I’m often asked, “What do you want your child to be when she grows up?”  This question always puzzles me because I have no idea what my child should become.

I answer, “She already is.  I only want her to know her own wholeness as it flows from her inner stillness.  Once she knows this, she will own the world.”

Children come to us full of the what is, not what isn’t.  When we see our own reality for all it isn’t, we teach our children to operate from lack.  When we see our children for all they are yet to become, barely recognizing all they already are, we teach them they are incomplete.  For our children to see a look of disappointment in our eyes sows in them seeds of anxiety, self-doubt, hesitation, and inauthenticity.  They then begin to believe they should be more beautiful, competent, smart, or talented.  In this way, we strip them of their enthusiasm for expressing themselves as they are right now.

As I tucked my daughter into bed the other night, I said, “I’m so proud of you.”  When she asked why, I responded, “Because you dare to be yourself.”