Saturday, March 2, 2013

Magic and Wonder

When we were children we couldn't wait to get out of bed in the morning, we just knew that something exciting was waiting and we didn't want to miss any of it.  There were all sorts of adventures waiting for us, we just needed to be there and the magic would find us.  Why do we stop believing when we grow up?  When we are children we know, without a doubt, that the world is a wonderful magical place and through our play we can access that magic. We can be anything and anybody, we can be anywhere and go anyplace.  We are only limited by our imagination.  Why do we grow out of that feeling?

Most adults have that growing up thing all wrong.  Play is our way of coping and when we lose sight of that fact then we open ourselves up to some pretty awful things, like depression, hatred, bigotry and greed.  Wow heavy stuff, maybe I'm exaggerating?  I go to DisneyWorld every year and race walk the marathon there, I go for a lot of reasons.  When you enter that magic land of Mickey Mouse, you are surrounded by people from all over the world, people of all creeds and colors and nationalities. Everyone is getting along and having fun, you are not thinking about how "That Middle Eastern" family over there is probably in the oil business and they are getting rich making you pay through the nose for a gallon of gas.  Nope you are having fun right along with them and no longer thinking negative thoughts at all.  When we are all out there doing that marathon we are brothers and sister humans on a personal mission, not groups of people who are suspicious of each other.

We all need to be grown up be responsible for our actions and work to provide for our families.  But that doesn't mean we have to give up our imaginations and our love of play.  Our play is just different when we are older.  When we suit up in our exercise gear we are preparing to get out in that big magical world and look for adventure.  We should think of every run, walk and bike ride as an adventure.  It might be cold or steamy hot or just perfect but each has it's own challenges and rewards.  We can feel just amazing when we have done our miles, especially if we were bucking a wind or braving the weather.  We often see the world differently when we are in motion, our senses are sharper and we feel so much more alive.

Just like our inner child of old we can still unleash our imaginations when we are in motion.  We can be doing a 3 miler through the park, but in our minds we can be shoulder to shoulder with the world record holder and feeling that champion fade back because they know there is a new force in the game.  We can still believe, we can still seek out the magic and the wonder of being healthy and alive.  There is an old saying, "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing".

Let your imagination take over the next time you put on your exercise gear and rekindle that spark that you used to feel when you were to young to know better.  Maybe that child you once were had it right all the time and you just forgot how to believe.

Thanks for reading.

Dave

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