Funny, I sometimes hear my dog master say to her son “stop acting
like a child” and he says, “mom, I am a child.” And then they both laugh. Stop
acting like a child, and grow up is the common mantra parents tell their
children but are we giving our kids bad advice? Young people are creative and
imaginative, so why would we want to take that away from them? Growing older,
we lose touch with exploring our environments. We become close-minded, focusing
more on what is relevant to us instead.
I believe
there’s a lot of hidden potential in thinking like a child, and the good news
is this childlike imagination still resides inside all of us. Children love to
ask questions and they embrace not knowing. They’re not conscious of what other
people may think of them, as adults are.
Pablo Picasso famously said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to
remain an artist once we grow up.” As adults, we must continue to imagine, risk
and explore. The fear of failure is our biggest obstacle, but the fear of
failure is not just an obstacle to creativity.
We
must remember that most fear is an illusion. Fear is the way the ego keeps us
trapped in an illusion. The ego’s perspective does not reflect reality and
causes all kinds of suffering. With that in mind, we must get out of our egotic
heads and move back into our imagination. Children like to pretend and by
pretending we can come up with alternative ways of seeing, which can result in
more creativity and problem-solving. We must play, explore, travel and even
meditate to get our creativity back! Gee whiz, I’m glad I’m just a dog.
With lovingkindness,
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