A Childlike Wonder - Part II
Hi guys! Happy Monday! How was your weekend? For those of you following up from last Thursday’s article, I hope you had some solid reflection and pointers that made you go “Ohhhhhhhh”.
If you ask me, watching children reminds us how simple things really should be. Sure, as adults, we have challenges and adverse events that children are commonly precluded from due to their age. But the thing that we did as children, that we should we doing to date, is to look at the world around us with wonder. And this sense of wonder is important for two reasons. One, is in maximising what we can do. Children, enter a situation with a clean slate of mind, sometimes by choice and sometimes simply because they don't know enough. That's why they look at every possible thing they can do. They don't think about how it could end badly or about whether it's even possible or not in the first place. They just look at how they can achieve their outcome.
As adults however, most of us are happy to adopt a "been there, done that" attitude towards something that parallels 5% with something we think we already know. We decide we don't have to attend this course because it doesn't relate directly back to our job. We shut ourselves off to experiences even before they had a chance to present themselves to us because we think we know better. This attitude of thinking we know enough about something not only displays a lack of humility, but it ripples across everything we do. And it’s hurting us. We try to change someone because we think we know better. We try to control situations because we think we know enough. We are always changing the things around us, adding something or decreasing something which essentially, is distracting us from the most important thing – being in the now. Focusing on the present. The time that is actually creating our memories.
"The ability to influence the quality of the moment in hand is one of our most precious gifts." - Dominique Loreau
The goal in life is to do what we can. Not to control the outcome of our actions. Because there is no point trying to change someone, when the fault could be within us to, say, listen better. There is no point singularly focusing on impressing your boss rather than looking at how you can make your presentation of quality. There is no point looking outward for things to change, when we should be looking within. And to achieve this, we just have to look at what are the things we can do. And that is why we need to approach the world with a sense of wonder like children; entering a situation with a clean slate will show us how much we can actually do, before the side that thinks we know better takes over and cuts of what we can do.
Now the second reason, that we need to approach the world with a childlike wonder is for gratitude. I'm sure you have heard plenty about exercising gratitude, you know to be positive, and to be humble and all that jazz. While the gratitude you feel when your friend loaned you her umbrella on a rainy day is important, there is another form of gratitude that I think is just as important. A form of gratitude we need to experience in our journey of self-actualisation, which has been shortchanged by the current fad with gratitude.
"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder" – Gilbert K. Chesterton
I'm sure you have a witnessed a moment that you would describe as truly beautiful by now. When you saw a sunset or an ocean or a breathtaking scenery. As you were thinking how beautiful this is, I'm sure you would have felt a sense of wonder. You probably also felt a sense of joy, or thought that everything is going to be okay because your problems seemed small compared to the scenery in front of you, or depending on your belief, marvelled at God/nature's creation. By actually taking a few minutes out of our day once in a while to genuinely look at what we have acquired rather than what we lack, and to look at how far we have come instead of how much further we have to go, chances are, we will surprise ourselves. We are going to look at how much we have and maybe even realise that for right now, all that we have is enough. All with a sense of wonder. Gratitude is not just simply writing in your journal something you are thankful for every single day. It's also an emotion and feeling that comes from within. When you marvel at the world around you, at yourself. And this combination of happiness and wonder is what what gives off to those around you, and more importantly, to yourself, positive energy and vibes. It will propel us in our own journey in our life. It will reduce feelings of jealousy, inadequacy and insufficiency when we look at those around us. That we have enough, that we are doing enough, and that we are enough.
So, that brings us to the important question – how can we exercise a child-like wonder about the world around us? Through three simple ways if you ask me.
1. Stay Inspired
2. Learn Something New
3. Spend Some Time For Yourself
Download this worksheet if you need more pointers, or if you want a space where you can doodle on how you can achieve the above pointers! Now, like the previous one, I left it blank with so that you are free to use the space as you like. Get cracking guys! There’s literally no better time than now to start on this. If you’re wondering Thendral, it’s the middle of April, no one reflects around this time, or you want to wait until June to start in the mid-year mark or something, good news for you, this Saturday is the Tamil New Year! So, it’s a new year somewhere in the world and it’s really not too late for you to pull the new year, new me thing!
And that’s truly it! This is what I meant by children remind us how simple things should be, and all we have to do is look at the world around us with wonder. I hope this two part article was useful and it serves as a sort of reset in how you face the world from here on. Happy reflecting!
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