Retaining A Childlike Innocence In An Age of Electronic Information
What does it mean to be innocent or to live a life with innocence? Nature shows its innocence every spring when new shoots of growth sprout out of the ground, even without knowing when the next bit of cold air will return.
I must admit, I am sorry to see winter leave. I know, most of you are probably cursing me at this thought, but I just love the snow, colder temps, and the beauty that it brings; this winter brought us that, especially here in Pittsburgh, PA.
I spent the winter engaging in something my grandchildren love to do, build puzzles. The latest one is another snow scene because I can’t seem to let go of winter; I will admit, I’m struggling a bit with the change of seasons. I know the importance of our focus this month is to remember what it feels like to engage in childlike behaviors; jumping in puddles is one that comes to mind. I remember doing that quite often as a child and my mom actually encouraging it. Doing so reminds me of spring, but yet, I am hanging on to winter, colder temps and the feeling of retreating inward.
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Finding Comfort in Innocence
I think I found comfort this past winter, protection of staying within my home and in some cases, by a warm fire. An article in Psychology Today tells us that “Intentional innocence is a renunciation of the chief responsibility–and the chief pleasure–of adult life.” Perhaps I was choosing this winter to renounce my adult responsibilities, but can we really will away our responsibilities as adults? I don’t think we can, and I didn’t do that, but what we can do is take mindful breaks and purposeful engagement with things that help us to remember the goodness of childhood.
Building puzzles did just that. It created a mindful break for me, especially away from the constant information era and electronic media. Continual information and opinions of reality is something that is not going away, but it does seem to rob us of our ability to disconnect enough to engage in the goodness of childhood.
So, how do we coexist within this informative world that takes power over our ability to look through rose-colored glasses? Rose-colored glasses only seek to protect us from the things that we don’t want to see. But isn’t that a choice that we make? Allowing ourselves to sort, compare and contrast the information that comes our way? As an adult, we need to use our wisdom and our relationship with self to sort through the weeds of information, as it is a path to find profound joy in the innocence within the chaos of information.
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The Importance of Engaging in Childlike Behaviors
I know this got a little deep, perhaps I’m trying to hide from the constant pounding of hatred and visceral behaviors that are coexisting within our world right now. I could go on about how this informative era of electronic media as I see it rob our children’s young developing brains of the goodness of childhood, but this is not the blog article nor the forum for this.
I just want to get the message across that engaging in childlike behaviors is important. It helps to take our minds away from adult responsibilities for a little while and helps us focus on activity that brings a smile to our face. If you have not taken this month to reminisce about what it is like to play and connect with easier times, go ahead, I dare you, to go jump in a puddle. After all, April showers bring forth May flowers, so go ahead and engage in the goodness of childhood.
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