by Fay Epps MS, CHHC
“No matter what happens, always keep your childhood innocence. It’s the most important thing.” —Federico Fellini
When was the last time you danced with abandon? Spent a lazy afternoon looking for shells by the water? Let your natural curiosity lead you on an adventure? Laughed until you snorted water from your nose? Felt truly unconcerned about what others thought of you?
What these have in common is that they are innately childlike actions. Things we may have done when we were young—before life’s program began to rewire our thoughts and actions into a hardened state that actually has a term attached to it: “psychosclerosis.”
In fact, a study out of UCLA backed this up. It showed that 5-year-olds act creatively 98 times per day, laugh 113 times, and keep curious by asking 65 questions. By comparison, a 44-year-old clocks in at 2 creative tasks, 11 laughs, and 6 questions. How sad!
To reverse this and invite more joy, wonder, and creativity into your life, try to consciously focus on the following:
–Dropping Your Guard. When your defenses are up, you are not living in a fully present state, but instead one in which you are constantly protecting yourself from potential or perceived hurts. By muffling your innocence in this way, you become far removed from your inner child. Instead try to remain truly open to all the people and experiences the universe puts in your path.
–Playing More! Give yourself permission to be silly, dance, sing, laugh, or goof off till your heart’s content and experience the buoyant feelings that go along with it. Guaranteed, your worries will fall away when you allow lighter energy to flow.
–Creating and Innovating. While you may have lost touch with this over the years, you were born with an innate desire to create. Make a point of rediscovering this special gift by flexing your creative muscles in small ways each day. Whether it involves doodling on a scrap piece of paper, playing music, or putting pen to paper to craft a poem matters very little. By merely flexing this muscle you can bring it back to life and it can lead to beautiful innovations.
–Tapping Into Your Intuition. Finally, by drowning out all the “noise” that keeps you from hearing your inner voice, you can gain deeper access to your intuition. Once you have a direct line in to this most trusted guide, you can embrace all that life has to offer while remaining playful, lighthearted, and curious. No kidding!
Author’s content used under license, © Sprouted Content, LLC
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Resources
Sark’s Journal and Play!book: A Place to Dream While Awake: http://www.amazon.com/Sarks-Journal-Play-Book-Place/dp/0890877025/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333304079&sr=1-4
The Key to Happiness: A Taboo for Adults? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-robinson/why-is-the-key-source-of-_b_809719.html
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