"We grow up and we are never the same again!"
While growing up, we seldom realize the gradual change in ourselves. In the quest of materialistic success we tend to forget the undergoing psychological changes in ourselves. All we care about is the future, and in order to have a bright future we keep working blindly, totally unaware and careless of the subconscious changes taking place in us. So we keep getting away from the child in us. We keep getting covered with an artificial aura. We lose our natural instincts, we lose our innocence, we loose our inquisitiveness, we loose our truthfulness; we in fact become a new person- a different person altogether. But the irony is that we love those childhood days and in fact sometimes we wish we were still child!! Why don't then we simply be the child in us? Why do we let ourselves change so drastically?
Once I had gone to meet 'Mitthi'- my Jijaji's niece. I was meeting her after 3-4 yrs. Last she was just 4 yrs, and now she had turned 8, studying in 4th Std. She recognized me easily but was really shying off. Thankfully, I had brought lots of chocolates to bribe her. I was left amused at her straight, innocent reply. But later, I was also left pondering over the changes in her. She thinks acting your natural self is childish!! Back then when she was 4 yr old, she definitely wouldn't have said the same thing. But now she has grownup a bit, now she thinks that grown up people needs to act serious, not behave sentimental in front of others.
Children are one of the most marvelous creation of God. They say "God resides in small children. " Look at a child's behaviour intently, it is so fascinating. The innocence, the truthfulness, the frankness, the inquisitiveness, the easy-to-mix-up friendly nature... everything looks so lovely, so enchanting (and that's the one reason we love children). But unfortunately, we tend to lose all those qualities one by one. As we grow up, we start departing from our natural self and keep drifting towards an artificial being.
But why is it so hard to be the child?!! I don't think it's really so difficult that we change ourselves so much. Try for it, throw your artificial aura, embrace some of those childlike traits back, you will love it. You won't lose anything by being your natural self. You will, in fact enjoy the new experience. So go ahead, 'Be the Child in you'!! :)