A return to being Young, Pure and in touch with the Cosmos

…”you knew Annie in another life. The one who wrote us. But you never got together in that life. Your hearts will be a complete puzzle once you’re together. I know that because I’m young and pure, in touch with cosmic forces” (Tom Hanks son ’Jonah’ in Sleepless in Seattle).

 

In 2010 I moved to Liverpool and started practising yoga. My first yoga teacher explained to me that children are spiritual beings. It made so much sense to me. I questioned ‘How did I not recognise this before?’  More recently a good friend of mine said to me “Sarah, we live our life backwards”. And it got me thinking about the purity and innocence of childhood and that in order to be able to live in a happy and peaceful place  we need to follow their example in order to get back to our natural state.

Paul Nijar explained in his book ‘Everything I Was and What I Came to Be’ that children have incarnated to this place so recently that they are still aware of their spiritual source. They have no preconceived notions of anything. He states “A baby is in a constant state of bliss when they are not hungry, tired or in need of changing. This is far more often that most adults”.

Children live in the present moment and are mindfully engaged in everything they do. When taking a small child for a walk you will notice they will become saturated in everything that is around them, looking in amazement at everyday things we take for granted such as: daisies in the grass, puddles on the road, pebbles on the footpath etc. They are avid learners asking up to 400 questions daily, and questioning ‘Why?’ to further their understanding. Something in later life we are told not to do, which leaves us confused and stunts us from questioning what is really going on in our world.

As well as being free in their mind babies and children are also free in their bodies. Those of you that spend time with small children will notice that they can naturally do yoga asanas that are considered quite advanced such as Upavistha Konasana. Sru Sri Ravi Shankar says that this is because children are naturally “born yogis.”

From observing small children we can learn how to properly take care of our bodies. I remember attending manual handling training and we were shown a video that showed toddlers lifting boxes as a way of making us adults aware of how to properly manoeuvre things. What it really illustrated was how children will naturally pick something up the proper way as they have not developed any bad habits. They do not take any short cuts, they are in no hurry to rush or complete. What the video also highlighted was that we are not naturally lazy, it is something we develop through the world we live in, trying to rush everything to get something done regardless of whether it is done right or safely. We become complacent about ourselves choosing comfort over growth and challenge.

In the early 1900’s Prentice Milford, author of Your forces and How to Use them, wrote … “The child is more “led by the spirit. It is more natural. It discards policy. It shows openly whom it likes and whom it does not. It has often more intuition. It knows rather than feels”.

As children operate from a higher vibration, they are not limited by words and social constraints they are more in tune with their higher spiritual senses and powers. Children live from their hearts. As they do not have the language to process how they feel they rely on their intuition picking up on people’s energy and vibrations. Thus they are able to see things as they really are. This innate knowledge automatically knows specific details and traits that the world does not have to teach them.

This is another thing that we have lost through conformity and this was recognised by Albert Einstein who is quoted as saying; “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift”. And this may explain why we lose our natural state in this world.

 

Children live from the heart, they get up and sing, dance, draw, paint and play without feeling  shame or self-consciousness, unless they have been belittled for doing so. This belittling can lead to repression of the true self and turning away from a life  lived  by the heart, causing us to move away from being who we really are. By remembering what brought us the most joy in childhood, what we lost ourselves in, whether it was:  art, music, sports, exploration etc, whatever lifted out hearts, we need to utilise this in adulthood and not be ashamed to do so. Anything that brings love is a blessing.

 

Unfortunately when moving into adulthood many find socially acceptable ways to experience temporary childlike states, such as using substances like alcohol and other drugs. However these shortcuts to re-experiencing childhood freedom are  limited, and the negative consequences of such behaviours outweigh the positives and can lead to further shame, guilt and repression of the true self.

 

 

 

Reminding ourselves of who we really are, that we are born all-knowing and all loving and as we move out of our hearts and into the world we were removed from our true nature. Through our life experiences/lessons we may choose to continue to suffer and remain stagnant in the material world, fearful of expressing ourselves and being who we truly are, or we can choose to work on ourselves, learn to open our hears to return to this pure state of being that is unconditional love and happiness. As Jesus said:  “If you do not change your hearts and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

 

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