Finding Our Inner Child and Having More Fun in Life...

 

“A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.”

 ~Tom Stoppard

just the other day, I was at my daughter’s school to watch her participate in a spelling bee. As the kids came into the room, I took notice of their manner and their faces.



They looked excited, frightened, and some, decidedly uninterested. The teacher led them over to their area and promptly told them to sit on the floor, in two straight lines, and no talking please. They complied.
Some kids pushed at the others to “move over!” Some held their fingers to their lips, loudly shhhhhshing the others. Some opened their notebooks and began to draw or write. Some spoke quietly to the friend next door.
I smiled as I watched them; some caught my grin and smiled back. I wondered if adults would have fulfilled the teacher’s request so quickly and with relatively little complaint.


I pondered how many adults, after being told to sit on the floor, would have protested “I don’t want to sit on the floor,” or “the floor, are you kidding?!”


How many would have continued talking, ignoring anyone imploring them to quiet down? How many of them would have busied themselves instead of complaining, “This floor is hard, how long is this going to take anyway?!”

Where did our little kids go, I wondered? Where did that elated, excited, play the game because it’s fun, run in the rain, catch the drops on my tongue, ask all the questions I need to, hug my best friend and tell them I’m sad person go? Can it be I’ve grown up too much? Have all of us?
What would happen if the next time we do something well, we run around in circles and scream? What would happen if the next time we don’t understand something, we raise our hand, shake it mightily, and ask a question?


If the next time we’re sad, we grab a friend and sob into her shoulders? If the next time we sit next to someone we don’t know, we ask them what their favorite color is? What would happen if we danced any way we wanted?
So what am I going to do the next time? I hope I’ll be able to find the inner child I raised into an adult and give her a voice, an arm to wave, and a song to dance to.
But for now, I’m going to sit on the floor and color.




http://p.feedblitz.com/t3.asp?/850672/29312163/4768034/tinybuddha.com/author/diana-reed/