Scottish cows grazing peacefully under the looming sky.
As I spend days with my grandson, I marvel at how free he is. When he is unhappy about something, he lets out an “ahhhh” cry that can last two seconds or thirty seconds. Quickly he dispels the energy of frustration and is then fully present for what is next. He has a wise mom in my daughter, who allows him to voice his feelings in sounds. He is not fully verbal and truly what words are as effective in moving energy as a quick sounding of the feeling. Sounds are so much closer to the truth than the language we use which so often falls short.
I found myself asking my daughter if this was something she should try to get her son to stop. She pointed out the freedom in letting the emotions come fully through without shame or attempts at regulation. I saw how conditioned I was to some old standard to what was acceptable behavior in children. I could see how quickly things moved through my grandson. He is such a teacher in being present with what is in each moment. I am grateful for his example and honor my daughter for her wisdom in trusting him completely to be his true self. She nurtures that capacity in him which in turn, hones her own capacity and all who come into contact with this little one.
Nature shows up, ever present with what the seasons bring.
My daughter verbalizes his frustration as he vents. She says, “I see you are upset as you wanted to read another story” ….or whatever it is. She acknowledges his feelings, and in that acknowledgement he is seen and can more easily let it all go. Oh, that we could all emulate this behavior! Our bodies would be healthier as nothing would be stored deep in our cells to cause illness or disease. All would flow, moving swiftly through without getting stuck by creating stories about any of it.
This is a lesson for our times, to allow all feelings. To understand that feelings are not right or wrong, they simply are. It is what we do with our feelings that can cause harm. If we act upon them in ways that are harmful to others, then we have to take responsibility for that. Yet the feelings themselves are not harmful. We are invited to fully feel each feeling, allowing it room. I remember my shock when I allowed the feelings of bereavement to surface after my marriage dissolved. I had held them at bay for the first year or so, frightened that they were so huge as to undo me. Once I was able to face them and allow them room, I found underneath, a sense of peace that enveloped me. What a gift!
The sunlight illuminated these ferns so they seemed to glow from within.
Everything is asking us to flow. Our world is shattering forms about us as we come to a new way of living on this planet. All is change, flowing from moment to moment. We witness time morphing and disappearing at an ever faster pace until we will live only in the now. No past nor future as a lens to look through. We will be free! Imagine that, the feeling of being present with whatever is in front of us, trusting explicitly that it is just what we need to continue to grow and expand as a being of light.
I tip my hat to my grandson for teaching me the ways of freedom. He continually shows me how to access more joy and wildness within my own being. May we sit up and take notice of the love that these little ones are streaming into the planet. May we open our hearts to be tutored in these wild ways of loving and living. I am so grateful to be where I am.
