So many of my friends, and I include myself in this, apologise for their toddlers. Their mischievous ways can sometimes occur at the most inconvenient of times. However, what my little boy has reminded me of is just how much we hold back (rightly so sometimes). Sometimes it's so refreshing to be upfront, open with emotion and then swiftly move on to the next thing with a sense of ease! Not holding on to tension, frustration and hiding opinions. What you see is what you get.
Here are my top eight favourite things that toddlers do, that we just wouldn't!
1.Upon arrival at someone's house, have a good nose in their cupboards, picking up anything that looks breakable and shiny and then running around giggling when said something is trying to be removed from their person.
2.A full screwed up facial expression when the food served to them is not of expected standard or required flavour, you might even get a 'yuk' if you are lucky.
3.After a short period of time visiting a friend or relative your toddler decides that this particular visit isn't doing much for them in the way of entertainment, and gets their and/or your shoes and coat.
4.Playing happily with a fellow toddler friend when they both decide that one particular truck is of huge value. A quick bonk on the head and everyone knows where they stand in respect to the truck.
5.You open the door because the bell rang with your toddler standing next to you, they immediately respond to the visitor with 'oh no' because they were expecting papa.
6.Absolutely everything is 'no' some days, and that's just how it is.
7.Wearing the same t-shirt or pyjama top as often as you possibly can because it has Buzz Light-year on it.
8. My friends' toddler received Jess The Cat for her birthday recently, her immediate response with a somewhat serious face was 'where is Pat?'.
They really are brilliant, so care free and able to express things moment to moment, no over thinking, analysing - just free to be.
We can all learn alot from these happy little people, they are seeing everything exactly as it is. Its as we grow older that we take on values, beliefs, views and opinions about ourselves and others. When you strip a lot of this back you start to realise that happiness and a sense of ease comes from being with things as they are. Many of the views and opinions about ourselves and others are just that - views and opinions, they are not always real. We create our world with our thoughts. We dont need to try to change anything, just becoming aware of how we shape our view of the world through our beliefs is the start of experiencing more ease and change.
Happiness comes from within, from a place of honesty and reality. Go back to that care-free toddler attitude sometime, free from judgement and complex needs.