Childhood Joy

Reconnecting with our younger selves

Remember that childhood you? The version of you that didn’t really care what others thought about you. The version that wasn’t caught up over what your career would be, how you should look, how to impress others, how nice your car or house was, or how to chase the next life milestone. Chances are, those things didn’t cross your mind until years later. As a young kid, life’s about the simplest things, like filling your heart and getting your hands dirty, and nothing more.

Oh, to live with the joy and peace of our childhood selves, free of constructs and “shoulds.” Instead, we were full of presence. Our mind was moving less. We could just enjoy each hour as it came, one by one.

Here’s a photo I found of me as a young boy, sometime in the early 2000s. As my mom would say, I was “having a blast,” frisbee in hand:

Soon, I will insert one of these childhood photos into my wallet as a reminder.

I smiled when I saw this picture. I look so happy, so joyful. Why? This moment was “enough” and all I needed: sunshine, frisbee in hand, running around, enjoying the day. There’s a similar photo of me having fun on a pile of mulch in the yard. There’s another of me in the kitchen baking some concoction, making a mess with flour, wearing a big smile. In another, I’m joyful simply playing in the backyard grass.

Childhood joy, the embodiment of contentment

As an adult, I love these “enough” moments, when you know and feel that there’s nothing more you need. There’s no craving for more. That’s the optimal state, isn’t it? When you truly know and feel deep down that there’s nothing more to make your life full and complete. You're light and content, with a peaceful ease of mind. “One can appreciate & celebrate each moment — there's nothing more sacred,” author Pema Chödrön wrote. “There's nothing more vast or absolute. In fact, there's nothing more.”

Over the last few days, I keep thinking about these moments of pure elation. They were always straightforward — painting or drawing something, building something with old popsicle sticks, baking cookies, playing in the sandbox, or shooting hoops in the driveway. Simple things, often with our hands. True to human nature, we are often most joyful when we’re creating or building something.

Fortunately, we can transport our minds and reconnect with the childhood version of ourselves. The easiest way is probably to find a picture of yourself doing something you loved. What do you think about studying an old photograph of yourself, back as a young child, when you were immersed in something joyful? Feel yourself having fun right there with your younger self. I did this exercise by accident, and it brought me much joy.

Happiness is there when you remove the sense of something missing in your life. We are highly judgmental survival-and-replication machines. We constantly walk around thinking, “I need this,” or “I need that,” trapped in the web of desires.

Happiness is the state when nothing is missing. When nothing is missing, your mind shuts down and stops running into the past or future to regret something or to plan something.

— Naval Ravikant

I hope meditating on a childhood photograph also brings you a smile. But more so, it might allow you to reconnect with your young self, and then realize that you’re that same person. When we look at our past selves, we can recognize that that’s still us. Same heart, same eyes, same bones, same soul.

Celebrate your gifts,

Matthew