How To Live: Watch Your Children And Learn From Them

Ellie runs in, a sweaty mess, covered in sand and dirt from head to toe.  She just flashes in for a second to grab a headlamp, as night settles on the campground and she runs off to play “Dragon tag” with Daddy and her sisters.  We’ve cut down toys to simply books and a few stuffed animals, and a sheet that magically transforms from a tent roof to dragon wings.  The girls live their days hiking, biking, swimming, and swinging in hammocks.  The world is their canvas for creative play.

We canoed a river this week, seeing alligators, turtles, fish, monkeys…yes even monkeys.  I spent the day relaxing with family and soaking in the wildlife.  Every animal we saw was simply being.  Basking in the sun and sitting in silence.  Even the monkeys walked to the water for their own moments of solitude.

As we map out our travels, we have to step back and remember to pave the way, then stop and play.   I’m learning how to plan when there is no destination.  We simply soak in what we can as we find it.

 I don’t want to get life over with – I want to find life in all I do.

This quote spoke to me.  Once again, our children teach us.  I love to watch how they get lost in their own world of play.  I don’t ever want to take that away from them.

Be sure to live.

Live right now and soak things in like a child entranced by a caterpillar.  Pave the way, but stop to play.

Do children dawdle and get distracted when we are rushing from one place to the next, or are they simply soaking in the experience they feel in the moment?

Give yourself time to dawdle.  Allow time to sit.  Live right now, not just tomorrow.