I am tired of being an adult.

Ever wonder what it is like to learn something from a child? Chances are you already have, but were so busy being an adult you no longer remember.

How simple is that?

Adults learn simplicity from children every day:

  • In the unmasked questions they ask.
  • In the politically incorrect phrases they utter.
  • In the beautiful ideas that sprout in their fertile minds.

The imagination of a child is a wonderful thing, uncontaminated by society’s determination of impossibility. To not be jaded by age and experience and see the world again through hopeful eyes would be a delight. Just test drive it for a little while.

Pirates, ahoy!

spy glassI want to sit in the center of the floor, with a sheet over my head draped between chairs, and imagine the sea salty air on my cheeks. I could again spend hours hearing the seagulls circle the crow’s nest, as I searched through a rolled construction paper spyglass. I would canvass the horizon’s waves for a glimpse of an elusive island around which swam mermaids.

Possible

There would be no thoughts of impossibility. Having not experienced failure would open my mind again to dreams, long written off either to fear of failure or the mere chance of it. I could embrace my own ambition to chase dreams of entrepreneurial bliss.

Believe me.

Trust would be a guarantee. I would believe all of the information I received would be true. When I could not accomplish something on my own, I need only ask to receive assistance.

Forever

Forever would have a meaning. “I love you forever,” I would tell those close to my heart. No ill effects would ensue at the end of a relationship because the end would never come. Letters would be endlessly exchanged, telephone calls made and house calls routine.

Time Immortal

The Passage of Time

Time would be universally immense. I would never be in a rush. A world without deadlines or expiration dates would give me license to smell my roses, walk hand-in-hand with my husband at sunset and roll in the grass with my children and the dogs. The dinner bell would not signal an interruption, but instead an invitation to imagine feasts untold.

Beauty in my Eye

All creation would be beautiful. The mystery of the veins on the back of a shed leaf, as I lie beneath the sweeping boughs, would entrance me, taking me to thoughts of rivers and streams. A tree house would be a Olympian palace from which I could see for miles. A bed of ants would be the guardian foot soldiers to protect my province.

Color Outside the Lines

The adult world can be so drab and colorless, with its constraints on time and tact. Every adult can learn to color outside the lines by their children before they are taught to conform into grown-up ladies and gentlemen. Put on an eye patch, before it is too late.

What do you do to foster your inner child?

© Red Dwyer 2011
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16 Comments

  1. I have temper tantrums.

    Reply
  2. awarewriter

     /  December 13, 2011

    Masterful Red, a wonderfully playful piece. Children never worry about making mistakes when they play. Neither do they concern themselves with outcomes.

    What do I do to foster my inner child? I shut up, climb on his back and my let my dragon take me to the heights — he’s the one who knows how to play. Meditation helps. It helps a lot.

    John

    Reply
  3. I never understand people who long for childhood. Mine was cold, bleak, dark, and harsh and I was forced to grow up very quickly. Not to say that I am bitter about it, I have gained an understanding.

    I am sort of living backwards now (not as far as goals and growth goes of course) and despite all my health problems and such, I feel younger now than I did when I was 18. The innocence and simplicity everyone speaks of that they long for now comes naturally to me (as I never experienced it before) and I have shed many social conventions of what middle-age is supposed to be long ago.

    Reply
    • In that shedding you are just discovering the freedom. All in all, it should be healthier for you. Letting go of some of the stress of life is good for you. {HUGZ} Red.

      Reply
  4. bear

     /  December 14, 2011

    We are all children inside some grow up and the child fades,Others like myself look through a kaleidoscope and see many things wondrous things always looking for a new adventure, to keep my mind young. My body grows old but my mind still plays the games of the young, I dream of the things of tomorrow and relish the past. I sometimes miss the time when I was a child, but realize that those are the times that made me who I am today: A dreamer. Bear

    Reply
    • For some, it is hard to look at the past and realize it has been a certain way to make us into the people we are today. I am often asked what I would change could I go back. And there really is nothing I would change. I had to have it all to be in the position I am now of having it all. Red.

      Reply
  5. Now that would be telling… Red 😉

    Did you know that
    I am actually Peter Pan? 🙂

    Have a lovely Wednesday filled with
    fangtastic dreams and of far off shores
    where time has no end… and forever is
    indeed a journey into infinity…

    Androgoth XXx

    Reply
    • I knew you had some Pan-esque qualities 😉 Stay tuned for my noon post for a voyage into forever…Red.

      Reply
      • Yes and I wish you and your Bear very well
        Red, for time is short enough without those
        sweet romantic edges that fill the cup of life…

        This is a lovely piece of news and thank
        you for sharing your most excellent plans
        for the future 🙂 😉 You deserve the best 🙂

        Androgoth XXx

        Reply
  6. Hi Red! 🙂

    Thanks for the visit and comment!!! 🙂

    I drew these when I went to Denmark to visit Hanne’s family over Christmas.

    The weather was bad for a few days so I went through Hanne’s Carlsen Comics collection and found pure gold! 🙂

    There were a whole bunch of pictures drawn by a guy who was a drug addict and who vanished in 1974.

    The cartoons were in Danish, but I found I could copy his style so I drew a whole bunch of pictures based on his work, but some Hanne wouldn’t let me keep and had me redraw them as they looked ‘cruel’.

    These are the last three as, when I got home, my friends liked them so much they snaffled most of them!

    I also did a whole lot of Garfield drawings and gave them away, Lillian’s grandaughter Becker taking the one I drew for her, cutting it out, mounting it on coloured paper, then claimed to have drawn it herself – pretty devious for a six year old!!! LoL!!!

    She showed her teacher and she put it up in the classroom.

    Fame at last! LoL!!!

    Love and hugs!

    Prenin.

    Reply
    • You know, Pren, plagiarism is the finest form of flattery. I think Becker did a great thing, aside from the lying part.

      I know what you mean about work wandering away. It has been the case with most of the poetry I have written, especially during the ’80s and ’90s. Almost none of it is recorded anywhere.

      I hope you are having a fabulous day and staying warm!
      {HUGZ}
      Red.

      Reply
  7. Excellent post. Too many allow the cares of adulthood to squash their inner child. Too many children try to grow up too soon as well! My inner child is well-nourished:) That’s probably why children tend to like me lol. The Grandkids help keep me in a playing mode, and meditation – playing with God – helps a lot too. Life is still full of wonder if you have the eyes to see it.

    Reply
  8. Hah – my problem is restraining my inner child.
    Damn responsibilities.
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