Sugar Pebbles

Categories: Blog Mar 01, 2015

Over the last few months, I've developed some interesting habits. I have started doing some fairly child-like things; as if crawling weren't child-like enough! Do you remember those days when you were a kid, the days when you pretended, laughed and played? Those days seem to be coming back to me, and I'm almost 40 years young. I will tell you a secret: it feels so good.

One particular new habit I have stumbled into is eating cereal. I know what your thinking, but it is not snowing in the Bahamas. I don't know why, but one day I started thinking about cereal and how I used to live off it. I also started thinking about all the different kinds of cereal I used to enjoy; frosted this, cocoa that, fruity here, crunchy there... A month ago, I went out and bought some cereal, poured me a bowl, covered it with whole milk, and WHOA MAMA! It was so good. I loved it. Loved it so much that I've had a bowl almost every day since then. For Lunch! Yeah, I know, it is silly and you might be thinking that it is certainly not the best thing for me, but isn't it?

When I was a kid, I loved cereal and I felt great. Turns out that I still love cereal and I feel pretty great about eating it. No guilt, no condemnation, only pure enjoyment. Yes, it is a 300 calorie lunch of bliss, and I feel as young as a teenager eating it. It adds to my joy.

Another thing I have started doing, mostly by accident, is I have started running. GASP! But wait, I have started really running - as if a dog were chasing me, or as if I were a super hero racing to save the day. I put on an iPod shuffle full of superhero soundtracks and I run as hard and fast as I can until I can't. Then I walk, recover (usually to a great part of an awesome hero song) and I race again. In other words, the child inside of me, the little hero inside of me, is running all over the place, pretending, racing, imagining, enjoying, and being. Do you know something? It feels fantastic. It is almost hard to express the joy that this brings.

There is a shift in me. I no longer look at kids and think, "I wish I had that kind of energy", or "I wish I could eat and play like that." No, I am starting to think that I can eat and play like I did when I was a kid, and I am experiencing the same joy that I had as a kid. Almost, I haven't started drinking Kool-aid again. Of course, the way I made it, it was truly Syrup-aid. I don't believe I will return to that habit as I do believe that moderation is wise at times.

But back to the main point!

If we were always meant to be strong and resilient, like we were when we were children - and we were - maybe we were always meant to be full of joy, laughter, energy, and freedom like we had when we were children, too. Don't you remember how great you once felt when you were younger? What if we were always meant for greatness? Ok, that is a very layered question with more than one meaning. But the answer is also layered; you were always meant for greatness. The best days of you life were not meant to fade away with time. The best days were always meant to be yet to come.

Ok, I'm not telling you to go out and buy sugar pebbles or run around your neighborhood with your cape flapping in the wind. You may not be ready for that yet. But I'm telling you that we did a lot of wonderful, joyful things as children and many of the things we did helped us to develop amazingly resilient bodies, and minds. We had strength, joy, and freedom. Keep in mind, my childhood was still in the era of "go outside and play" and that may have very well been the magic pill. This point is, we were made for freedom and joy. Children know this intuitively. Deep down inside, you know it too. Learn to be again. Use your imagination, be playful, and learn to color outside the lines like you once knew how to do. You were created to enjoy exploration, adventure and freedom. You weren't made for toil, trouble, chairs, bland food and sour faces.

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Please note that I am not telling you to eat bowls of sugar pebbles. Especially if you believe that would be detrimental to your health. I am only suggesting the possibility that you could live in such a freedom that eating a bowl of sugar pebbles could add life to you instead of take it away, especially if you return to the era of "go outside and play."

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