The normal adult is slowly sucking the life out of themselves on a daily basis. The whole process started when we were children when we were told to conform, to sit up straight, to stop making noise, to stop doing the things that turned us on and to steer clear of fanciful ideas that we might have about our future – we were encouraged to get a good education, get a good job, retire and die! No wonder people think that they need self-improvement.

During our childhood, our spontaneity, our joie de vivre, our unbridled imagination – these were what ruled our lives – that created fun, that made long sunny summer holiday days seem to go on for ever. During childhood children we were in what the University of Chicago describes as “flow” – we were what my daughter would call “Gurdy”. Life was carefree, open to all kind of possibilities, exciting and adventurous.

What a difference from the normal adult life! How many of us can truly say that we’re excited every morning when we leap out of bed? How many of us can say that we live carefree lives? Or are we open to life’s possibilities? OK, we all have to grow up – but, I’m pretty sure that the record (years of psychological research) shows that people grow older – they rarely grow up. Because if you did bother to grow up, you’d be in full control of your state of mind. You could choose to be carefree, spontaneous, turned on. You could choose to leap out of bed, excited at all that day’s possibilities. You could choose to be open-minded and alert to all life’s wonderful possibilities – to change your life.

Unfortunately, though, the the journey from childhood through adolescence changed the circuitry of our brains – our mental processes sped up, our logical processes took over. Or at least that’s what you might think! But why not reflect a little. There’s nothing logical about worry, nor is it logical to make yourself stressed (because that’s how stress works), there’s nothing logical about closing your eyes to today’s opportunities. But that’s how we behave as adults – our normal subconscious minds living in and longing for those sunny summer holiday days – our conscious minds distracted by the cares and worries of what might happen – instead of focusing, fully focusing as we did as children, on the here and now.

You’re committing a painfully slow suicide – the normal adult, existing in this half-life of destructive thought and worry is as good as dead.

However, you can choose to you can rise from the dead, you can become like a little child again – not childish, but clear, focused, open-minded, fun loving, up for living your best life. It’s up to you to choose your state of mind – didn’t you know that you choose your own thoughts and that your thoughts create your reality. You can choose to come to your senses – revisit reality by seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling and tasting. Slow down to “smell the roses” at least once every single day and you will have taken the most important action for that day – you’ll have taken a definitive step towards living the life that you really, really want.

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