Old age and treachery may certainly have the upper hand when it comes to traditional methods of success.  When it comes to energy movement and new consciousness, it appears that youth and exuberance hold the winning hand.

I know that I have access to the same information that my kids have.  I suspect that I have just been on the planet so much longer, that the presence of cynical thought patterns are proportionately more expansive than the influences that they have been exposed to.  Time and gravity would seem to have a measurable drag effect on optimism.

Am I tainted?  Absolutely.

Do I need to continue wearing my experience of disappointment and struggle like some sort of honor badge?  Absolutely not.

I got rid of my girl scout sash a long time ago.  If I ever feel the need to resurrect the plaques that I have earned while learning the hard lessons of life, I need only to look to my kids to realize how ridiculous perpetuating the energy of past struggle can be.

Certain old people, like me, tend to cling to the ancient wisdom that you have to earn to deserve.  We have read all of the self-improvement books available, attended our soul-searching seminars, studied the various proven methods of fellow beings who we believe are successful, engaged in the appropriate disciplines that would assist us in achieving our goals, and spent endless hours laying awake in the middle of the night contemplating our history.

Then we look at our kids, and remember that we did all of THAT to learn that it is NOT THAT.

So much for doing things the hard way.

Thanks to our smart and vibrant youth, we have the opportunity to remember that we can FEEL GOOD about everything and anything circulating in our environment by simply choosing it.  Jeez.  Why do we insist on making everything so difficult?

I was under the impression that we needed to earn a cumbersome banner of girl scout badges in order to deserve any rewards.  Trophy cases are held in the highest regard among my generation.  The fact that James threw every medal that he ever earned in the abyss of his glove compartment, instead of adding it to the lapel of his formal concert attire, bewildered me.

There again is further proof that many beings of my particular generation did not want any half-assed method.  Some of us ‘old folks’ went for the depth of 50 full years worth of carrying around five-thousand pounds of emotional garbage that we had accumulated from our accomplishments.  We obviously thought it was necessary to drag it behind us like a bag of goddamn rocks.

There may be some conceptual wisdom in the adage that “the more you overcome, the more you become,” but who’s idea was it to define these struggles as being particularly arduous and painful?  We came here to ENJOY our experience.  Who can remember that you simply CHOOSE to enjoy every minute of every experience when you were taught to carry all the dense energy of hard work on your shoulders?

It is no wonder that our operating systems can become so burdened with the emotional weight of the valiant battles we fought.  Deliberate intention to disregard painful avenues of experience and embrace an individual path that is pleasing throughout every aspect would seem too simple.  Certainly, it cannot be that easy!  Or can it?!

Thank the gods for our kids.  They help us remember what the occurrence of time has caused us to forget.

Every time that I have the pleasure of interacting with my children, they unknowingly manage to remind me of how “simple” life can be when I choose to trust myself, relax, and enjoy the ride.

My kids are so FRESH.  They do not question themselves as often as I do.  They never wonder too much if they are exactly where they need to be in life.

Last month, I was missing our son James so much.  He was filling me in on his recent experiences with school, and describing the ongoing projects and requirements regarding his chosen career path.  I told him that although it was difficult for me to adjust to the idea that he is attending college over one thousand miles away from home, I continue to find comfort in knowing that he is exactly where he needs to be during this time in his life.

As if there would ever be a doubt in his mind, Jim replied, “I’m always exactly where I need to be.”

Wow.  Well, that is so damn refreshing.

Embracing the instinctual notion that one’s state of mind and emotional being are in complete consensus and harmony at any given moment is what we knew to be possible before we arrived here.  I forgot that part.

Who You Are and Who You Have Become has nothing to do with what you have painfully overcome, or what you may be required to conquer in your future.  It is always about the present moment of knowing that you are choosing to enjoy the path of life experience itself.

Tags: attending college away from home, chosen career path, deliberate intention, earn to deserve, emotional being, emotional garbage, emotional weight, energy movement, hard lessons, honor badge, methods of success, past struggle, path of life experience, thought patterns