I was on my way to the weight room at my local gym; my mind was admittedly elsewhere, thinking about work, my relationships, my schedule and all the other things with which we tend to busy ourselves.
Passing by the gym’s day care center, a young girl caught my eye. All by herself in the corner of the room, she was singing, dancing, whirling and twirling – not a care in the world. She was a free spirit. Untouched by ego, she didn’t care who might see her and her silliness. The little girl was a pure form of the universe’s creative energy.
I suppose it is easy not to have problems at age 4. But I refuse to think it’s impossible at age 26. I like to think of my problems as opportunities for growth. Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now, would probably remind me that there are never any problems in the present moment. I know that he’s right. And so did that four year old girl.
As we get older, we gain more knowledge but we get a lot dumber. Well, most of us. It’s almost like we unlearn our wisdom through the conditioning we undergo and the toxic perspectives we adopt as our own.
How brilliant she was, whirling and twirling. What a beautiful reminder to all of us.
February 10, 2010 at 3:47 pm
i think that it is grate to have a sett day where you just let your hart and spirit takeover and you just seize the day for what it is worth and this is also my creative way of stress relief it is simply a day where you don’t have a care in the world you put all the problems aside and you do what you wish you had been doing instead of the stuff you had to do and this helps you end a week of stress and look at the next coming week with a refreshed point of view and clear mind and keeps your spirits up and motivation going and as well as that it stops you from becoming depressed this is how i deal with things that stress me out i just take a day or two to think about me and be carefree it is like returning to the mind of a child
February 10, 2010 at 3:49 pm
This is something that I’ve been trying to convince my friends of…they’re always so caught up in what people think of them and all of their drama that they’re very quickly losing what is left of the free-spirited child inside of them. Unfortunately though, I suffer from the same problems…for instance, I woke up late today for my class and my first thought was “Crap, I have to find a way to look good because I’ll be seeing D**** today”. It bothers me that I consciously base my actions around another person, and it’s something I’m trying to get over. Thank you for being awesome Davey
February 10, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Damn Davey, that’s a lot of insight to draw on a little girl twirling freely. LOL but I’m not trying to dampen your spirits here or burst your balloon. LOL Because I totally agree with you.
I can respond to this from two parts of my personality.
One the one had I see the beauty this girl is displaying. And indeed as we get older we loose our sense of carefree and exuberance. And I also agree with you in that it’s not impossible to experience this later in life. As you know, health and life are based in balance, the good and the bad. We will most likely have dark times in our life where we feel cut off and sad, nothing will improve it and life seems hopeless. But then we will spring out of it, and from our wisdom gained from our pain, we will be more carefree, and stronger.
Now the negative Nancy side of me says that this poor girl has no idea what’s about to happen in life. She will inevitably have hurt feelings, disappointments, trauma, etc. The downside of life. Just as she is carefree today, she will definitely feel the exact opposite. You can’t out run this. It once again is the balance of the cycle of our life and health.
Don’t feel envious of her because you have been there at some point yourself. And quite frankly Davey, if anybody has the ability to be in the moment and carefree, it’s you.
Last thought here is that as adults we might not have the young innocence of our youth, but what we do achieve is the love and wisdom attained from experiencing all kinds of feelings. We then see the true beauty behind everything. We can consciously know we are happy and possibly carefree.
And with that, I pass this torch onto everybody else!! lol
February 10, 2010 at 4:32 pm
that’s why when i go to the gym i totally jam out in my own little world…dance through the aisles of machines…i’m not sure if it’s the attitude of just not caring what other people thing, or just not thinking at all…living naturally.
that 6 year old spirit is totally possible for all of us
February 10, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Davey, in that subject have to disagree of you. I am 23 years old, I have concerns with paying bills, work, schedules as any other person, more I cannot stop reminding, I am 23 years old and I have to have fun. The times we have to have our moment and to do what that girl did, without thinking what the people will think of us.
February 10, 2010 at 5:38 pm
I wish I could be 4 years old again, life was so simple.
I wish I could go back to when I didn’t have “real world” things to worry about.
February 10, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Would more be the solution? To return at the time and to run the risk of wandering again?
February 10, 2010 at 5:39 pm
The innocence of a child.
February 10, 2010 at 5:43 pm
February 10, 2010 at 7:33 pm
davey wavey plz may i have your help ???
peice out dude
February 10, 2010 at 7:58 pm
A beautiful post.
Thank you Davey
February 10, 2010 at 8:20 pm
I live in a neighborhood of both rich kids and poor ones. They all appreciate my gift of jars of bubbles. They hate it when I say I’ve got to run, wanting me to join them blowing bubbles. I’ll be late or miss an appointment now. I have come to realize that I might not have children of my own but the parents don’t seem to mind when I “borrow” them some even know that I’m gay. I still get asked if I do women’s clothes (drag). I say no more than I arrange flowers, cut hair, do your interiors, plan your weddings, or serve you on a plane as a flight attendant like my brother does. ‘Oh he’s gay too?” Yet another stereo type, I don’t particularly care for Barbara Streisand either, but the majority of his male coworkers he refers to as “homosexuals” the fact that he’s 44 and still uses that term around them and they are on speaking terms let alone hang with each other is a mystery. It is a running joke he has with the few remaining male flight attendants who are NOT gay. I used to be a clown now I just clown around doing bubbles. A closeted buddy of mine was bumming out that he could not find a real close friend. A stunner. I’ll just bet the other guy was too. We found out he did massages on cruise ships. Now that is a classic stereo type I defy any one to beat.
