She is Love

As I got up this morning, my 6 year old had already got out of bed and was sitting at her desk in her bedroom, humming to herself as she drew pictures and practised writing out spelling words. A little while later she was singing and dancing in between getting dressed for school.

I was really struck by how easily she did this and how this reminded me of who I am, and who all of us are, before all the stories, habits and conditioning we pick up as we “grow up”.

This is my 6 year old who:

Found out yesterday that her parent workshop at school, which she has been so excited about, has been cancelled;

Doesn’t know whether she’ll still be at school next week, the week after, for how long who knows;

Hears people around her talking of illness and uncertainty and certainly understands enough to be touched by it;

Knows that her beloved ballet class and swimming lessons are likely to be cancelled and that birthday parties are probably not a thing for a while.

When my daughter found out yesterday about the cancelled workshop, she felt sad and disappointed. She didn’t try to not feel it, because that just wouldn’t make sense to her. It was there so she felt it. And then, as feelings do when they are allowed to be felt, it moved on. Then, she was suddenly hit by some fresh new thinking, a brand new and exciting idea. She could do the workshop for us at home. She could set up the activities on the kitchen table, with a little help, perform the dance for us in the living room and then invite us through to do the activities. It would mean Dad would get to see it too! It would mean her sister could join in!

And that right there, that is the wellbeing, resilience, hope, creativity, resourcefulness and kindness that is who we are. Sometimes we forget that and think that we can’t handle what is. But it’s always there, like a river, ready to be rediscovered underneath all the thinking, conditioning and habits we pile on top of it, thinking that’s what we need to do.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I get back in touch with this “childlike” essence of who I am, it’s so much easier for me to come up with new solutions or ideas that I couldn’t have thought of while caught up in stressed thinking, and also to connect with others and see what new synergies can emerge.

This is right here for all of us. We don’t always see it and that’s fine. For sure I wasn’t seeing it yesterday and everything seemed overwhelming.

So I’m really grateful for this reminder from my daughter this morning, and also grateful to myself for stopping for that moment to watch her unbridled joy at being alive and feel it again in myself.

My greatest wish is for all of humanity to know ourselves in this way.