By C.L. Harmon
All of us have what I call “protective progression”. We learn from a very early age that there are many things in this life which cause us pain. As we grow and mature, we take chances with out hearts, feelings, emotions, ideas and many other parts of ourselves.
But as we grow older and those chances produce numerous negative effects, we close off a bit of ourselves and protect what is still left intact. This tends to intensify in us as we age. So we start life out trusting and believing in others and end it feeling and acting the opposite.
Something is awry. What are we missing? What would happen if this dynamic were to flip or our initial trust only grew stronger from the beginning? How would the world be different if we all became more trusting as we aged. If we matured into a society which practiced “protective retrogression”?
Protection is really just another word fear. We see it, hear it, use it and live it everyday. Yet it brings no joy, no happiness and no growth. Perhaps adults have had it backwards from the beginning and it’s now time to act like children.