed a childlike state of mind to release and clear our stress.
I honestly believe most of these elements, if not all are stress busters and would help us lead a healthier, happier lifestyle. If you have a desire to change, but feel resistance it is about finding your purpose, what are you passion about? what are you here to contribute to?
Be unapologetically you!
Manda X X X
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