A Simple Gesture

A simple gesture.  A single rose. 

Can change your outlook on the day,

and your presence in the moment.

What brightened your day, today?

A Simple Gesture

Be as a Child

While we try to teach our children all about life, Our children teach us what life is all about. ~Angela Schwindt

Children always inspire. They make you yearn for days gone by. The simpler times. The times of carefree joy and innocence. We miss it. We miss those times, but are they really out of reach or have we just forgotten how to enjoy them?.

As we grow older we begin looking towards the future. We begin living with goals that are slightly out of reach - college, careers, homes, children, retirement - It's a never ending cycle. Yet, when we look at children it causes a yearning.

Children are the greatest inspiration for mindfulness. They live in the moment with no thoughts of tomorrow. They enjoy the little things -- those simple pleasures that we take for granted. They let their natural curiosity and imagination take them where ever they want to go. They are free spirits in a closed-minded world. Something we as adults still harbor inside of us.

I could watch my boys for hours. They can sit and build "the largest tower in the world" with their blocks without thinking about what they will be doing later or what happened yesterday. When they fall and get a "boo-boo," they will act as if it's the most traumatic experience in the world as they sit there crying. The moment I place that band-aid on it and give it an "all better" kiss, it is forgotten and they move on as if nothing happened. It amazes me that these little creatures can live in the moment and just the moment. So innocent and carefree. Full of life.

What we yearn for from our childhoods isn't far out of our reach. If we let go of the woes of yesterday or the unknowns of tomorrow. If we let children inspire us -- let them remind us to live in the moment. Maybe then, we can enjoy the moment for what it's worth and most importantly, just live.

Be as a Child

Childhood Simplified

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." ~ Kahlil Gibran

A few weeks ago, my boys discovered the fine art of cloud watching. It was a beautiful day so I decided to take them to the park to run around and get out there energy. They did for a bit and then finally went and settled at the gazebo in the corner of the park.

I went and joined them and they lay down so I joined them and my oldest started pointing things out in the clouds. I got quite a giggle watching them use their imaginations to find things in the sky. Granted, it was only a five minute (if even) ordeal but it was enough to bring me right back to my childhood.

The older two became bored quickly and ventured out to the playground to chase more pirates and me and my little man (who will be 2 in a few weeks) continued to lay there and watch the clouds. I pointed out things I saw and then a plane crossed overhead and that rose his curiosity even more.

Sometimes I feel that we take these little things for granted. Life becomes more of monetary values and the simple things -- well, we let them just slip away. Birthday parties no longer exist at homes with simple games of pin-the-tail on the donkey or musical chairs now they are costly and held at extravagant places. You drive down the street on a beautiful day and there are no children on the streets playing. When I was a child, we were booted out after 9:30 am (as to not wake the neighbors) and we were not allowed in (except for meals and potty breaks) until the street lights came on.

Where did the good ole' days go? I'm now reading a book called "Free Range Kids." The authors theory is that more kids are inside today because of parents fear. According to her statistics about 80% of us were sent outside like I just described but only 30% of us allow our children the same benefit. Some say the world is worse now...but statistically speaking its not more dangerous, the same dangers were there when we were kids but now we are too informed about it. So what do we do? We keep them in front of a tv, video games, etc and let these electronical babysitters drain our children. burn brain cells and risk their health for lack of exercise.

My boys love bubbles and baseball, they love dancing in the rain, cloud watching, searching for rainbows, chasing bugs and running through the grass barefoot. I am going to try to allow my children a little more "free range" so they don't miss out on all those fun activities we did as children. Mud pie anyone?

Childhood Simplified