As adults we all know about the innocence of a child and that children are carefree, fearless warriors who let nothing stop them. They will climb a tall tree and fall down, but they get back up, they will wear a clown costume to the grocery store without worrying about the fact that nobody else is doing the same and they will dance in a park when they hear music they like without thinking twice.
Yes children laugh in the face of danger, and dance like nobody is watching. Most of all , they don't care about what other people think of them. This is of course due to their innocence and because at a young age they know no better, of course they are not aware of what society is and that people are judgemental.
The fearless child takes on tasks which feel right to them, like second nature. In time a natural progression in a specific task develops and if the child is in an environment where these natural skills can be nurtured and developed further then you get a child that is on the right track and sure of what they should be doing to make them content .
Of course life gets in the way, it happens to all us fearless children. We somehow become Eve in the Garden of Eden after she has taken that dreaded bite from that forbidden apple. After that bite we are thrusted into adulthood and like Eve, into an unknown world where we are no longer able to run as wild and free as we would like. To be nude and exposed with all our flaws on show is impossible as we are now aware that people are looking at us, judging us and we lose most of our carefree nature to some extent, some more then others .
But what if we went back to basics? What if we said to society, "I don't care ?" Well some of us do say that, and then there are the rest of us that have lost most of that innocent child and just prod along though life with this fear of failure following us, this fear that we are being watched and our actions judged. We also walk around not knowing what we are meant to be in this lifetime, what our purpose in life is. I am quite surprised actually that it has taken me this long to realise that if I go back to basics, back to what I loved to do and what I was a 'natural' at as a child, then there lies my happiness.
Speaking from experience, the road less travelled is in fact a great journey and as the well known saying goes, it is not the final destination that counts but more important is the way you got there. I am happy to keep discovering what makes me happy and to keep learning is a thrill for me, but of late I have been feeling like I have lost that inner child along the way. Perhaps I have stopped to smell the roses for too long a time and veered way off track somewhat, or perhaps I been lured by the temptation of money and what material objects it can buy me. All this side stepping of ones path is fine but only for a short time and if you are aware of such a fact then you can snap out of it and re-focus your energy to what really counts, your true happiness.
Looking back at myself as a child I was a number of things; a circus acrobat, a showgirl who loved cabaret performance, a painter, a photographer, a make up artist, a costume wearing 'freak' (depending on who you speak to), a wardrobe person who created costumes out of scraps and a dancer.
I find this refection very ironic as I am only truly happy now when I am creating something or building on a film set, making and sourcing a prop, hunting though vintage and op shops, building my image with makeup and fashion, attending a burlesque or cabaret show, piecing together my costume ( for my stage alter ego, Lady Kalypso) working as a stage Kitty at shows and sketching my ideas for personal projects or for film.
Just recently I put this theory of returning to my childhood happiness to my life coach, who I don't know very well and I must say when I first started to express my theory to him I had a small inkiling in my mind that he would think I was a utter nutter, that he would refer me to a psychologist. I have already been to see one of those years ago, a psychologist and I only found that the problems I had were due to others, not myself as I am perfectly fine as I am.
My life coach did no such thing, no referrals just a reply which contained great complements and at that point I realised that I am much smarter then I sometimes give myself credit for. The theory that I had come up with or as I call it, my "light bulb" moment was not so far fetched after all. The idea of going back to ones childhood to find what is right for us in our adult life or more so what truely makes us happy is a technique used by NLP coaches.
For those of you wondering what NLP stands for, here it is :Neuro Linguistic Programing. According to Wikipidia Neuro Linguistic Programing is, and I quote; "an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy...which refers to a stated connection between the neurological processes, language and behavioral patterns that have been learned through experience and can be organized to achieve specific goals in life".
Makes perfect sense, at least I think so anyway. OK, it makes sense if you read it slowly and a couple of times over. I have attached the link at the end for those who want to read up further on the subject or need to read it over again.
It is interesting to read and if you need a modern example can I get you to do your homework by reading the lyrics to Lady Ga Ga's song "Born this way". Still on Ga Ga, I read somewhere that when she was a child performing her teacher asked her what her plans were for her future and she replyed with "world domination".
Wow, postive thinking , a strong will, and a persistant attitude plus a passion and then running with what you were born with and excelling in what you did as a child worked for her. Good on her that she stuck with it, I am sure she must have wandered off her path at some point, worked the crappy job to get by, she muct have also had the day or two when she didn't have cash to eat as lavishly as she does now. Artists everywhere will relate to me on that one, we stuggle not becuase we want to because we have to as we see the bigger picture, we can see our potential.
As I continue to walk my path and seek my way though the darkness like a blind person without a cain so too do I continue to grow, and I get stronger and more hungry to see the light. It can be scarey being my age and still be walking this path but it gives me great hope to know that I feel more like that out there kid I once was this year of my life then ever before. Through my teens I was lost and hiding, like a turtle in her shell, I was surrounded by negitives and unable to find positives as I was unsure if I was a turtle at all. If only I had stuck my head out sooner, accepted myself for who I was then I would not be sitting her writing this.
Accepting that that child lives inside me makes me feel alive again, being me and being happy for the first time in a long time is enough to push me further, enough to get my tierd legs moving and walking down that path and towards me goal. I would not change who I am for anything as who I am is beautiful and the sooner I can say that to myself and mean it the sooner I can acheive my own world domination. I have always felt greatness withn myself as a child and I plan to again. I feel reborn and this time I am not wasting anymore years in hiding, cause baby I was born this way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_psychotherapy#Neurolinguistic_Psychotherapy_.28NLPt.29
