Have you had a chance to spend time with a baby lately? Babies can teach us a lot. You’re saying, what can a baby possibly teach? I have a little list. Recently I spent time with Sebastian, my grandchild. One thing babies have is enthusiasm. Every time someone enters Sebastian’s room to get him in the mornings or after his naps, his little body gets so excited. He struggles to stand up to meet the one coming, he smiles broadly, even though he’s teething and drooling, he raises his arms in delightful anticipation – eyes twinkling. There’s no doubt in his mind that the person coming is coming for him. Relationships would change overnight if all greetings were as trusting as a baby’s.
Speaking of trust, babies in their innocence embody this. Anything they try to do requires great trust. They don’t analyze whether they can or can’t, they just do whatever they’re struggling to do. I have a sneaking suspicion that, once upon a time, we human adults were like this until we began mistrusting our feelings and our abilities. Babies can show us again how, when we learn to trust ourselves, we can accomplish what we want. The word struggle comes to my mind when watching Sebastian, but I’m sure Sebastian doesn’t see it that way. What looks like struggle to us when watching a baby is simply them in a state of doing, of learning, of accomplishing. So perhaps we also have to eliminate words that have a negative tone and simply do. Babies fall and hurt themselves. But they pick themselves up, and without the ability to question, it never occurs to them to not try again. Again and again they do whatever it is they’re concentrating on until finally they’ve got it. They don’t ask is this something I can do? What a state they’d be in if they had the ability to second-guess themselves as we adults do.
What else can babies teach us? Well, watch a baby and you’ll see unconditional love in its purest form. There are no judgments on a baby’s face about the way you look, only happiness at seeing you. Spend time with a baby and you’ll see.