My Joy Guru

Children can teach us so much about joy and authentic self expression, especially when they are encouraged to trust themselves. Loving and living with my daughter Sophia is one of the most significant ways that I experience joy. She is, in fact, my Joy Guru.

As I watch her sense of freedom to be fully herself I learn. I learn about myself, and about how much more I have to live into myself.

I watch her hop and jump all over the living room. She runs back and forth, back and forth, making sounds of pure delight. There's no "reason" that I can see that she moves her body in this way - other than she clearly enjoys it. And of course, no one tells her to stop it or suggests it's strange. She agreed to let me film one of her romps - the video appears below.

Sophie simply loves to express her joy and sense of fulfillment.

We noticed early on that she tends to hum or make noises of enjoyment while she eats. I am sure some parents would think such sounds at the table are bad manners. Toby and I think it's cute. More than that, we value it as a way she is authentically expressing her experience. We made a conscious decision not to quash it. Only on rare occasions when we share meals with others and she starts with the yummy sounds do I hear the voice of my internal critic wondering if others will think she's weird. Sophie isn't in the least bit worried about this. She just goes on eating and humming...and saying "It's delicious mommy!"

Yes, my Guru, I am watching you. I am learning. And I am inspired to be more of who I am and less worried about what others think.

I hope I will always find ways to reinforce Sophia's budding sense of self and encourage her continued joyful self-expression - including when it's time to set or enforce family boundaries.

"You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again." ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

MORE ON JOY AND CHILDREN
My film "Let Us Be Healed," featuring images set to the song Healing Room by Sinaed O'Connor, is about connecting to the Divine within and how the innocence of children can often be a doorway to that part of ourselves that remains free and true.