Every once in a while, I get the urge to look at one of my baby or childhood photos… When I do, a smile of gratitude develops as I stare at the photo for a few moments… It’s something spectacular about seeing myself as a younger person. I believe it’s because I have yet to fully embrace the idea that I’m actually an adult… I still feel completely connected to my younger self… There’s this youthful energy of life inside of me that I have formed an unbreakable relationship with. When this youthful energy is fully alive, which is when I am most care-free, I see and experience the world as a truly magical and glorious place. I love this way of being… I love that my childhood first allowed me this splendidly organic relationship with the world. My freedom of personal expression, encouraged by others in my life, including my family, helped to heighten my experiences which made the world, both within my own imagination and in my outer environment, even more wondrous. To have such experiences as a child is amazingly awe-inspiring. As an adult, I get to refer back to these very real experiences of my childhood and still be influenced by them. My mother told me I took my first physical steps, independently, around eight or nine months old… To start walking at such a tender time, provokes in me the thought that I was ready for more of the brilliance life had to offer… Clearly, I wasn’t waiting for it to come to me… I wanted to make my way to it…

I am now looking at the photo of myself as a two-year old… The parting of my lips could possibly be me in the act of just doing what I was told for the camera’s lens, but looking at my eyes, I see my facial expression differently. My eyes show the authentic joy I was in tune with as I sat before the camera. The command given to me to smile, whether by the photographer alone, by both the photographer and my mother, or it being plainly organic, ultimately created for me a memorable experience. This is what every experience in our lives should be inspired by, a command, whether spiritual, mental, emotional or physical, each day of our lives, that compels us to live and smile joyfully for the photographer we know as—life. It doesn’t matter that our experiences are not being tangibly captured on film or paper. In the acts of joyfully living and smiling, we reflect the brightness, magnetism and transformative energy of everyday pleasures and gestures, simply for our own internal lenses.

All of our smiles may not be captured on camera, but our minds and hearts can capture them… Knowing this, we should always want to smile, if for no other reason, let it be for our own overall well-being and happiness. Living gloriously and living freely, demonstrate that we trust our own unique way of being in the world… We trust our own knowing… We trust our own feelings… We trust and refer to our own intuitive minds and hearts… When I think back to my early childhood years, I am not recalling a time when adults in my life made it a point to ask me what dress, shoes or food I like. What to wear and eat was usually decided for me… Yet, when I was able to communicate what clothes, shoes and food, among other things, most appealed to my senses, I did… In our adult life, decisions and choices are still made for us, and we still have the ability to communicate whether the decisions and/or choices appeal to us… Beyond our ability to communicate our own thoughts and feelings about what has been decided or chosen for us, we have the authority to choose what we want and like for ourselves… We have the choice to choose what sustains the joy in our lives…

To be an adult simply means to release our dependency on external means in order to be more of ourselves. Children do not require our hand to take their first step toward independence, nor do we as adults require the hand of others to reach a level of higher thought and emotional wellness… Life calls to us, just as the will of a child does, who is ready to take his/her first step, to stand and move forward. The will of a child, that same will that moves him/her to take his/her first step, is not developed by anything other than their own intuitive senses. Children take their first step when they are ready. They take their first step when they are feeling supported by those who are around them and by the environment they are in. They take their first step when they feel an unquestionable, indefinable strength within their own legs and being… They take their first step when they are standing firmly on the foundation that is beneath them… There is much to learn from a child. In the initial stage of life it appears to us that in infancy a child is helpless, yet this notion is not true for those who know the true consciousness of human-beings, including our children. The spiritual/mental consciousness of adults and children allow us to learn and develop what we must through each of our innate senses. It is actually during our childhood stages that we first come to rely upon our own internal senses… If as an adult we continue to trust our own intuitive knowing, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically, we would again trust and be led by our own higher awareness…

I love what it honestly means when I hear the words, be more like a child… My mind and heart seem to become freer as I embrace this thought. A child trusts his/her intuitive knowing, born mostly of innocence… If we as adults continue to cultivate the virtuous nature of our children and allow this same quality of character to remain dominant within ourselves, the world at large would reflect for us in every reality its love, kindness and support… Our imaginations and emotions, colored by such adoration, generosity and pleasant relations, would constantly flourish for us more and more boundless dreams and realities… A young child never had to be told any of the truths I speak of here… They, undeniably, live as though they know God planted seeds of pure intelligence and divine love within their spirits… Have you ever captured the genuinely joyous expression on a child’s face when they are freely engrossed in a playful occupation? Have you ever asked a young child an adult question about life and received their most fascinating, unheard-of-before answers? Have you ever witnessed the spontaneous response of an infant to keep his/her body afloat in water when they are completely let go of, although they have never been taught to swim? Simplicity, natural intelligence, organic love, alluring discoveries and an unbiased and liberating approach and outlook about life is what children give and teach us… They show us how to engage life un-inhibited and they unearth for us the beauty and true nature of adventure… Letting go and letting Life in this dance with God is the way of a child… They are our true Master Teachers…

I have read many books on spirituality and what it means to be spiritual. After countless hours of reading, applying and exploring, I discovered that what I was in search of was my whole, complete and perfect self…  I was told that we as human-beings can only be imperfect, but I have learned differently. Our perfect self is the Self who is the image and likeness of God, Spirit Divine, too, residing in us, therefore, allowing us to have access to everything we need within ourselves. To acknowledge such an existence, and to live pure in mind and heart, is to be in alignment with our Perfect (Highest) Self, while in physical form, therefore, making us whole and complete. In this way we charter a primordial existence, the existence of our own essential lives, our lives as unlimited potential… And we charter a new earth, our bodies, as holistically and optimally healthy, and our world, as an abundant landscape of immeasurable possibilities… Children, without being taught anything about God, their own potentials or the possibilities of life, instinctively give way and allow themselves to be led by infinite intelligence and divine love… An intelligence and benevolence that is inherent in all existence… They are not afraid to dance with Divine Spirit… They know without visible evidence they are guided, for their natural flow is graceful and unencumbered… I too love being led by the soft whisper of intelligence and gentle hand of love, reminding me to trust like a child, let myself go and let Life in this dance with God… When I feel the need to face myself as an adult, it is only to remember my freedom and ability to choose my own path and way of being in life… Motivated by my intuitive sense and inner will, I take steps forward toward greater experiences, trustingly, lovingly, confidently, smiling all the time…

For more about my spiritual views, read my latest publication, “Rise & Reach: Life and Leadership” available at Amazon.com , Barnes & Noble and Partners In Goodwill, partnersingoodwill.com … For more about me and my organizations, Wisdom In New Dimensions (WIND) and Omniversal Life International (OLI), visit: windinc.org …