There was a wonderful conversation with someone I had recently. They mentioned something alongside the lines of:
“Leo, but how are you different from a child then. They do it exactly the same. They don’t think, they don’t reflect, they just do, fall down, get up again, and do it over and over again. They only live through their experiences. As a grown up you are different, you have to act differently.”
It was one of the biggest compliments I have ever received. I am not any different at all, and I don’t try to be. I couldn’t be any happier to be described like this.
Did you know that we invented children? Children don’t exist. All that exists are humans. Some who will develop their bodies and grow for a while and some who are done growing physically. That’s about it I believe, and it actually took me a long time to realise this.
Once this became a firm part of my day to day belief, it changed things around a lot.
The bigger picture of not acknowledging children’s existence
Here is what I think happens if you treat each and every individual absolutely the same:
You never get stuck thinking your are done. You are done developing. You are done improving. You are done learning. You never do this. And this is one of the most powerful and humblest mindsets we can develop.
Treating each and every human being the same – with utmost respect, irrelevant of what stage in their lives they are at, but focused on what needs they express in every moment, makes a huge difference.
Whilst we have to learn, we don’t have to be taught
Back in the day when I was in school, the subject I became probably most proficient in was French. I took 12 hours of French per week. I had French, French philosophy, French history and a few others.
The thing is, I was never taught, nor told to do this. My French teacher told me to do whatever I like. I could sit in the classroom or leave, I could do my homework or didn’t if I don’t wanted to. He never made an effort to teach me. This is when I started to learn the most.
The amount of freedom and approach towards me as a person changed everything. Have you ever observed that if someone gives you complete freedom and doesn’t tell you to do anything, you actually end up listening to them a lot more?
Think less, do more
There was a huge benefit from forcing myself to think a lot less and do a lot more. The trained habits from school and university based on pondering and overthinking a lot of the ideas that enter my mind, where hard to get rid off.
The one discovery I made is that if I do more, act intuitively and decide a lot faster I would become a great decider and doer. If I were to think more, I might become a great thinker. There is really nothing interesting in being a great thinker I felt.
What do you think (heh) about this? Could a lot more intuition and a lot less thinking make a change for you?