The Hearts of Children 💗💗💗💗💗

The coronavirus.

Are we going about this all wrong? Counting… tracking… isolating… using masks and ventilators in an effort to fix a problem without looking at what is really causing all of this havoc?

Something is not right with the world. And the world “knows” it.
This beautiful oasis was created for joy and celebration. But the energy of dissonance in the world has reached a point of critical mass.  We’ve felt the warnings through climate change and spectacular natural disasters.  Still we forge ahead unwilling and, even perhaps, unable to fully recognize the effects of our behavior.  The earth must now express a fundamental truth that is being ignored.  And it is doing this in Intense, disastrous, LOOK-AT-ME fashion telling us that it is past time to return to the innocence of little children where the world is the beautiful playground it is meant to be.  Where the world is a lovely place to discover new things. And to get to know people. And to understand them. And play with them. To play TOGETHER.  To look at all of our different personalities and cultures and work ethics and merge them into a working model of delight and appreciation and celebration.  To embrace the wisdom of playing nice.

In his book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Robert Fulghum gives us advice that resonates even in our adult lives:

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.

And, he goes on with some additional recommendations.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life -‐ learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Fulghum believes we all learn these rules in kindergarten.  But, somehow, it seems, we have managed to forget them.

It’s time to remember.  And, if it’s hard to remember then, perhaps, it’s worth the experiment of trying to do it anyway and then watching what happens.  We already know what happens when we don’t play nice.

Why not do something different and see what that does?  If we were truly curious and not attached to our own, fixed ways of doing things, perhaps we could enjoy wondering about all the many things we could learn from each other and, thereby, return to the beautiful, pure innocence of our childhood where everything seemed possible and interesting and every child had the right and the opportunity to join the playground.  No matter whether he/she agreed with us...or did things our way.

Each new person on the playground brings a different view and it is exciting to learn about it and see if parts of it would mesh with our view.  And, if that doesn’t happen, we have just gained valuable information about how people can be affected by the circumstances of their lives.

Through this interaction, we grow in wisdom and experience.  Perhaps we even figure out how to help the souls that are having trouble healing.

We are meant to be joyful creatures, curious souls, eager to learn about each other.  Amazed at the beauty of soft, loving eyes, the wonder of a strolling child and the forthright tears of a broken heart seeking
to mend itself.

We are meant to see the sunshine in the daffodils.  The birds celebrating their flight.  To hear and understand those on this journey with us.  To express caring and compassion to
individuals whose actions clearly come from their unhealed pain.

It’s a good place to be.  It feels warm and beautiful.  And peaceful.

Please...please let us study our beautiful little children who see themselves as capable of EVERYTHING.  Who have not yet learned to be afraid that they are not enough and are not engaged trying to become their version of “enough” by having their view prevail in every moment.

Let us find the Beauty that is everywhere. The beauty in our own hearts and in the thoughts and feelings of others.  The natural symmetry of the world and, equally, the fascination that exists in the complicated journeys of all of its inhabitants.

Can we at least imagine this… visualize it… desire it so strongly that we can manifest it for ourselves? This is what we are meant to do...to find our way back to the innocence of childhood… to this precious place of peace.

The actions of each one of us touch so many others.  Can we begin to imagine sending love and compassion to EVERY fellow sojourner for the pain and distress he may be suffering instead of telling him why we think he is wrong?

If change is what we want, this is how we get it.  If we understand and express our compassion for an individual whose negative actions clearly come from his pain (as they always do), he is then freed up to examine his own choices without the burden of having to defend them and now has an opportunity to see the picture of his life with new eyes.

We’ve tried arguing, fighting, manipulating , bargaining all in an attempt to prevail.  We all know where that gets us.

Let’s be curious children once more.   Let’s recapture and this time keep the precious experience of feeling the invincibility of love.

Ultimately, the coronavirus is no match for the hearts of children.

                                             

                                            Marie Helena


Image:  imree's Paris Balloon Girl Painting ...pinterest.com