5 Awesome Things We Can Learn from Children
Children laugh around 300 times a day whereas adults laugh less than 20. That’s quite a difference! Of course, with growing up comes responsibilities and challenges and not all of these make us want to roll about laughing. However there are still many things that we can learn from our little ones that when implemented into our own lives, can be a real game changer.
1) Play!
Taking time out to do something fun – just for the sake of it, is actually amazing for stimulating your brain and creative juices. It takes you out of your everyday mindset and has a wonderful way of reigniting your perception and outlook. Also, why is it so weird to think as adults we can’t randomly go and climb a tree or jump around like crazy? Or anything that we feel compelled to do but don’t because we think it’s silly or immature? And what’s to say that we can’t ‘play’ in our professional lives either? Wouldn’t it be great to instead of having the weekly sit-down meeting in an uninspiring office, do the meeting whilst going for a walk, or playing a game of frisbee (or whatever you think might be fun)? Getting outside and moving is so good for boosting energy, brain and endorphin levels and I think not only would the meetings be more enjoyable but the outcomes, ideas and actions would be far more radical too!
2) Failure isn’t an option
When a baby tries to take its first steps, it doesn’t fall down and then declare itself a failure. It just gets back up and keeps on going. The baby’s legs will wobble but it will keep persisting until it walks. You’ll see the determination on the child’s face but there’ll be no internal ‘I can’t do this, I’m a failure, I’m going to give up’ dialogue. As adults there’s a lot we can take from that.
3) Stay curious
For children, the world and everything in it is a big adventure. Children are fascinated by even those little things that as adults, we’re so used to taking for granted. In fact, children are far more mindful and live in the moment because of this. Despite the fact that many things in the world aren’t new to us as adults, there are millions of new places, people and experiences that we’ve yet to discover – just like children. So why not make it a regular part of your life to take off on a new adventure – be it as big or little as you want. Try something different and really experience it right in the moment!
4) Forget and move on
Children have this wonderful way of kicking up a fuss about something be it a toy they can’t have right there and then or a certain food that they’re not allowed, and then just completely forgetting about it five minutes later and moving on. They don’t stress about it. As adults, although we express that initial fuss in a different way, we cling onto why something didn’t work out, which manifests itself in blame, anger, bitterness or even jealousy. All very negative and energy sucking emotions! If something hasn’t worked out, let it go and move on.
5) Don’t judge
Particularly when they reach school, children only judge other children based on what they’ve been told, observed or learned from adults and external influences. Initially though, children take each situation or person they meet completely at face value. They’re not concerned about visual appearance and they don’t look for flaws. They don’t assess and then decide if they want to engage or interact; it’s just natural. Whilst it’s perhaps unrealistic to be completely like this as adults, we can still always remind ourselves the importance of not prematurely judging a person or a situation.
And finally, laugh more! Laughing can change your mood in a heartbeat! In many situations, it really can be the best medicine. Giving yourself permission to have fun and laugh more can really enhance your life in so many ways.
