The Magic of Our Inner-Child Mind.

[blockquote source=”Laurence Sterne”]”What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within the span of his little life by him who interests his heart in everything.” [/blockquote]

There’s an adorable little boy who lives just down the way – with the brightest of eyes, an inquisitive smile and questions to last for days.

He’s fearless on the side of mischievous, and with a battery that’ll never quit.

I’ve watched him dangle, and subsequently topple, from the tallest tree; follow an ant trail in his superman cape; and, stretch a worm till it ‘almost didn’t break.’

And, all, sigh…in one single day.

Even at just 3-years-old, I can already tell this little man is giving his parents a good ‘run for their money.’

Is there any wonder at all, why I absolutely adore him?

I’ve always believed curiosity to be the hallmark of genius. Though, these days, I’ve grown to understand it’s correlation to our own spiritual awakening. The two can not exist independent of one another.

Where there is curiosity, there is awareness – and where there is awareness, there is self-discovery.

[blockquote source=”Shunryu Suzuki”]“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.”[/blockquote]

So often we talk of ‘beginner’s mind’ – that insatiable need to know, to discover, to experience before the distractions of ‘thinking mind’ have settled in. Before expectation, before judgement, before prejudice – in the beginner’s mind we experience our whole world in a perpetual state of ‘just is.’

Can you just imagine? To have the experience of this life and this world, without losing yourself in the energy of the chatter?

Watch an infant, and you’ll see he or she will explore their world using all of the senses. They’ll taste, tug, touch…pull, tap, slam, bounce…all, simply to gain a better understanding.

And yet, we, with all the sophistication of our ‘thinking mind’ seem still to be sadly limited.

We become trapped inside our old habits, bogged down by these preconceived notions.

We know before we’ve even had a chance to discover. Oh, and that’s such a shame, now isn’t it? As, in doing so – we begin to lose the most vital aspect to our being:

That is, to be fully engaged in this breathtaking magnificence which surrounds us.

In that respect, perhaps this path to enlightenment…begins with a, “Daddy, why?”

 

About

Tara Lemieux is a mindful wanderer, and faithful stargazer. Although she often appears to be listening with great care, rest assured she is most certainly‘forever lost in thought. She is an ardent explorer and lover of finding things previously undiscovered or at the very least mostly not-uncovered.

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