As a father to an almost three-year-old, it’s fascinating to watch our daughter grow. In many ways, I'm learning just as much about being a person from her as she is learning from us. She just wants her basic needs met, and once that happens, life flows like a wave. But if those needs aren’t met on her own time, she expresses herself in various ways, typically crying or screaming. When I say needs, I mean it literally. At any given moment, she might ask for more than two things at once: playing with her toys while wanting food, needing to use the bathroom, and wanting to go outside to play all simultaneously.
As parents, we’ve come to understand her cues and are working with her to teach her about expressing herself and her emotions. Of course, we’re also teaching her about patience and waiting as her demands are fulfilled one after the other, like an Amazon warehouse. Through her eyes, I’ve learned that life is like a formula. Once you know the formula and understand how to apply it, things tend to work out as they’re supposed to.
Now, let me explain why you should choose to live life like a kid and forgive more to make yourself happy. Notice that I said "to make yourself happy." I have come to understand that being happy is a choice we have to make daily. Sure, things happen that upset us, especially when dealing with adults. In the end, to be happy, you must consciously choose it.
Take our daughter, for example. If she goes to the park and sees new kids, she hesitates at first to play with them. Once she assesses that those kids are also at the park to play just like her, she adjusts and opens her heart to playing. Once that happens, good luck trying to ask her to go home. This playtime can soon turn into fighting over toys, leading to crying and screaming. Once that is sorted out, it’s like nothing really happened. The same kids who were just fighting are now buddies, sharing and playing with the very toys that caused the brawl.
The takeaway is this: things are going to happen. Fights and arguments are almost inevitable, whether in your family or with the people you interact with at work or in the park. When those fights and arguments are resolved, we must forgive like a three-year-old and continue to be happy. The opposite is also true—if you don’t choose happiness, you are also making a choice to be in a negative mood. This is true whether we realize it or not.
Don’t get me wrong, I know life is a bit more complex than this. But that’s my point. We tend to make life so complicated that we forget to live a simple yet fulfilling life. Let’s keep things simple, like kids do. Throughout our day, we are constantly faced with multiple choices. Some choices we make lead to difficult situations while others lead to bliss. That shouldn’t stop us from making those choices. Whatever you do throughout the day, choose to live your life like a kid. Forgive more and choose happiness.
