Want to Be Authentic? Be a Child!

Have you ever sat back and watched a child, or group of children, behaving naturally in their environment?  It is amazing to see their curious nature, their lightheartedness, and their unwillingness to tailor their interests to match a particular cultural norm (in other words, they do whatever the hell makes them happy- without regret).  When a child laughs, it comes from the heart.  When they create art, they create it for themselves, not to impress others.  Their authenticity shines, if only for a brief time…

Then we become conditioned to behave in ways that are looked upon favorably by those around us.  Even worse, after years of modeling our behavior to what we think is socially acceptable, we actually start to believe it.  This is the danger zone; it’s where authenticity falls off the map and sometimes, we don’t know how to get it back.  We smile politely to impress others, become proponents of causes we don’t believe in, and take boring corporate jobs with fancy titles because we think that’s what we are supposed to do.  We are grown-ups after all, right?  All that wonder, creativity, joy, hope and love is for babies.

WRONG.  We are human beings, and are born with these wonderful gifts that need to be nurtured throughout our lives, not just in childhood.  The thoughts and behaviors of children can teach us so much about who we really are, even if we haven’t been our true selves for decades.  Think back to your own childhood.  What did you like to do?  What made you excited?  It is important to find the child inside you.  It can unlock clues to callings that you have squashed in order to subscribe to the straight-and-narrow that only sounds great on a resume.  Your goal for today is to be a child for an hour.  Choose something you used to enjoy and go do it!  If you want to paint, paint without the pressure to make it look good.  Paint just to paint.  Paint like a five year old.  Or go ride a bike like a lunatic down your street without touching the handlebars.  Or get dressed up in a silly outfit and dance around the house.

Notice the joy these activities bring, and remember to take notes or journal about the experience.  What did this activity teach you?  Finally, don’t let it stop there.  Continue to be a child when you can and pull the subtle messages out of the experience to see what you can discover about yourself.

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