Maturity of mind… Maturity of Soul

Just thought of penning down some thoughts about maturity today. It’s not that I think, I am mature enough to write about ‘Maturity’. I just believe that I can write something sensible today based on my experiences. 🙂

It’s funny how as kids, we long to grow up into adults. We long to go to college, meet new people, have fun. We believe that growing up is fun. It’s funnier how after becoming adults, we long to be kids again and go back to our precious old childhood days!

At every stage of life, we think we are more mature than what we were an year ago. We also run into new experiences everyday and realize there’s still so much to learn!

Here are some generic definitions of maturity:

When someone can take care of his physical and emotional well being.
When someone can support his family.
When someone gets a job.
When someone is not disheartened easily and is strong enough to handle life’s struggles.
When someone can distinguish between good and bad.
When someone knows how to behave in public.
When someone can judge life situations….
Or when someone realizes that there is no end to this list of definitions….
Or when someone realizes that there is always something left to learn…
Or when someone realizes it’s ok to be yourself sometimes…
Or when someone realizes its important to unwind in life…
…..Or when someone realizes he’d like to relive his life just one more time… in a completely different way!
Alright, We are back to square one.

Maturity can be found in the eyes of a wife, whose husband is going to fight a war. It can also be seen in the tears of a child who gives away his favorite toy to his closest friend. It can also be seen in the heart of a girl, who decides to walk away from someone she loved and it can be seen in the hope of a parent who prays for his child’s recovery.

Maturity is nothing big. It’s just believing that there may be even bigger things ahead in life!
Maturity may even be defined as, knowing when to hurt someone and when not to hurt someone. It’s sometimes too much to handle and sometimes, it’s just not enough!

Let’s not try to be mature all the time. Let’s just be willing to learn from our mistakes and more importantly forgive ourselves, soon after committing those mistakes.

Let’s not judge or critique ourselves or others on the maturity scale but rather spend time living every moment, every experience, every mistake, every achievement and every struggle of life.

Let’s not spend time comparing….who’s more sensible, who’s more mature, who’s more intelligent….Let’s just live and let live….each person in his own sensible/silly way! …

Lets just live as enlightened souls who are ready to be enlightened even more! I think we all are mature! 😉

Growing old and Growing up.

Okay… so I don’t like growing up. It’s a fact. Well… tell me one person who likes it anyways … 😛 🙂

Show me a person who says, “Growing old makes me very happy!”

Growing old is not in our control but ‘growing up’ is. I really like parents who spend a lot of time with their kids. I saw a picture of a lady who dressed up on halloween along with her daughter so that both of them could have fun. Shall we say that the mom has not grown up? She is acting too young for her age? Can we not appreciate the fact that she has given up all inhibitions, just to keep her daughter happy?

Of course, other people might laugh at her but those people might laugh at her grown up acts too!

Have you ever wondered why children learn things so quickly? A kid imitates others and can even pick up different languages very quickly. The same kid after turning into an adult may have difficulty learning a new language.

In order to learn, you need to have the heart of a child and the brain of an adult. A heart that is open to learning new things, a heart that is ready to experiment, explore…break things, make things and not get disappointed or disheartened.
At the same time, you need to have a brain of an adult to interpret things, process them and save some in your memory.

Kids tend to forget things easily. We do not remember everything from our childhood. However, as adults, we can retain and process information.

Albert Einstein said : “Never memorize something that you can look up!”

Now imagine, if you could explore life and take note of every good thing you came across – a unique flower, a different kind of bird, a new language, an artistic creation, a beautiful poem, a difficult word, a new place, some beautiful clouds, a beautiful rainbow, unique architecture, beautiful handicrafts….. and so on… and if you could save those little memories somewhere…in a book, a diary, a journal or in your mind…. Wouldn’t you be proud of your collection? Proud of what all you have learned and discovered? It’s not that hard… if you find time to do it…!

In order to be open to discovery, you have to be willing to learn like a child. Life is very large and you can never grow up to be larger than life! You will always remain a small little tiny winy particle on earth.

You will grow up…and will have to understand the complications of life — troubles, quarrels, ego issues, money matters, sorrows, stresses, weaknesses, career, politics, responsibilities…..but in your heart… remain a child who wants to learn…and explore….beyond these imperfections…

Join an MBA program or a painting class or a hobby… Do something that you like…something you’ll be proud of later in your life….

Growing up means you stop believing in fairies and miracles and the little joys of life.
I still do….so I don’t grow up! 🙂

Here’s a quote from Walt Disney…. “Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children’s approach to life. They’re people who don’t give a hang what the Joneses do. You see them at Disneyland every time you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought – sometimes it isn’t much either.” – Walt Disney”