In our lives we all have teachers. We have mentors. We have people who have guided, coached, encouraged, and taught us indispensible knowledge. There are people who arrive at pivotal moments to help us along our paths. The ultimate teachers are those who are able to illuminate in us aspects that were always there but were buried or forgotten. They show us the light, they show us the truth. They show us without trying…
This is about my youngest daughter, my one year old teacher, Lilah Grace.
"Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful." -Thich Nhat Hanh
I aspire to begin each day with an open heart, an empty mind and with the openness to meet each passing moment as it presents itself.
I hear her calling in the only way she knows how. She stands in her crib and she yells. Her yelling is not sad and it is not angry. But it is persistent. She wants to be heard. She doesn’t want to waste another moment of this day. It is her way of saying “Come, come get me. I’m ready to start this day. I want to get going. Come, come now.” I however, am not ready to start this day. I would give anything for another 10 minutes, another 5 minutes…2 more minutes even. But she is persistent. She knows how to be heard.
I wonder, as I open her door, what thoughts she has as she sees my face, greeting her face. In her world words are beginning to form. She understands more as each day passes. I watch her as she looks at my lips and as she begins to follow my gaze. I see her making the connection between sounds and objects. I know she is beginning to realize that these sounds have meaning. She is unearthing that these sounds are perspective, but they are perception. In her mind is she is yet to make meaning? Is she yet to make thoughts? To her, in these moments, the world simply is. Her world is this moment because that’s all it can be.
How liberating to live in the world without the need to attach meaning or judgment to every interaction. There is no good, no bad. No better, no worse. There are needs, yes. And she does also have wants, this I know for sure. But her needs are exquisite in their simplicity. She needs shelter. She needs food, she needs clothes. But most importantly she needs love and nourishment for her soul, as she becomes.
In that moment, as I open the door, I am love. I am perfection. I am everything. She sees me for who I am. She does not judge. She seems image, body, and perception all rolled together as love.
As she moves about her day each moment is alive with newness and with awe in everything she touches, everything she sees, everything she tastes, hears and smells. The world is alive with possibility. The universe presents itself to her in her moments of pure joy, of learning and of unfolding.
As we pass people on the street, her arms outstretch as she perfects her greeting. She greets everyone we meet. Her eyes light up and her mouth turns to a grin. The word ‘hi!’ forms easily from her lips. If she is not met with a hello or a smile in return, she simply smiles wider. She worries not what people think, she worries not if they greet her in return. She simply smiles and waves and allows for her love to shine. It matters not, colour of skin, ability or disability, millionaire or homeless, everyone is welcomed. Everyone is equal. Everyone is loved. Everyone is love.
I aspire to begin each day with an open heart, an empty mind and with the openness to meet each passing moment as it presents itself.
