Babies and the crucial part love plays in learning.

. Fire walking, abseiling, why do we do it? Is daily living not scary enough for us? For me, life mostly scares the living daylights out of me. You should see me when I have to do something that is really out of my comfort zone, such as believing that owning my own business will work out. However I can see how I can be tempted to do  firewalking instead and leave real life be.

Ann-Marie with delightful Molly.

That is why I love children, I simply adore them, because they teach me so much and Molly has shown me the answer to the above question.
I love being with Ann-Marie’s little 18 month old daughter.
She is absolutely delightful.

She looks at me with total abandonment of good manners.
She openly stares and I love it.
I just stare back and I am me.
She just sits there and she is she.

Then I pull a face and she either mimics me or just continues to stare, blatantly and openly. No people pleasing thoughts in her mind, at least not YET.

We might then read some books. And when she is tired she leans up against me and once again she just is. And once again so am I. We continue to just sit together.
Ann-Marie’s daughter Molly allows me to be who I am.
Molly’s company calms my mind and strengthens my heart.
She actually invites my heart to play full out, like hers and it does.

Then Molly might try something new, like walking.
When she couldn’t walk so well, she kept trying it and absolutely loved it when I encouraged her. She’d often stop mid step and start clapping herself; a huge grin on her face.
And when she got tired of it she’d just sit down and grab a toy to play with.
When I said; “Come on Molly, let’s try again”, she either did or she didn’t and nobody got upset.

Obviously making mistakes doesn’t bother her, YET.
And it doesn’t bother me or Ann-Marie either.

Wouldn’t it be great if I could be like that around adults; relaxed, open, playful with a totally peaceful mind while I try something new?
I think my heart would love it and I would definitely be a lot happier to do things I have never done before.

Sometimes I do feel this way, mostly on special occasions like fire walking, bungee jumping or para gliding. Because I know that I am safe and I am also being encouraged to have this new experience be fantastic. Other times it happens in workshops when the environment is safe, the facilitator is great and the attendees are open and willing to encourage each other.
On these occasions the mind and heart work well together.

But I want this to happen more often, I want to have more access to that loving encouragement.
I want it to show up in my daily life and NOT only on the rare occasion when I am fire walking or abseiling.

I want it when I write about what it means to start an internet business and cannot find the words to do it.
I want loving encouragement when I am learning to say ‘NO’ to requests.
I want to be egged on to take a rest when I am running out of ideas but feel I can’t or shouldn’t stop trying.
I love to hear the applause when I delegate tasks to others.
I want to be cheered on when I am too scared to leave comments on other blogs and forums.
Actually I want to hear people cheer me on with whatever I do in life.

Now that would make my heart strong and my mind a great partner to it.