February 10, 2010 at 10:36 pm
I just want to say, off topic of course, how much I love your flat!
B
February 10, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Sounds like we all should look up to that little girl. Or any free spirited child. I knw the picture of a child whirling and twirling will stay with me forever
February 10, 2010 at 11:41 pm
man, all your little posts just make things like so much clearer and simple. Its pretty weird, how someone i havn’t met has made me like look at things in a possitive and happy way. I havn’t been reading your posts for very long at all, but i think you have a pretty big impact on people that watch you, and read your blogs. Good work
.
February 11, 2010 at 2:30 am
It’s almost like we unlearn our wisdom through the conditioning we undergo and the toxic perspectives we adopt as our own.
Couple of thoughts:
Our experiences definitely colour our perspectives on life. Does that make them toxic? I’m not entirely sold on that idea. I think we’ll live just fine lives despite our perspectives. I ask, however, who would settle for fine when one could have amazing, fantastic, or extraordinary?
I think that we let our egos get the best of us. When we encounter something we judge as bad or undesirable we bring that with us. When we encounter a similar situation, most of us allow the ‘bad’ things from our past to prevent us from having an extraordinary present and future. If I fail miserably at something, I am far less likely to volunteer to do anything lie that again. If I refuse to subject myself to the possibilities of success/failure, I fail anyway.
The 4-year-old – lacking these memes that would have her hide her creativity – expresses herself beautifully and fearlessly. Good on her. I’d be willing to try on a new, clear, perspective for the opportunity to be fully self-expressed!
February 11, 2010 at 4:07 am
You’re right. But I want to add something.
The way not to be(come) more and more old and cynical, should be maintain the capacity to surprise oneself and to look the world with always new eyes.
February 11, 2010 at 7:13 am
Davey, you are so talented photographer! i want take my photo with you
February 11, 2010 at 7:24 am
The fact is that Davey has a lot of taltens, as I can see and read.
February 11, 2010 at 8:23 am
As a parent of a four-year-old, I can tell you that you are definitely correct: Four-year-olds have an exuberance that we lose as we get older. We should not strive to recreate that carefree spirit; it is a childish thing. When I say “childish,” I say it without criticism or denigration; but instead only that it belongs to children. What we should try to do is to borrow from our children. We should look to them to remember what is important. We should look to them to become young in heart. We should look to them to remember the lessons we teach about being nice to each other and so on. The carefree spirit of a child is a gift to adults, if we open our eyes and accept it.
February 11, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Micah, very observant.
I would not trade my adult awareness for anything, but I also strive for simple presence in the moment that I had as a (very) young child.
February 11, 2010 at 10:17 am
go to the gym fat lazy davey wavey just because it snowed u sleep in? LMAO
February 11, 2010 at 10:25 am
Most of what we think about isn’t true anyway. We should stop thinking so much.
February 11, 2010 at 10:49 am
I often reflect on the lines from Robbie Burns poem ‘To A Mouse’
“Still thou are blest, compared wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee”
February 11, 2010 at 3:36 pm
hmmm…well looking at the picture it looks like you have the little girl part right
February 11, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Mr. Wavey: lol
Id love to link you on my blog and have you do the same.
Can you let me know?
February 11, 2010 at 6:47 pm
Being self-concious admittedly has its drawbacks. And we are conditioned to be concious of what we do from a young age.
Every once in a while, you are supposed to let your inner child take over and just be yourself, not caring what others think.
Take great delight in the moment…
February 14, 2010 at 8:47 pm
…I whirl and twirl sometimes…. when no one’s watching…ñ_ñ…
February 15, 2010 at 3:53 am
Yah Davey,
I understand but what about those people who were beaten by a new parent every day of their lives from the age of 5 to 19. We don’t have those memories anyway in a way our adult lives are more rewarding this is where we learnt about all of those childhood pleasures that other children had! I was lucky and when I say lucky God blessed me the chance to know and be intimate with children who have known love and involvement from their parents their whole lives and now I know better. I always did but it just sounded like that voice was yelling though I just couldn’t catch it from all the wounds!
Kenneth Roy
February 15, 2010 at 3:54 am
When I say children we were 19 when we met it just creeped ME out when I read it!
Kenneth Roy
February 18, 2010 at 1:13 am
i love your philosophical nature. I believe we have all forgotten how connected we truly are on this fragile planet.
Though I’m not a fan of “social media” as it stops us from meeting people face to face, if it serves to publish the truth that human persons are more important that anything else on this fragile planet, then it has done a tremendous thing.
Fred L.