There was a time.....

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There was a time when life was everything it was supposed to be: fun, full of laughter, care free, and a future that looked so promising.  There was a time when all you could think about was what adventure was going to take place today, and how were you going to be a part of it.  There was also a time when dreams seemed real, where all you had to do was imagine things, and things were.  What ever happened to those times?  When did they disappear, and why is it you lost them in the first place?

When you were a child it seemed like all things were possible.  You hadn't yet been conditioned by society to think a particular way, or do things another way.  When you were just a small child you never gave much thought to where your next meal was going to come from.  You always seemed to have new clothes, a warm bed to sleep in, and the occasional special surprise gift just because you were you.  If life was so great as a child, why in the world have most adults left their childhood at the doorstep?  Why if life was so simple back then have so many adults departed from what made life so almost perfect?  We've been told it's time to grow up.  We've been instructed to put away childish things and act our age.  We've even been told that there's nothing worse then someone who refuses to grow up.  Well, I'm not so sure that we did ourselves any favors by throwing out the child in us, and I'm certain that there is a part of everyone who somehow would love to rekindle those times when life was simple, joyful, and free from most of the concerns that people carry around with them today.

When was the last time you were truly carefree?  When was the last time you looked at each day as a blessing and as an opportunity to try something new, experience something new?  When was the last time you simply threw other's expectations out the window and made the decision to do things your own way?  If you are like most people the answer to each of these questions is " it was a long, long, long time ago."  Maybe it's time we turn things around and treat life as if we were children again.  Face it, if you knew then what you know now, your life would be completely different.  Looking at it another way, if you could see life right now as you did when you were a child, how different would life be for you right now?

There's really nothing worse in life then always thinking about, or going back to another time.  A time when life was as it should be and maybe not as it is right now.  How great would it be right now if all you had to do was think about each day as a new adventure and how much fun it was going to be on that adventure?  I dare say that there would be very few people who given the opportunity to turn things around would choose to stay stuck in the life they have at this moment.  I want to enjoy every minute of my life.  I want to look at each day as that new adventure.  I never want to have to go back to a time when all I could do was what was expected of me.  If I can't be me, then what's the point of going forward, and trust me if you are not free to be the unique you, then there is very little chance of you truly moving forward.

Children have the ability to look at things and see the truth, to see the joy, and the reason this is so is because they haven't been jaded by others.  Sadly there will come a time when they will fall victim to the conditioning that all of us have been subjected to, but how great would it be if each of us was able to void ourselves of what others have demanded and simply be who and what we were created to be? Just think about it, a life free from expectations, free from judgments, and free from the constraints that we have found ourselves operating in.

So allow me to go back to the carefree question.  If you have to think about the answer, if it takes you longer then just a few seconds, then I can pretty well bet that it has been some time since you were carefree.  Carefree means just that, free from care.  Free from the burdens of life, or at least those things that have been a burden to you.  Being carefree means you look at tomorrow with hope, you treat today as an adventure, and you simply look at yesterday as a lesson that needed to be learned.  It's so easy to get wrapped up in the worry of today.  It's not hard to forget about your tomorrows because you are focused on too many yesterdays.   Today I'm going to recommend that you forget about putting on your big boy pants, your big girl panties, and simply live like a child.  If you can see the excitement of doing the little things, then those little things will turn into bigger things, and then the excitement will grow and grow, and then grow some more.

What I would love for you to do is to begin saying there was a time when you allowed the true you to be stifled, but that is no longer the case, and from this day forward I am going to see things as I used to see them.  You see, there was a time when life was perfect, and the time is right to pick up that perfection again, and walk into a new life that is as childlike as childlike can be.  The child is still very much in you, what you forgot to do was let it out.  Well it's time to come out and play again, and when you do, you just may see life a little differently, and you may begin to see life the only way it was ever intended to be seen, through the eyes of a child.