Your Youthful Heart.

image here.

I'm speaking to the part of you that used to spin and race and dance in the outside air- drinking up the last moments of your every single day like you were greedy for life- chasing the sun to the hills in your holey, dirt covered (and, let's be honest, probably acid washed) jeans.

I'm speaking to the part of you that knew no shame and laughed without restraint and dreamed bigger dreams than the ones you hold onto now. The part of you that knew no bounds and knew that life was about adventure and risk and throwing yourself headlong onto the mercy of tomorrow.

Your youthful heart.

Don't try and pretend that that part of you isn't around anymore... or can't hear me from underneath all the obligation you've piled on top of its head... or was never there at all.

That piece of you can still hear. It is still very much alive. It perked its ears up just now like that kid waiting to be picked for a team at recess- thinking it had been forgotten, yet suddenly recognized.

What would happen if we let that part of us loose a little bit? The Wildness? Not to wreak havoc on our daily lives and responsibilities, but to bring a bounce back into heavy steps? To make life attractive and fun to us again?

It would start small, of course. (The wildness may have become somewhat tame over the years, afterall.) Maybe a little skip-hop on your way to the car one day? Or an unplanned detour to get an ice cream cone with gummy worms on top? Then, perhaps a little dance party of your very own when no one else is watching?

Eventually, you will be throwing your head back with laughter so often that your neck will be sore at night. You will begin wearing flip-flops so that you can kick them off and feel the grass in between your toes. You will love with abandon and experience joy and pain, elation and heartbreak... perhaps all within mere hours (minutes?) of each other.

You will live raw again. Walls will fall down from all the bodacious break dancing.

People will stare in envy of your light heart... then they will turn and unburden their own- perhaps realizing that life is too short to spend despising those who choose to actually live it.

So... I want to know... What have you done today (or, what do you plan to do tomrrow) to exercise YOUR youthful heart?

Today, I made a baby giggle by pretending to be a robot.

(And, yes, it was every bit as awesome as it sounds.)

Your turn!