Mandy Burstein teaches our Yoga for Teens classes and has been able to watch her young yoginis grow over the past two years. Here is an excerpt from an article she wrote about spending an uninterrupted week with her then 13 year old sister, Sabrina, entitled "3 Things Tweens Teach Us About Living and Enjoying Life."
1. Indulge in life
To my sweet surprise, wherever I went with Sabrina it turned into an exciting adventure. For example, I took her out on my daily errands around town, stopping at different farmers markets to get our groceries for the week.Every time I visit the markets I noticed this delicious looking cupcake truck, but I’ve always talked myself out of getting one. It was different with a tween in tow. The very first thing she noticed was the truck, and we absolutely had to have one….or seven.
As we get older, we tend to feel guilty for indulging in little treats for ourselves. Whether it’s a sugary cupcake or a much needed staycation, for some reason, we talk ourselves out of these sweet indulgences.
On what would have otherwise been a routine trip around town, Sabrina taught me this powerful lesson: Stop worrying so much. Life is meant to be lived. Soak up all its sweetness.
2. Be more affectionate
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| Mandy with her sister Sabrina |
I’ve noticed that as a society, as we get farther away from our childhood, we create these unnecessary boundaries between ourselves and other human beings, afraid that if we put our love out there it won’t get returned.
Children have this incredible ability to give away love like it is going out of style—hugs, kisses, snuggles, twirling your hair. Every night as we lay on the couch after dinner, Sabrina would hold my hand, and then play with my hair. Then she’d finally collapse her head in my lap and fall asleep on top of me.
My week with my sister taught me a profound lesson about how necessary it is to reconnect with people on a physical level. Something as simple as a warm hug can soothe the soul.
3. Laugh out loud
Also known in the tween world as “LOL.” Sometimes as adults, we forget how important it is to find the humor in every situation and experience a nice big belly laugh at least once a day. Even the most mundane trip with Sabrina turned into a hilarious adventure.One lazy weekday, on our way to the beach, a Hare Krishna approached us. Being a tall bald monk swaddled in orange cloth, he must have been a rather strange sighting for a 13 year old. Instead of making fun of him or trying to avoid this eccentricity, Sabrina became actively engaged and genuinely interested in what he had to say for more than 10 minutes.
Towards the end of the conversation, he offered us the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Indian text, and a instead of awkwardly declining, her first instinct was to ask, “How much?”
His response was perfect, “There is no charge. We are monks, not punks!” This caused Sabrina to erupt in an adorable and contagious laughter that caused me to laugh, which caused the people all around us to join in on this hilarious moment.
The precious lesson out of this story is that we all know full-grown adults who would not have treated the monk with as much respect as this tween had. In turn, by being open and genuinely interested in other human beings, and by sending out positive vibrations, we got to experience this wonderful moment of uproarious laughter that spread to all those around us.
We should never forget, happiness is contagious—spread it whenever and wherever you can.
Children, by nature, are open-hearted beings who are more familiar with loving than fearing life. Fear is a learned habit that we develop over time. If we can reconnect with that child inside of all of us that loves, instead of fears, we can enjoy life’s offerings to the fullest.
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