Growing up is ...

Nurturing a healthy body, balanced emotions, and good habits;
Recognizing and enjoying love from parents siblings and relatives;
Learning right and wrong;
Knowing the realities in life;
Dealing with temptations; 
Recognizing most significant things/matters/priorities in life; 
Acquiring skills to make a living;
Preparing to raise a family with wisdom compassion and courage;
Gainning a deeper understanding in the differences between women and men;
Understanding the true meaning of love;
Learning to take care others as well as oneself;
Extending and expanding love outwardly from self to spouse children family relatives society nation human-race and all living things;
Making more and more sound judgements;
Learning enough to become more humble;
Knowing the beginning and ending of life;
Growing more mature adorable reliable, not just older ...
 
 


 

 

 

 

 

                                           
 
 

 


 

 
Family always has a special place in one's life.  Family members are blood related.  Family is about loving caring protecting and nurturing.  Children tend to be happy.  In their eyes it is a promissing world full of peace and love; their brothers and sisters are great; and their parents are the greatest.  Innocence is happiness for children because they are protected.

If unprepared, grown-up children will be shocked and disappointed at the world outside their families.  History has proven that the human society is very complex.  People compete to survive, to get ahead, and to procreate.  The means could be unfair, irresponsible, untrustworthy.  People and things appear so complex impure and sometimes noxious.  An old saying goes like this:  "It is an jungle out there!"

Growing up is the process of knowing the reality (good/bad true/false kind/evil) in life, society, and the world.  Innocence may invite exploitations by others and become a deficiency in adult life.  It is necessary for responsible parents and teachers to lead, guide, educate, train, and prepare children for their adult lives. For adults, innocence is no longer happiness.  Instead they need to construct happiness for themselves spouses and their children, with wisdom compassion and courage.  Happiness is more likely bittersweet.  Growing up is not just getting older, yet it is to develop maturity.  For adults, maturity takes the place of innocence in children.  Fading youth and beauty are transformed into maturity and inner beauty.

It is a sign of growing up or realization, when one reflects upon the past and sees differently.  Children are not aware of being innocent because it is all they can, but adults see it.  Children see parents as the greatest in the world because it is their sincere,only experience and understanding, but adults see both strengths and weaknesses.  Life is challenge and also mystery.  Adults would not return to innocence for happiness, and children are happy which is the will and arrangement of Nature and the good foundation of children's lives. 

It is always challenging being able to see and grasp the opportunities that life has presented in front of self right now.  It is much easier to regret.  It is always interesting to wonder what the future would be, yet it is hard to predict.

Years ago he was young bright and idealistc.  He stumbled and stumbled.  So he learned many lessons in life.  From time to time he reflects and ponders upon past experiences and observations.  He organizes and writes down the thoughts, hoping someday might be useful for children.  Every step and stage was his first time, he lived and learned life lessons in the hard way.  He hopes that future children would be able to step on his shoulders (his discoveries in life) and build their meaningful lives from there without having to re-live a life from scratch making the same mistakes over and over again.  And children would transfer the wisdom compassion and courage of their parents plus their own discoveries to the next generation, the next next generation, and so on ...  This is legacy of love! 

 
 
 

 
It were youth, aspirations, energy, and fearlessness that carried him from one stumbling to another.  As life wearing out, thank goodness, personal wisdom compassion and serenity have come of age in the mean time.  Though the challenges ahead would be much the same, new strategies and approaches are emerging.

 
 
 

 
As a man, he had a tendency to place men first and women the second, just like many other men would do.  He thought, acted, spoke, listened, and perceived things in man's way.  As a result, he lost certain sensitivity towards women.  It would be correct for women calling him "insensitive" or "Mr. Just Don't Understand".  It would surely not be helpful in human relationships.

He has re-thinked, learned, and grown.  He stepped out of man's limited boundary, and into the other half of the world - women.  He entered a different angle, and tried to understand things in woman's perspective as he possibly could as a different animal - man.  It is a learning process.  Men and women are very different.  He just begins to see things as women would likely see it.  He sees more and more beauty in his counter part - women.  He learns to accept the way as it is, and woman things as accepted by women and Nature.

 
 
 

 
To lead is to yield.  To yield first in a relationship, and let both sides figure out what to lead, how to lead, and who to lead.  A woman and a man could stay together as a strong and effective team, even though they are so different by Nature.  Without each other, there would be something absent, but essential for life.