Remember that time when (ages ago) we were going through a phase called childhood? No troubles (except how to eat the chocolate when mom isn’t looking), no tensions (except ‘Will I be able to wake up before Tom and Jerry starts?), no broken relationships (except that fight over who was taller) and only smiles? So, let’s go back to this time and see what precious things we had then that we don’t have (but need) now. Because, as Tom Stoppard says, “If you carry your childhood with you, you never become old.”
There is absolute necessity to incorporate this habit into our everyday lives. We’re so busy reaching the next goal post that we often forget to stop for a moment, look around us and appreciate the beauty of the world. Moreover, doing nothing actually helps. It helps you read between the lines, it helps you look beneath the facades. It helps you observe people and their mannerisms, It helps you learn about your mind and its wonders. And this kind of minute study enriches you with an enlightenment that is utmost powerful and extremely useful.
As Walt Disney says, “Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age and dreams are forever.” And as the saying goes, if you can’t dream about something, you can never achieve it.
But now, for every action we do, every word we speak and every dream we dream, we think about “Log Kya Kahenge” (what will people say). And this leaves us with burnt passions, slashed dreams and suppressed emotions. So, let go, don’t worry about what others would say, because as Lifehack states “Stop being so self-conscious because absolutely nobody is paying any attention to you anyway- they’re only paying attention to themselves.”
Ali Schlachter says, “I miss being a child, the biggest conflict was always picking which crayon to use.” So, let’s just make lives so simple again, put a smile on our faces, a twinkle in our eyes and lightness within our hearts and become a child again.
Written by Aneri Doshi
What makes my heart race? Books, Coffee and Rain
#1. Doing Nothing
Remember those days, when you would just lie down on the couch all the time, physically passive, busy in your mind’s idle ministrations? Those days seem a far cry from the present, don’t they? Now, we’re busy running from one place to another, completing one task after another and triumphing one goal over another. Our life mantra then used to go along the lines of “Today, I’m doing nothing cause I started doing it yesterday, but I haven’t finished it yet!” but now, it is something like “Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing. ”
#2. Dreaming
Remember when we were kids? We had a superpower. A superpower called imagination, that took us higher than the seventh heaven, deeper than the Pacific Ocean and faster than the cheetah. Our creativity knew no bounds, and we imagined anything and everything from flying unicorns to talking vegetables. And though some might not realize, imagination is the most precious habit you will develop in your lifeline, and therefore, don’t lose it. Don’t let the society (and its norms) put out the fire of your imagination.
#3. Not Being Self-Conscious
Remember those silly dances in the rain with friends? Or the fake sword fights (with the wooden ruler)? Those times were fun, weren’t they? (And ‘today’ isn’t so much fun, is it?) Do you know why? Because we weren’t self-conscious then. We didn’t care about the aunt that thought it isn’t for a civilized girl to engage in a brutal sword fight or that uncle that thought boys shouldn’t do the Garba. We did whatever we wanted, without the fear of being judged. And that left free to do anything and everything we wanted (and in the way we chose).
Ali Schlachter says, “I miss being a child, the biggest conflict was always picking which crayon to use.” So, let’s just make lives so simple again, put a smile on our faces, a twinkle in our eyes and lightness within our hearts and become a child again.
Written by Aneri Doshi
What makes my heart race? Books, Coffee and Rain