Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. – Pablo Picasso
When young, the freedom to explore and think out of the box is more. Like a happy camper we follow our mind, for the fountain of youth flows inside it. We have our strengths, our weaknesses, our talents and our ability to make life more creative and enjoyable. But is it necessary that the abstract thoughts that run through our mind design the canvas of our life?
Everyone has a bee in their bonnet and to realize the dream one cannot keep living in a cloud cuckoo land. Thoughts do play a major role in our lives but actions are more important as they decide which course we want to choose for ourselves. However, the idea that thoughts create our world- cannot be sidelined; it is not hypothetical. Our life is an amalgamation of our positive as well as our negative thoughts. Positive thoughts help us move further with a hope and negative thoughts, although act as a barrier, is equally essential to maintain a healthy (read perfect) mind-balance. A mind that is bound by the strong ropes of beliefs and traditions, cannot aid in blowing away the cobwebs.
But a mind that is open and acceptable to the difference in perception, unlikeable suggestions, impractical notions and vivid imagination, is a mind that has characteristics of adaptability. There is a reason why children are said to have been blessed with an adaptive mind; they learn till they grow into individuals who fail to realize the importance of learning.
But where are we heading to with the continuous pressure and stress? With the level of expectations that we have for our children these days, their creative side is getting overshadowed by our desires. They are bearing the brunt of our expectations. And what is the result you may ask? The result is that they have become mere machines that function without getting anything down to a fine art. It won’t be wrong to say that parents are more like bows and their children like arrows; the way they stretch the string and aim the arrow, the arrows make their way accordingly. But this does not mean that if the parents want their children to become successful individuals, they cannot expect them to work hard in life.
The approach is what needs to be altered. We are no longer old school people. Times have changed and so have the brains. Instead of forcing the kids to take up a career that might blow up in their face, isn’t it better to let them out for a vocation they like? After all, an avocation that transforms into a vocation is sure to reap benefits. Moreover, who are we to decide what future has in store for our kids?