Portland Trauma Healing

The other evening my 3.5 year old daughter was talking on the phone to her uncle, who she ecstatically calls “Tio Turo.”
I overheard her squealing and shrieking with joy before running up to me, excitedly calling out, “The moon, mama! The moon!” She had just discovered that she and Tio Turo were both looking at the moon, way up above the clouds. She asked me to raise the blinds higher so she could have an unobstructed view of the nighttime sky. I watched as she pressed her forehead against the cool glass, propping her face up with her palm so she could get comfortable. She stayed in that position for a long time, entranced by the moonlight.

She couldn’t grasp that both she and her uncle were gazing upon the same moon, yet she was reveling in their shared experience. Her unbridled joy made me feel an unexpected surge of nostalgia.

Magic and wonder.

These things come so easily to children my daughter’s age. The exhilaration that comes with discovering things for the first time, the comfort and boundless mystery of the imagination, the ability to be so completely present and in the moment. For my daughter, each day brings an abundance of this magic. I love seeing the world through her fresh eyes.

We all have younger parts inside of us who crave magic. Perhaps we’ve disconnected from them. Perhaps we don’t acknowledge their existence. Perhaps we’ve forgotten what it’s like to dance in the rain, converse with imaginary friends and thrill at all that’s unknown around us, like my daughter with the moon. But no matter how remote we feel from our younger selves, no matter how buried they are, they still exist and they still crave nurturance and attention.

It doesn’t matter how important our day job, what salary we make our how much responsibility we carry. When we take the time to pause and reconnect with the longings of our younger selves, we are helping to cultivate magic anew in our lives. We’re reawakening our vitality and spirit of playfulness and joy

What small action can you take to nurture the younger parts inside of you?