.....reminder from a little one

Yogis,
These last couple of weeks have presented me the gift of concentrated time with my three year old granddaughter. With her class sent home for virtual school (really?) and doctor’s appointments for her baby brother, she and I enjoyed quiet alone time together. Lucky me.

‘Nana, you look so beautiful in that hat,’ she tells me when I arrive with my old wool winter beanie on. The look in her eyes priceless as I can literally feel her heart reaching out. ‘Nana, I love your necklaces. They are so beautiful!’ as she runs her fingers over them. ‘Nana, I love your purse.’

As we walk I point out bright red berries on the holly. Branches lined with snow. ‘They are beautiful!’ she exclaims. The snow is beautiful……the sky is beautiful……the birds are beautiful. Beauty is everywhere in her eyes.

Each morning she picks out her own outfit. I open the drawer and point to a pair of leggings with hearts on them. ‘Yes, those are so beautiful. I love them.’ Once downstairs she runs to her big basket filled with princess dresses. I lift up the Elsa blue one and slip it over her head. ‘I look so beautiful in this dress,’ she exclaims.

She asks me for music and she dances in front of the large hall mirror. Hands running through her hair, twirls that cause the dress to lift, eyes soft as she watches her arms slide through the air. Standing close to the mirror to see her own beauty by peering deep into her own eyes, without holding back. No inner voice whispering criticisms. No self-doubt.

Seeing everything as beautiful.

This is how we were all born. Living with a sense of wonder at this magnificent world we call home. Until before long our clear-eyed vision begins to dim. Our lens on the world turns cloudy to the point that we feel we have to travel to another state or around the world seeking beauty.  Losing that brand new view each day with fresh eyes that a three year old has, making the ordinary right outside our door extraordinary.

I’m sure for the first two years of her life she felt all of these emotions, but now that she is verbal she can finally release them into the world! Share with others just how beautiful life truly is!

It is a reminder to me. To take one of those lens cloths each morning and wipe the smudges off my life’s glasses and see things once again like a child. In yoga this is referred to as beginners mind. To see those things that we pass, that we do, that we receive as if we have never seen them before.

When we do this, we can regain a child’s sense of wonder.

I am giving you an assignment for this week. At least ten times notice something and tell it that it is beautiful. Out loud.

I would love to hear some of what you see with your shiny new lenses!

I need a princess dress,
SARAH