What would really make you happy? More money, more fulfilling work, more time to spend with your loved ones? All good, but have you considered a box of raisins, a few episodes of Bluey and a nap? That’s what Dr Hasan Merali is suggesting (well, sort of). He’s the author of Sleep Well, Take Risks, Squish the Peas: Secrets from the Science of Toddlers for a Happier, More Successful Way of Life and man, am I torn by his thesis that the toddler life philosophy offers valuable adult wellbeing lessons.
There is plenty to admire in the toddler Weltanschauung. In a New York Times article on his book, Merali highlights their talent for positive self-talk and insatiably asking questions. So many questions (up to 107 an hour, according to a study he quotes), from “Why?” until your brain liquefies to frank curiosity about a stranger’s nasal hair. But it’s true, there is value in a candid lack of embarrassment: a high-powered scientist I talked to recently said that her seniority let her shamelessly ask “basic” questions that often advanced her research; mostly, we lose that.
