Why her blowdrying my hair blew my Spirit open.
Dana Cristea, Unsplash
Tonight, Wilder wanted to wash my hair.
She shampooed it.
Put conditioner in.
Washed it all out.
Then, she insisted that she blow dry my hair before she'd let me blow dry hers.
She also wanted me to spray the same conditioner in my hair that I use for her.
Then, she wanted to brush my hair out, the same way that I do when she gets ready for school in the mornings.
She even took out a little floral hair clip that she loves, because she wanted to pin it in my hair, too.
All of this made me realize that my daughter likes to do these actions, because these are precisely the things I do with her.
She feels grown up.
She feels like she's taking care of me.
She feels like she's empowered and owning a part of her life.
I didn't ask her to do this — she felt inspired to do all this on her own, but more importantly, she copied my process with her almost verbatim... literally and figuratively.
If she does this with a mundane task, then imagine what she's soaking up the rest of the time with life lessons.
With creating her core value systems.
With understanding how the world works and how she can interact within it.
It made me realize what a powerful impact we are always making as parents.
As guides.
As stewards to these beautiful little souls.
I am not perfect.
Not by any means.
I know that there are times when I interact impatiently with my daughter, because I'm tired, I'm preoccupied, I'm unable to be fully present in the more banal moments that can make up quite a large part of our lives.
But that's why Life is a wonderful teacher.
That's why self-healing work is so profound.
Because if you weren't raised with the kind of unconditional love you wish you had growing up, then even if it wasn't "your fault" growing up, as an adult and a parent, it is your responsibility to choose how to show up.
You are empowered to sever the ties that bind you to pasts you would not prefer, so you can create an entirely different present that enables you to live together into a brilliant future.
TOGETHER. That's the key word.
We're all doing this, we're all in it together.
The more we uplift one another, the more we can all thrive.
Because we ARE interconnected.
Let's do this.
