Another lingering reflection, on a recent Ever Noticed...:
Ever noticed…that most children in healthy environments are often sponges for everything that is going on around them?
So, what happens along the way that inhibits our ability, especially as adults, to continue to absorb reality? Why do we so often cut it off? The answer is probably not too difficult to identify. But, perhaps it is the ever-emergent posture of defensiveness or self protection that can actually be reconsidered.
While often a bit more dense or complicated, it is too often pain that seems to engage mechanisms in our life which prevent us from continuing to be as receptive as we were when we were young children. The reality, unfortunately, is that there is a lot pain in life. But, deeper understanding (if not experience) no longer retains pain in the position as something that needs to primarily be avoided, as much as it something to be embraced, engaged with — to actually, in one way or another, cooperate with. Such a disposition seems to put us on a much more healthy footing and allows the possibility of not only healing, but also growth. We can learn, albeit not easily (or often quickly), that pain often presents an opportunity to not only heal ourselves, but also the world.
But, the original thought here relates to the sponge-like nature of children. One oft-associated characteristic of childhood is play. We almost automatically assume that they do it, should, and need to. It is pretty commonly accepted that there is even something developmental about it.
In other words, even as they play, they are absorbing things...all kinds of things, related to objects, dynamics, relationships. They are taking in all kinds of information and learning from it. Fun is a thing in and of itself, but it also enhances engagement and learning. Play is one way to incorporate fun into the process.
...and this observation likely leads back into the question above — what happens to this phenomenon as we become adults? Does is morph? Or, does it largely just stop? Play is often difficult for some adults. Sometimes it is a physical thing. But, more often, I suspect, it is about something else.
Either way, being sponge-like is a disposition we might be better off to retain. After all, what in effect does it look like when we don't? When we no longer allow new information to permeate us? When we are no longer able to relate to our environment (or to those in it — you know, when we only like to play with our friends, not yours, etc.)?
...maybe it looks a lot like what we see all around us so much today — preponderance of fear and all we end up doing with that.
It is a happy talent to know how to play.
