simpleandgrounded

It came to me in the middle of the night. The why now? behind the insatiable curiosity that has gripped me for much of the past year. Buddha once observed that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. The teacher who flipped the curiosity switch for me appeared in the body and spirit of my first grandchild, a remarkable star being with an old soul. H. isn’t yet three years old, but already she has wrought transformative change.

For starters, her center of gravity is much lower than mine. She lives close to the Earth, fully in her little body, all of her senses finely tuned, and leading with her heart. These are lessons worth remembering.

Making friends with her other-than-human kin comes naturally to her – an ant on a food mission across a leaf, newborn bunnies on a grassy knoll, acorn ‘caps’, wildflowers, butterflies, spiders in their webs, creek water spilling over rocks.

She points out the moon in the morning sky, talks to the otters at the nature center, worries over the chickens escaped from their coop at a nearby farm. Her curiosity is boundless, her empathy toward all beings brings me to tears.

The lessons fill our days to overflowing. Live in the present moment. Slow way down. Tune in to my senses. Notice the light, the breeze, the scent of garlic chives and wild rose, the tickle of a lady bug in my palm, the joy of rain puddles and homemade popsicles. Slow down even more and listen to the crows, the rustle of deer and bear in the woods, the hum of the bees.

Because of H. I am more embodied, more heart-centered, more vulnerable and empathic. She reminds me of so much that I had forgotten, about intuition and curiosity and pure joy. And her easy relationships with the plants and stones, the animals and birds, have triggered my own Sacred Remembering.

The ancient ones, our Ancestors, nurtured reverent relationships with all of life. Small children everywhere invite us to be curious, to reconnect, to Remember. Deep gratitude to H. for her patience with me and her willingness to keep the lessons coming.