Looking back at this time in my life, I know that my night time chats with McKenna will stick out in my memory. As we lie her bed, one of us asks the question, “what should we talk about tonight?” It ranges from conversations about why bees sting, to why she is going to marry her best friend and if she can have chocolate for breakfast. I am always amazed by her curiosity. She is inquisitive versus fearful when we talk about subjects like death. She was delighted when she both vowed to reincarnate as animals. Her a cat and me an owl and we would have incredible adventures together each night.
On the eve of her 6th birthday last week, I recounted her birth story and all the things that I love about her. I shared the qualities that made her who she is: kind, empathic, curious, silly and wonderfully creative. “These are your unique gifts and talents. Do know what that means?” I asked. Sweetly she responded, “is that the light that is inside of me?” As a yoga teacher and lover of life, I smiled from the inside out. That’s exactly what it means.
We all have it. This light, our essence. If we don’t protect it, care for it, so many things can obstruct it…self-doubt, others beliefs & stories, disconnection from our truth. My work as her mother is to help her express it, to remember it and to feel it. Side by side I have to do the same for myself: tend to my inner light when I allow it to dim so that I can be an example for her.
I am lucky that I am exposed to this work daily as a personal development coach. It is a source of inspiration seeing my clients close the gap between what they truly know inside and how they are showing up in this world. It takes courage, a deep curiosity and lots of compassion. Work? Yes. Worth it? Always.
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