By: Dr. Suman Bharali
Children are pure as they are untouched by the negativity and have limited excess to information. They are very curious about everything they see or hear. They observe and learn from everything around them. Whether it is a small stone, a piece of wood, or a sophisticated gadget. They ask questions to know as their mind is like a blank paper ready to be painted. Unlike an adult mind which is full of information and experiences. They engage completely in what they do and don’t bother what others are doing or what is happening at a distant place. They might not have a car but they imagine a matchbox as it and start to play with it and be joyful. Unlike adults who will be restless unless they can buy one. Children can make their imaginary empire with a king and queen with waste products that adults can’t imagine. They live in the present moment always and are focused on what they do. They don’t keep worrying about anything or wait for everything to be right to start playing. They make friends easily and trust in the goodness of others. They express their emotions clearly and don’t hang on to them for long. They forgive, forget and move on. They might cry hard at a moment and later on laugh hard. They may get angry at a person and like the same person a few moments later. They remain busy in their activities the whole day and sleep tightly when they are tired without any concern in their mind. They are not paranoid but peaceful and contended.
When children play, they do it to enjoy the game. Winning or losing doesn’t affect them much. They don’t lose hope or enthusiasm. They wrap up the day with a determination to play again the next day and with the hope to win. People should play to enjoy and get the benefits of playing and not only to become champions. Engaging in a sport, music, art, gardening or any creative activity takes a person out of the monotonous thought process for a while. This is very much helpful to get rid of depression or anxiety. Also playing a sport makes one physically fit, mentally sound, disciplined, and patient and teaches teamwork, determination, cooperation, leadership, sportsmanship, to handle defeat without losing heart, faith, and other social skills. Children don’t play in greed for some benefit or to achieve success. They just enjoy the process and are not too competitive or comparative. Rather, they show compassion to fellow beings and share whatever they have without judgement. In their eyes all are the same and equal, there is no division or bias.
So, from children we should learn to live in the present moment, focus on our task at hand, not compare and compete with others always, remain contented with what we have, forgive, forget and move on quickly, be true, believe in goodness, have faith, enthusiasm and curiosity to learn, spread love and kindness, start sharing and helping others without being judgemental or paranoid. We should not take life too seriously, just do our duty sincerely and have faith. We should not always think about benefits or loss; success or failure. We should be playful and enjoy the game; winning or losing should not affect us too much. Life is unpredictable and full of surprises; we should just keep moving forward witnessing and experiencing different events. This will make us healthy, happy, and peaceful. (The author is an MD in Ayurvedic Medicine)
