Soar with Joy

When you go to sleep at night what thoughts enter your head? Are they about negative things that happened to you or positive upbeat thoughts? More often than not it is the former (We’ll admit this if we are honest)… :)

Man is made for relationships. So no wonder the identity of a man is defined by how he perceives himself, how others perceive him and how he thinks others perceive him. (All of these opinions may differ from what he actually is. But that’s another story). People are not angels. Simply put we all are imperfect and slightly confused individuals. So if you form an opinion about yourself from three different imperfect, slightly confused inputs you’ll certainly end up not liking yourself. :) And if you don’t like yourself you’ll not allow anyone around you to like their own selves. If you are unhappy you won’t affirm anyone else’s happiness.

In a high proximity environment like ours everyone will have opinions about everyone else. How to feel happy about yourself in a world that constantly picks at you? If a considerable amount of people criticize you, you’ll probably start believing the lies they say about you. This is a red alert situation; one that needs to be dealt with.

The Bible emphasizes at two places (maybe more but I know of two) that you have to become like little children to enter the kind of life God has kept for you. We think children are naïve and need us for guidance but God teaches grown men keeping little children as examples. There are certain things that little children do, that we don’t and don’t, that we do.

1) Little children don’t go on and on dissecting negative incidents until they go crazy and depressed

2) They can quickly forget what happened to them down to the last couple of minutes

3) Their memories are full of where the chocolates are hidden, what rewards had been promised to them for good behavior, when their birthday is coming up and who will give what gifts and so on. In short their memories are saturated with positive, hope filled issues

4) They forgive quickly and hence are not scarred. If you shout at children they might be hurt for a while but once you calm down they’ll come right back as though nothing happened. They’ll not plan to get back at you on a different occasion or sulk for days together. Their time is too precious to be wasted on such activities

5) They have very positive opinions about themselves and they don’t care two hoots if anyone thinks otherwise :). If you scold a child groundlessly she wouldn’t think of ways to somehow change and get approval from you. Instead she would leave you and spend time with people who adore her. Her world will not be shaken by one negative opinion

6) They are quick learners. I have seen adults who have problems sending a SMS. But children!! They can figure out ipads, ipods, tablets you name it. They are thrilled easily and they are never too lazy to learn anything new that can add value to their lives

7) They watch good movies. Where the heroine is a brave heart and can stand up for herself and her people. The hero is a hard working young man who respects women and gives his heart to only one lady and he treats her like a princess all his life :)

Courtesy : http://samlim.deviantart.com/

8) They remain the same everywhere. They hardly have any prejudice. I have seen little children speak with exactly the same indulgence with the CO of a ship and the amma cleaning their rooms back home

9)  They don’t take life too seriously 

10) They CELEBRATE their victories however small. They don’t ignore their triumphs to plan for their next big conquest. They truly live in the now – where the real life is happening

There is indeed a lot we can learn from children :)