Images and characters from Winnie the Pooh, Coco, and My Neighbour Totoro all belong to Disney, Pixar, and Studio Ghibli respectively. This book is not intended for profit but purely for academic and creative purposes.

I recently took a children’s literature course and the professor said something that really stuck with me. He said that the right book, for the right child, at the right time can change that child’s life. It really hit home and reminded me of all the books — and also movies — that I’d loved as a kid and the impact they had had on my life. We all have our own childhood stories that came at the right time in our lives. And regardless of what they did or provided, I think we all end up with our own stories that we’ve attached to our favourite fictional stories. Something that I recently discovered, though, is that if we ever choose to go back to those stories, they might have an unexpected impact on our current lives as adults.

Learning to Do Nothing.

I used to watch the 1977 animated classic, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, almost everyday on VHS. I remember I’d laugh as Winnie the Pooh did his stretches before he ate honey and recall enjoying watching him and his friends do ‘nothing’ in the Hundred Acre Woods. Sometimes, I’d sit inside a toy chest in my house as The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh played, doing ‘nothing’ and ‘thinking’ like Pooh did while he sat on a log. 

Pooh 'thinking'

Although he never did much, Pooh taught me a lot about spending time well. As a kid, of course, I didn’t know what I was learning because I was already living my life in a similar way. It was forgetting that made me realize what I’d learnt and how much of it I’d lost. In University, I began to grow busier and busier and doing ‘nothing’ as Pooh did seemed like a bad thing and a waste of time. I stopped reading fictional stories and turned to more educational content. I stopped writing creatively and focused on academic writing instead. I started to forget what it felt like to just sit and let my imagination wander.

One day, though, Pooh came back to visit me. I saw that Disney had made a movie about an adult Christopher Robin. It picked up right where The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh had left off, with Christopher Robin leaving Pooh for the adult world. I saw myself in Christopher Robin, especially when Pooh went out to look for Christopher Robin in the real world and instead found an unhappy, burnt out, and imagination-less adult. I remember watching the movie and crying, realizing that I’d forgotten — like Christopher Robin — everything that Pooh had taught me about imagination and what was important in life. I needed Winnie the Pooh by my side, even as an adult, because he reminded me that it’s okay to do ‘nothing’. The busyness of adult life can make us forget this. Growing up doesn’t mean you have to leave the Hundred Acre Woods behind.

I used to sit in a toy box and 'think'. My parents thought I was crazy.

We need imagination.

I was a huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki films growing up. My favourite film from the Japanese animator was the 1988 fantasy, My Neighbour Totoro. I’d often watch it, alongside other Miyazaki films, at my grandparent’s house. My Neighbour Totoro was about two young girls dealing with their mom’s sickness. The girls end up being taught by a giant fluffy forest spirit named Totoro that imagination can help them cope with problems and harsh realities like their mom’s sickness. 

My cousins, me, and our good friend, Totoro.

My grandpa, who we called Jichan, was someone that I associated with Totoro as a kid. He was a whimsical man who gave us a childhood filled with imagination and adventure. There was actually a plush version of Totoro at my grandparent’s house that my cousin’s and I would play with. Like Totoro was for the girls, Jichan was a comforting presence for us.

In my third year of University, Jichan passed away. It was the first time I had lost someone. It was really hard because the childhood world of imagination that my grandpa gave us didn’t seem to fit with the adult world where people died. At Jichan’s funeral, we played a piano version of the theme song from My Neighbour Totoro. 

Jichan passed away on December 31st, 2017.