How to Be Childlike

Living Life in a Playful Way

Interact with children for inspiration. Play with a child who is close with you and observe how they view the world. Children are full of awe, innocence, and inspiration, and understanding the way they see the world will bring you closer to the childlike nature in yourself. If there are children in your family, play games with them and watch how they live in the moment.

Ask children questions and observe their answers. Children are confident in themselves and often unashamed at their own limited knowledge. Adopt this confidence into your own life by forgoing embarrassment.

Learn something new every day. Try reading a new book, or spontaneously visit a museum. If you allow yourself to invest your time in learning new things, your childlike wonder will return, fostering curiosity and passion in new things. Use the internet to learn how something works, or look at images of a place you’ve always wanted to visit.

Learn how to play again. The first way to abandon stress, regret, or sadness is to find new ways to live a playful life. By observing how children play and adapting their carefree attitude toward everyday objects and interactions, you will have more fun and feel more innocent throughout your day.

Express yourself honestly. Something children possess is a lack of embarrassment or shame. They express themselves honestly and openly. To try to do the same, change the way you normally dress or get a new haircut, allowing yourself to be playful in your self-expression.

Don’t take things too seriously. Although some things in life need to be addressed with seriousness, there are plenty of things that people take too seriously. Work on being more easygoing and mellow by letting the small things go and enabling yourself to let go of stressful thoughts when you can. Imagine how a child would react to the small things that typical bother you and adapt a carefree way of viewing them.

Let yourself laugh at silly things. Laughing is a great way to feel light and happy, and it is something children do often. Find a few things that make you laugh every day and enjoy them. Try watching family-friendly movies and television shows and reading works of children's literature. Comedy movies and television shows, and stand-up comics are also acceptable.

Bring creativity into your everyday life. Something you tend to lose as you grow older is your ability to ditch your self-awareness and be creative, even in the most mundane of situations. While cooking, don’t worry about making a mess. Cook exactly what you want and don’t worry about the mess until afterward. Decide to take up painting, writing, or dancing, even if you don’t think you will be good at it. Creativity will bring back the wonder and curiosity that you may envy in childlike behavior. Allowing yourself to be creative will bring fresh, inspiring, and new ideas into your life, which could benefit everything from your cooking skills to your career.

Being Kind and Sharing with Others

Share with the people around you. One of the things children learn first in grade school is how to share. Share your thoughts, feelings, dreams, and love with the people in your life. Expressing yourself honestly and openly will make you feel lighter and innocent. Try sharing physical objects, too, like money, food, or clothing with someone in need. Sharing with other people will allow you to feel connected to them and will broaden your worldview, taking your mind off yourself and spending time thinking of others. Another thing children learn early on is the importance of being polite and respectful. Say "please", "thank you", "excuse me", and "I'm sorry" whenever you need to apologize to someone.

Forgive as a child forgives. Children can be fighting one moment, and then completely forget about the fight the next, becoming friends again. Bring your easygoing manner back and forgive people whenever possible. Try to see people’s honest, true, childlike intentions and let go of your grudges. Focus on people’s good intentions, rather than being blinded by their bad intentions. People are rarely treating you badly on purpose, and understanding where someone’s anger or sadness is stemming from will help you forgive and understand them.

Let go of your preconceived ideas of others. Children don’t have any preconceived notions toward or about anyone, and welcome new people into their lives with open arms. When meeting new people, shed your prejudices and preconceived ideas about them, taking them as they are. This will open up new, exciting worlds for you to explore. Introduce yourself to someone new everyday and ask new people about their lives. Invite someone new to lunch and introduce your new friends to your old friends.

Experience the beauty in life with someone you love. Too often, it is easy for you to go through life without sharing something beautiful with someone you love. Ask a loved one to go on a walk with you, or to explore a new environment. Connect through the beautiful things you see together and share with honesty. These interactions will bring you closer together and make your relationship stronger.

Feeling at Ease with Yourself

Be present in everything you do. Even if you are not engaging in some childlike behavior, whether it be at work or in traffic, exercise your ability to be present. Children are never looking toward the future or looking back at the past. Allow yourself to feel your true feelings, crying or laughing whenever necessary. Being present will allow you to lose unnecessary inhibitions and allow yourself to make new discoveries.

Let yourself change. Children live life with a clean slate and are easily impressionable, changing with every new experience. Allow yourself to make changes in your life, following your passions and what you love to do. These changes can be as simple as painting a room a color that makes you happy to moving to the city of your dreams. Children aren’t burdened by ideas of can and cannot, so greet each new experience with open arms and allow yourself to be impacted by them. Discover what makes you truly happy and follow it. It is easy to feel caged in by the decisions they’ve made in the past, but children live each day like it is a fresh start.

Explore the world innocently. Escape your day by taking long walks and seeing the world in a new light. By going to new places and being open to new experiences, you will channel your inner child and allow yourself to be at peace. Try to see the world through a child’s eyes, stopping now and again to look at the clouds above you or to feel the wind sweeping by.