Be More ChildLike.

“Happy is the person who has not lost their childlike heart.”
--Keith Elkins

Think back to when you were a child and think of how open you were to experiencing the world around you…The excitement of each new thing or experience that you came across. Something as simple as seeing a butterfly or getting messy while finger painting. Sometimes we lose track of the qualities that we had as children.

As adults we get distracted thinking that we have to always be serious when it comes to work and all the adult activities and responsibilities that we have. I am not talking about becoming irresponsible and approaching everything we do as a joke. I am talking about holding onto and reminding ourselves of the value of always being childlike. The following are just a few of those qualities.

Being in the Moment: When children are at play that is all that they are focused on. When they are eating that is all that they are focused on. When they are reading or being read to that is all that they are focused on. They are not thinking about what happened yesterday or what they need to do tomorrow. Being childlike means being focused only on the present.

Imagination/Creativity: Children have the most vivid imaginations on earth. They can sit and play with toys for hours making up imaginary people and situations. When they color or draw it is unbelievable what they can create simply because they have no mental limitations as to what is possible. I have a game that I play with my grandson called the story game. Each one of us tells the other a story that we totally made up in the moment. It gets pretty interesting at times. What story could you make up?

Persistence: WOW! This is a big one. As adults we often get discouraged and look at failures as the end. When someone says “No” to us we simply give up. A child’s persistence is without fatigue. Have you ever seen that small child in the store that keeps asking for a piece of candy or a toy and the parent starts off by saying “No” to the child? Then ten minutes later that child has exactly what they wanted before leaving the store. Now that’s persistence!

Smiling and Laughing : As we grow up sometimes we control our natural instinct to smile more and laugh out loud. Make sure to find joy in the moment and never hesitate to smile or laugh… laughing at yourself is an extremely valuable skill. Make it a point to laugh and smile as much as you can throughout the day. You will change the quality of your life as well as the people around you.

I Challenge you to take an inventory of some of the valuable childlike qualities that we all had at one time and make it a point to start using them to improve the quality of your life.

LIVE OUT LOUD!