As adults, we've been taught to think about things.
With every decision we make, we've got to spend time thinking about it. For things as simple as what to eat when we go out to dinner, we have to think long and hard about what we want. Do we want a drink with dinner? Do we want an appetizer? Do we want an entree? Do we want steak, pork or fish?
Everything is a debate.
You go to meet a person that you think you're interested in. You might begin to type their phone number into your phone, but then you debate whether or not you're going to see them.
Everything is a debate -- everything.
Should I go to the gym? Nah, it's cold, so I'll just go tomorrow.
Should I go see my friend? No, she lives across town and it's about to be rush hour in 15 minutes...
Everything is an internal debate for us adults.
But to my 2-year-old child, everything is a simple yes or no.
I'll look at her and ask, "Do you want a waffle?"
"Yes."
"Do you want to watch Elmo?"
"Yes."
"Do you want to play ball?"
"No."
There's no thinking. She never pauses, she never hesitates and it's a simple yes or no.
Sometimes I'll ask her seven things in a row and get seven straight no's.
"Want a hot dog?"
"No."
"Beans?"
"No."
"Rice?"
"No."
"Milk?"
"No."
It's amazing. It's amazing to watch her brain fire. But what's really amazing is that she lives life by raw instinct, raw emotions. She hasn't yet been trained by society to deliberate over every decision. She just allows herself to feel whatever she feels.
It's a beautiful thing because as adults, we hesitate on everything that we do. We've forgotten about our gut instincts. We've forgotten about our impulses. And we now debate even the smallest things.
Imagine being able to live your life with a simple yes or no -- it would be great. Think about how your day would be.
Do you want to wake up? No. So you immediately go back to sleep and just enjoy your day.
Someone offers you the bad office coffee, but instead of drinking it, you say "no" right away. You impulsively know that you don't want to drink that disgusting sludge.
A whole day would be so simple. A friend of yours asks you if you want to go for a long lunch to avoid work.
Yes.
I mean, you can see how easy life would be with a simple yes or no...
Maybe we should just have an instinct day, where the only answers are a simple yes or no, and with no thinking, just impulse. You say yes or you say no; whatever your initial instinct is. Let's see how powerful that would be.
Live your life like a 2-year old. Maybe us adults are not as evolved as we think.