And the Inner Child Says...

After my last post, I've been in this "in touch with my inner child" frame of mind. Tonight, while watching "Hook," I especially realized this. (I also confirmed that Gwyneth Paltrow, as I suspected, does in fact play the young Wendy.)

"Hook" is one of those movies that embodies childhood for me in the way it makes me feel when I watch it. And who doesn't in some way cherish those feelings when they show up? Because (in case you hadn't noticed) adulthood can get pretty boring.

There's something about remembering a time that was care-free and wondrous. Where the world was a vast and majestic thing, yet something we stood on top of and commanded in our own little corner.

Pirate ships, Indian villages, trails West, Wonderland, were all things that existed, along with the other conjurings of our imaginations. Nothing was off-limits, nothing was impossible.

Somehow, Steven Spielberg always does a good job of transferring the feel of childhood from reality to the screen. He produces a visual representation of the things that often danced behind our eyes, only appearing in the chambers of our minds. He shows the intricacies, the small moments, the impossible actualized.

After watching "Hook," I had an urge to introspectively look back, to see if I could remember what being a kid felt like. All-in-all, it's quite hazy. I remember how big everything felt, how far away the future seemed and, perhaps unknowingly, how how entirely capable I felt. I never remember feeling like I couldn't be or do whatever I wanted.

That feeling is one I miss the most, the feeling of ultimate possibility. Because I hadn't lived long enough to taste major failure, success was almost certain at any given time. Life was about possibilities, and those were entirely endless.

Besides becoming cynical and jaded in the process of growing up, in reality, not much in life has changed. At any age, life still provides an endless myriad of opportunities and possibilities. It's the adult mind with its walls and structure that says "I can't." Sure, sometimes we pass it off as reality speaking, but is it?

I don't think it's always the adult mind speaking when people scale Everest or invent the automobile or fly across the ocean. The people who really do something with their lives, talents and education, are the people who don't make the child mind shut up. They don't close it up behind the rules of impossibility; they let it live among the endless possibilities and ended up discovering something wonderful.

And sure, there's always a balance between reasoning like an adult and dreaming like a child. As adults, we have to keep some semblance of order, structure and responsibility. But the crime is committed when dreams are executed by fear, worry and self-doubt.

I like "Hook," it's a reminder that grown ups can re-enter the vast, amazing world of opportunity we live in. All we have to do is reach out, take hold of it and simply dream.