Over the last few days I’ve had you looking forward a little and imagining what your perfect future could be, be let me ask you a rather revealing question.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Now you could chicken out of this exercise and give me a stock answer, “a nurse” “ a fire-fighter” an “astronaut” – or you could use this as a reflective tool to think back and find out what made you passionate as a kid. But don’t worry this isn’t about resigning from your current job and running off to join the circus.
What was it that propelled you from your bed in the early hours at weekends ready to play all day until you fell into your bed at night and slept a deep fulfilling and refreshing sleep?
Yes this exercise is about finding out what really “makes your heart sing” – those things you did as a child that you instinctively knew were good for your soul to do. It’s about stripping back the artifices of our daily “Grown-up” life and finding those little connections to moments of joy.
Did you love to ride your bike – freewheeling down hills with the wind in your hair?? I did, I still do on occasion – but with significantly less hairJ. Did you love the feeling of plunging into a cool blue pool on a hot day? What about wrapping up in a blanket and spending a rainy afternoon in a tent? Flying a kite? Fishing with grandpa. Picnics on the beach? Building snowmen in the yard?
What were your favourite activities as a child? What could you do best that no-one else could do? Where did you excel? What did you dream of? More importantly – when did you stop dreaming?
Think back to when you were a kid – and life was all about infinite possibilities, and hold onto that feeling.
Memorygirl remembered that she used to create plays in her back garden for her parents and the local kids – I don’t think it was a coincidence that she ended up as a West End stage manager.
She also remembers hours and hours spent drawing and painting –and although she tells me “she colours in for a living”, essentially that’s indeed what her beautiful mind maps are.
So dig back into your memories – and find out what those precious touchstones were, and maybe even start a plan to reintroduce them into your life.
After all the occasional “stolen moment” eating an ice-cream or a handful of jelly beans, sitting in your suit, in the sun before a meeting is a wonderful way to create a little joy into your life. I know – I ate the ice cream yesterday – and I will again in the future.
So what are going to be your moments of joy in the future?
After all it’s never to late to have a second childhood.
Mr Big
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