Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is. Uncluttered.
"Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones"
The other day my son and his co-op went on a perfect adventure to Treehouse World. It is a place with ornate treehouses, tons of scampering, and perfectly fit wild adventures for children ready to run loose into summer.
We watched and lost and refound the kids run through wooden trains and mushroom houses. It was delightful.
“Let’s climb the trees!” one child encouraged another and a gaggle of us went on to do just that.
Many kids were hesitant and then exuberant, including my son, cheering each other on and climbing a bit higher at each pass, harnessed, catching and releasing the challenge of the climb.
“Mom you try!” he cheered.
“Yep!” I was ready; I harnessed on and up and up I went. Then I looked down, and a bit of the fear seized me. Figuring where to place my feet, pulling my body up the tree, reaching a higher effort — no problem. Then, I realized I was pretty far up the tree and what goes up must come down.
“Let go now, Mom!” my son shouted, giddy for me.
My body froze. Let go? You want me to let go? Myself said to my Self.
I looked down at my son, smiling so happy that I was going to get to the “fun part.”
I let out a slow exhale and realized I had to. I heard a rolling tape of when I have told him:
It’ll be okay!
No need to worry!
You got this!
Let go of your scared.
Just have fun.
And on and on. I realized how often we tell children to move into the next emotion and yet here I was pretty stuck in mine.
Let me tell you the hardest second of that climb: the one where I went from holding on and efforting to where I had to let go of the control, lean back into nothing and trust. The one second between the let go and feeling the confirmation of the harness’s tension was suspended in time. I can access it as I type, yet once I leaned into the release, the free fall was fun.
Actual fun.
“I told you!” my son squealed as he hugged me in congratulations and ran off to another tree, and another tree, and another.
Did I climb again? Yes, I did. It was even more fun the second time when I could remember that I would be caught and affirm the trust of surrender, as my young and eager Palawan was teaching me.
It’s one of kids greatest kids. They can’t give you back your innocence, but they can offer you a chance to reclaim it. To reclaim the joy that existed before all the falls were you weren’t caught, and you can choose to never climb again. Or you can choose to fall into the embrace of the Now.
-#51 Radiance Sutra
📝Contemplation: Read more here from Lorin Roche and the Radiance Sutras.
With joy,
Kate
Awesome! So great you got a picture too!
What a beautiful day and experience!! Thank you for sharing.