If you spent some time with a toddler the only thing they know is what spiritual gurus have taught and written about for years. It is not an evolutionary phenomenon but once as an adult you “remember” it can feel like an awakening. That is the power of now in the eyes of a child. I know when I read the Power of Now, I just didn’t get it. It was honestly a complicated read. I first picked it up at the airport book store on my way to the Kokoda track in Papua new Guinea thinking I might need some enlightenment on the trek. Not the best book to read on that particular journey. It took me another year before I tried to pick it up again and slowly read parts of it over again until the teachings would finally make sense. I do consider myself an educated person but I confess I did find the books concepts on initial reading difficult to grasp. So what does the power of now have to do with my kids? Well the pure excitement feeling on innocent babies who live every day in the Now.
I live with the most joyous, happy and delightful two 2.5 year olds. Now that all the physical development milestones are mostly over (yippe we walked!) I am really starting to enjoy their cognitive stages of learning and living everyday with little concept of tomorrow or yesterday. From 0-2, babies have no concept of time with an initial goal of a parent is to help the baby differentiate between night and day. From 3-4 years the present moment is still very important and it is not until pre-school that time concepts of before and after are reinforced around events that timespan daily routine. For an example play after lunch or tomorrow we visit Nanna. That old cliché of seeing the world through the eyes of your children is ever so true. Life is new and experiences are for today. Mistakes are forgotten and there are no past hurts to remember. Learning and seeing things for the first time is so delightful and we should live everyday life savouring that ice-cream at the beach.
What have you learnt from your kids?
