Bears of Very Little Brain

I had always seen other people reading The Tao of Pooh dating back to I think my sophomore year of high school. Having never read a single one of A.A. Milne's novels or delved at all into Taoism, I failed to see how the two could be interconnected.

I just finished the book tonight and realized I'd been missing the abject lessons of the Bear of Very Little Brain for a long time. Usually because I was overthinking about most of it and brushing off the rest as mere kids' stuff.

But its author, Benjamin Hoff, has a very valid point in that as we get older, we lean too much towards what we think we know and away from what we feel. Like somehow our mere intuition and ability to interact with each other and the world around us is substandard to what knowledge we've accumulated in that span of time.

Yet for all his assumed clumsiness and child-like views on life, there is a kernel of wisdom in Pooh that is worth remembering.

Sometimes, it's okay to just be who you are at your most simple state. And compassion is not a hinderance in this day and age, but an asset. It just depends on how you look at both the world, yourself and your place in it.

I'm glad I read this book. I just wish I'd done it sooner.