The Eyes of a Child

Before you start reading this post, I want you to take a look at the picture at the top of the page.  I don’t want you to analyze it as if were a homework assignment, or expecting a quiz about the meaning and inspiration behind it.  

I want you to focus on the feeling in the photo.  What is right in front of this lovely little child is a beautiful, beautiful space.  And, it’s full of imagination – full of creativity.  This is a view beyond wonder on which this beautiful child is gazing into a bubble.  Can you imagine what this little girl’s thinking about as she sees this?  What wonders?  Is she trying to dissect it?  Is she wondering where it came from?  Is she trying to figure out all these things?  I can’t help but wonder, is she gazing into perhaps life as something that’s new and curious to her.  

As I look closer at it, I realize she’s just experiencing the wonder of being alive.  There is no agenda.  There is no ulterior motive.  This is a young girl simply experiencing joy.  She has a sparkle that she approaches every moment of her life with.  And here it all is, its essence captured perfectly in this photograph. 

If you look at your own experience, do you feel you have become jaded enough to simply walk past an event like that?  Have you become so inured with life that you’re unable to simply see the joy and wonder and glow as this child does in her own life? If your answer is in any way yes, you can take the steps to do something about it.  That’s high-impact mindfulness – full-impact mindfulness about being aware and alive.  It’s about being in every moment and living in every moment.  

I want to use this picture as an inspiration to open up your eyes.  Remove the scales from your eyes.  Be in the moment.  Be in this moment.  See this moment – without the time traveling we often do.  Without constantly looking into the future or living your life in a rearview mirror – focusing on what has gone past you, or what lies ahead, rather than what’s right in front of you.  

And, that’s my challenge out there to you – to find the sheer joy and wonder in being alive.  To find the exquisiteness of each moment and never be bored again.