Lessons from a baby

30th June 2019

Dr Lennon’s Sunday Musings

A new born baby is fairly helpless, lying on her back. Through her eyes, she sees beings bigger than her walking around on two legs. She does not know how she is going to do it but she sees the possibility of the action. She absorbs in her mind through her senses, mainly vision. When she gets older, she tries to move.

First, she wriggles her legs and hands up in the air. Slowly, she rolls and learns that she can move around by rolling but it not enough. She turns over on her front and finds that she can move her hands and legs and crawl! One step further to increasing the speed she moves. But it is hardly enough. She has seen what others can do. She grabs the side of a chair and tries to stand. Over time, she manages to let go and actually stands on her own! Result!

This is where the miracle really begins… Through NO teaching, NO instruction, NO lessons, she begins to attempt walking. She takes her first half step, she stumbles and sits on her bottom. She tries again and falls again. She tries and fails again. This happens repeatedly. She does not give up. She continues to try every day and every time she gets a chance. Finally she walks and eventually run, hop and skip!

A child, without being taught, learns the importance of not giving up. There are no courses for walking for a baby. How does a baby learn to walk? First, seeing the possibility of success by observing those performing it. Second, by trying and trying and trying again and not giving up. The idea of giving up is alien to her. Finally, she succeeds.

How many times do we give up in life just because we failed at the first or subsequent attempts? We would not dream of telling a child to give up walking after she has fallen for the hundredth time and say that, “You are not meant for walking. This is the best you can be.” But if we fail at something, we feel disappointed and perhaps, we try again. Over time, we may give up. What has happened to the innate miraculous gift we had when we were born and learning how never to give up no matter what resulting in pretty much a 100% success rate of all of us actually walking without being taught?! How did we lose that gift when we grew older and (supposedly) smarter? Where did the fear from failing come from?

There are lessons to be learnt from children. Fail fast, fail often, fail forward is the way to go. Did Thomas Edison give up after trying hundreds of materials for the filament of the light bulb? There is an innate power within all of us. Let’s look inside, remember our inner child and maximise our lives.

“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm.”

Comment below on the times you did not give up and achieve what you felt you could not achieve.

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