A Childlike Wonder - Part 1
I'm sure most of you have seen a toddler trying to walk by now. It would take about two steps before it plops to the ground, and then another three steps and another plop, and then five more steps, and then it plops again. Around this point, some cry from frustration, some cry only when there's an audience member (these are the ones that grow up to be theatrical) and some act like nothing has happened and try to hoist themselves up again (these are the future cross-fitters). But despite their setback, most infants do the same thing. They get back up. And try, again, and again, and again to walk. It's like they know this is something they are hardwired to do. Or maybe they just decided they were done with the whole crawling B.S.
When an adult falls, however, it's so hilariously different. We turn and look back at the ground we tripped at. We quickly get up, dust ourselves off and shoot a look around under our eyes to see who saw us fall. We try to jog a few steps to make it seem like we meant to break into a jog rather than tripping, with a completely placid expression. As if someone is going to walk up to us and go "Hey, did you trip?"
When a child falls and gets back up, you see it shuffling around its feet to distribute its weight. You see it trying to raise its right arm higher than its left to see if that improves its balance. You see it sliding its right feet further or closer to its body before bringing up its left feet for the next step. And in case you are wondering at this point, yes, I have spent a lot of time watching babies trying to walk. I think it's such a pure and adorable moment. The first instant they take a continuous stream of wobbly steps from Point A to Point B, the sheer joy on their face is just one of the most beautiful things on this planet. It's a curious combination of accomplishment, fascination and pure wonder. They can't believe that they are walking as though it's the most miraculous thing on earth. To be fair, it probably is. It's the first time they created their own success. You can see them thinking "This tipping and tapping of my feet, I like it! Why on earth was I even shuffling on my palms and knees before, why? This is so fun!" All the times they plopped down is now a ghost of a memory.
We as adults on the other hand, decide that we have been walking for 25 years that there's no way the mistake lies in us. That it should be an external factor such as the floor, the novelty of our shoes or the wind speed. We have done this walking thing for so long, we give each other the "I'm not getting up" look when the phone rings because we have to walk over to pick it up.
What happened?
Most toddlers and children that you have seen by now are open to something new. They are always doing something, or watching something, or trying something. You can tell them repeatedly for as many times as you like that you can't eat cereal while jumping on the trampoline. But guess what, they are going to sneak cereal on the trampoline when they think you are not watching and try to eat it while bouncing on it. Call it childlike tenacity, curiosity, or plain idiocy, but a child won't give up on something until it has tried it out for itself. He or she is going to vary out the actions of bringing the spoon to the mouth, holding the bowl with the other hand and bouncing on the trampoline until by George, they remotely have it down. Why? Because children think the results of their actions is something they can control. Children think that they are the reason their plan is going their way. Children think they can move the mountain if they wanted to because they will look at everything they can do. And somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we stopped looking inwards, and started looking outwards instead. That the result of our actions is beyond our control. We blame the other person involved in the project we were working on, we blame the timing a situation comes our way, we blame destiny. Which can be right sometimes. But how often have we looked at our own actions before we pointed the finger elsewhere? How often have we stopped to think if we have exhausted all options before concluding that something that went wrong was meant to go wrong? How often do we wonder if we actually are in the wrong when someone is telling us we did something wrong?
I’m sure you are arguing by now that children don’t know any better or they don’t have the same scenarios we are in. Fair enough, but just entertain me for a minute here. Think about the last time an event didn't go like you anticipated it to. Where it had a very bad outcome. Did you truly exhaust all the possible actions you could have done? Was there truly not a single thing you could have done further? Go on, I’ll wait.
All done? Did that little exercise help? I hope it did! My point is that, with all the noise in the world, and everyone fighting to be busy and productive, we might feel a little like we are not in control. That we are not doing enough in our lives, or that things are not within our means enough for us to do certain things. Focusing on what you can do, focusing on the most you can do, until you have exhausted ALL possibilities, can help you overcome that.
And with that, I'm going to end this article because I don't want to bombard you with information. I'm going to let you do your reflection, and hope these anecdotes served as an inspiration with what I mean by looking inwards, and taking the extra step. Maybe you can do this over the weekend, because I'll continue with Part II on Monday so that you can start your week with new found vigour and inspiration. We will talk more about how all of this relates back to children and what we can do from here on! Till then, happy reflecting and I hope you can think of more than one event and learn more about yourself over the weekend!
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