From the Mouths of Babes

           This past week-end, I had a great time visiting with friends. We enjoyed the gift of each other’s company and an extraordinarily fine lunch.   

We had first met thirty years ago. At the time our children were toddlers, and now, our children are parents themselves. Time just flies! My friends brought their granddaughter and I brought my album full of pictures of my beautiful grandchildren.  First we caught up on our children—their three children and my four. Then we talked about the good old days and then, of course, we exchanged anecdotes about our grandchildren and the innocent and magical age they are right now.

            I told them how impressed I am with my two sons and their wives and their son and his wife…What good parents they are. The way they care for their children, discipline them….Ah, I think they are much better equipped to be great parents then we were.

            One of the great joys of being a grandparent is that we can just enjoy the grandchildren, then hand them back to their parents. Because our children are themselves such good parents, we can happily return our precious grandchildren to their loving and caring parents.

            Life is good. However, the fact remains that we are getting older. My friends gently reminded me: Yes, we are getting old! But that means we still have a wonderful life to live with the newest generation.

 

            Life is full of surprises and at times, despite how hard you try to move ahead, you just feel like you’re on a treadmill. You’re going the distance but not getting anywhere, you’re still in the exact same spot! Sometimes we feel like we’re juggling many balls, putting in lots of effort just to keep them in the air, without accomplishing anything.  At these times we feel overwhelmed, frustrated, out-of-control.

            In the black hole of frustration and despair, there is a magnetic force that can suck you in, so you need to find a way to move out of reach of that magnetic suction. How do you resist it and get moving again?

            Okay, take a deep breath. Find your center, the part of you that is calm and quiet (yes, you know it’s there somewhere) and feel the strength of your inner balance.

            You may need to take a few minutes, or an hour or a day, to sit with your calm, balanced self and rest and bring your focus back to the present, to what is most important. Decide what really needs to be done now, and what can wait till later. Can you ask for help, delegate a bit? Just let some of it go? Whatever you decide, you will have an easier, more productive time after you have centered and focused yourself.

            I learned this lesson recently from my three-year-old granddaughter, my esteemed “old” philosopher. In the midst of spinning out of control, too many things to do and too little time to do them, she taught me a profound lesson in living every day life. 

            Going into the bathroom, she told me that she’s a big girl now; she doesn’t have to sit on the Elmo booster toilet seat any more. “SEE A’Má!  I just balance myself so that I don’t fall into the big bowl.” And that’s what she did!

            I had my own “A Ha” moment then…the key is balance.

            As I said when I parted from my friends:  Until we meet again, my friends, I wish you good health, good fortune and a good sense of equanimity.