The world insists on achievement and progress
and it is full of enmity and strife.
Can you see all this and still help your children
maintain their trust, hope and peace?
Can you accept the world as it is,
yet live according to a different standard?
Can you let your children see
a way of living
that transforms,
heals,
nurtures,
and loves?
- William Martin, The Parent's Tao Te Ching
I haven't been present in cyberspace at all lately (if one can be present online, my constant battle!). Summertime is full of distractions and the heavy clouds of our Irish summer have been weighing on my shoulders. I haven't been able to see past the everyday strife of life. Flopping exhausted on the couch as soon as the little lady was in bed. Frustrated, I questioned my tired mind about why I need to do things differently to everyone else. Why is Montessori so important to me? Why can't I just accept the norm and follow it?
Then one evening I felt enough energy to power up my laptop once again and I surfed my way over to this blog, an inspiring home schooling mum, where she reviewed The Parent's Tao Te Ching. Need less to say I bought the book (I'm a bit of a bookaholic). So full of inspiring paragraphs, a great resource to have in your bag in order to keep you connected to the moment.
Can you accept the world as it is? Accepting what is. That is the key. Sometimes I'm just tired, sometimes the "little lady" needs to scream and drive me mad, sometimes it needs to rain and be as dark as night all day, and sometimes I feel overwhelmed as a mother. It is to understand and accept that these are only moments that pass, like the wind that blows the clouds across the sky, time moves on and everything changes. I need to be gentle with myself in these moments and to accept the world as it is, that does not mean I've to prescribe to it. It's amazing though how self-doubt can take me over.
I also find these moments echoed in the little lady. Her frustrations of understanding everything but not being able to express herself with words. I get caught up in her frustrations and begin to think she'll never be able to speak. I remember it was the same when she began to crawl and then walk. They're so brave the way they steam ahead accomplishing one thing after the next without taking a break! It's hard to keep up!
But I am learning to let the little lady's frustrations just be what they are with an awareness that she will explode into the next stage of development. And that she too is learning that as laughter and joy are a part of life so too are anger and frustration. That she can connect with this and accept it and that is what transforms the storm clouds into clouds of light. I need to lead by example that beauty is in the moment.
They look so small and frail
but they are so great and magnificent.
They are born of the same womb
that birthed the cosmos
and knitted together the galaxies.
If you could see them as they truly are,
you would be astounded.
You would see not little children,
but dancing clouds of light,
energy in motion,
swimming in an ocean of love.
They are so much more
that what you see.
As are you.
- William Martin, The Parent's Tao Te Ching
PS I will post again soon about the talk with Clare Healy Walls that we held last month on Positive Parenting for a New World.
