Adults are just BIG Kids, and as a BIG Kid I love HUGS!

Adults are just BIG Kids, and as a BIG Kid I love HUGS!

We own a professional gymnastics training center (www.deutschsgym.com), and our teams practice multiple times per week.  Most of the time, we are always training the Technical Skills.  That is what we do.  We teach and coach the kids to learn "tricks" and perform routines for competitions.

We also focus on training and coaching the same athletes on their People Skills.  We even go further and focus on helping the athletes develop their Character Skills.  That's right!  You read that right...."develop their Character Skills."

Did you know that you can develop your character skills?  We all can benefit by making character building skills a cornerstone of our life goals.

Our primary goal though is to coach our athletes so they can strike the right balance in living life, mirroring what I strive to live by and wrote about in my book The Tricycle Effect.

One of the things I learned over the years is that as adults, we are simply just Big "grown up" Kids.  

We are still the same person, in our personality at least, today that we were when we were 3 to 5 years old.  We can grow our character skills though.

Yes...we may cover up our inadequacies and weaknesses better than when we were younger, and we may be better at hiding the things we fear too.  However, we generally have the same feelings and emotional needs as an adult that we did when we were younger, though we most likely would not admit that to anyone, including ourselves.

With all that said, I have to admit that I loved riding tricycles when I was young and I should never have quit!  Do you want to know why?

Because the kids in our gym still naturally ride their tricycles in life and I realize now how fun that really was and that I have somehow forgotten how to "Trike" in life...like a kid again.

Most likely I forgot, because through the hard knocks of life somehow, I got rusty and got worried about whether I could or should "Trike" through life anymore or not.  Maybe through the fears and tensions of life, I did not feel I could have fun anymore.

After all, I am an adult now you know!

To illustrate this point, I want to share a quick story with you.  Sound good?

I walked into the gym this week, as I always do and started to get ready for team practice.  I reached over to turn on the music and suddenly realized that one of my athletes (we call them gym daughters), was wrapping her arms around one of my legs and giving me a Big HUG!  

I looked down to see one of our newest and youngest gym daughters hugging me.  She wasn't tall enough to reach around my waist...she is only 7 years old I think and very short.  

But, it wasn't a quick hug and done...it was a "bear" hug with all her heart and she did not let go!  I smiled down at her as she looked up at me.  Then without hesitation, she said, "How are you doing Dane?"  

Oh my gosh!  How did she know I had a tough day...a really rough day emotionally...one of the worst days I have had in a long time.  Her hug was just what I needed.  

Noone told her to come over and give me a hug and find out how I was doing.  Noone told her she could or could not hug me.  As it turns out, she left her class group and came across from the other side of the gym.  She just did what was natural for her.  She just "triked" over to me and gave me a hug and asked how I was doing.  Isn't that so innocent and so genuine and authentic....it came straight from her little heart.

She had no fears that I might not like the hug or even might reject her.  She just did what came naturally from her heart, I think. She simply "Triked" right over to me to give me a hug and let me know she cared about me.  What?  Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?  I am the coach, after all!  I am so glad that this little gymnast knows how to ride her trike in life...and I hope she never forgets how to Trike either.  Life is so much more rich and fun when we never stop "Trikin'."

Even though she is fairly new to the gym family, she already knows how to Trike in life. How great is that?!

No matter what else happened earlier in the day to me, all those emotions and feelings melted away, and once again, one of my gym daughters reminded me that life can be just that simple and sweet!

The sweetest things in life happen most of the time in an unplanned way.  We just need to Trike naturally like a kid again.

So, I decided a while back to learn how to "Trike" again.  My gym kids and gym daughters need me to learn how to Trike again, and frankly, I want to learn how to "Trike" again, because it is more meaningful in life and it is so much more fun Trikin' in life that just passing through.

How about you?  Do you remember how to Trike?  Why not start Trikin' again even though you are an adult?  Let me encourage you to get Trikin'.

Want to learn more, and find out how you too can Trike in Life?  Visit Amazon.com and search for The Tricycle Effect to find out more and learn about how you, too, can develop your character skills to Trike again like the kid you once were.  

Trust me, life will become so much richer when we can let that Big Kid in us out again to play and Trike!  Smile On!