I woke up last Monday morning and knew that the day had finally come. I had an important call to make. I was both excited and anxious about it.
I made myself a cup of tea and sat down on the couch. As it was the first day of summer holidays my 10 year old son sat down beside me. We were chatting and I explained to him that I was a bit nervous about my call later that day.
“What do you do when you feel nervous?” I asked him.
“Okay” he said, “This is what I do Mom.”
“First of all, I think of kind, happy, nice things. I think of friendly things and I say to myself: ‘I can do this’”
He then told me about the Mindfulness work he does at school and how it can help him, especially if and when he is nervous.
“Oh” I said, “What did you do in your Mindfulness Class?”
“Well we all sit on the mat in a circle, cross legged with our hands on our thighs. We close our eyes.”
“The teacher smacks (loved his choice of word here!) his chime and I have to watch the noise. The noise then stops but I then have to watch the silence for another minute. When that minute is done, he smacks the chime again and I do the same thing. This means that I sit for 4 minutes watching the noise and the silence.”
“This really helps me relax and take the worry dragons away.” he told me.
“But, Mom, if none of this works I also try this. I sing this song to myself, Mom you know the one…”
He then sang me the song:
“Don’t you worry, don’t you worry child….” (by Swedish House Mafia)
“Oh” I said “I know that song, what’s the next line?”
“See heaven’s got a plan for you”….. “Mom, you will be fine, I know you can do it.”
Wow, there it was, in a nutshell.
For the rest of the day, anytime I felt myself getting anxious about things, I ran through one of the three things he suggested.
Did it work? Absolutely and I let him know just how much he had helped me.
My favorite thing in all he said to me was the bit:
“I watch the noise and the silence”
What a lesson to us all; to watch the silence. Silence is so nurturing if we allow it. We can learn so much from allowing silence into our lives.
The other huge lesson for me here is that children are often more wise than we give them credit for. Asking them for their advice is such an incredible opportunity for them to feel empowered, capable and know that their voice counts.
Who would have thought that my 10 year could have taught me so much!
What have your children taught you? Do you regularly ask them for their help? I encourage you to find ways to do this.
Let their wisdom shine and don’t forget to let them know just how much you truly appreciate them.
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