Yesterday my husband and I had nursery duty at our church. It is a wonderful nursery filled with toys that I found myself wishing I had known about even five years ago for our grandchildren.
This time there was only one absolutely adorable 20 month old girl to watch. When it came time for her mommy to say “good bye” there were those inevitable tears. Fortunately for us, her big sister and mom had pulled out toys of interest to her. I took great advantage of that! Tears stopped when the door closed and toys were dancing before her eyes. Whew!
This little one was a very curious girl who loved to explore everything. She chattered happily during the hour and pointed at things she wanted when we did not understand.
Still, I was concerned that we keep her entertained. So at the slightest sign of an unoccupied moment in which she would miss her mommy, I had more toys coming out than you can imagine.
She did not need them. She was perfectly capable of entertaining herself and us.
And I saw something very clearly about myself. I am a person filled with contingency plans. You know, more than just Plan B backup. While this is a good quality and a proactive one that I strongly encourage parents to engage in, it can also be a slippery slide when done to keep kids from experiencing discomfort and us from feeling inept and powerless.
That reminded me of the insight I shared on last week’s article about changing from being busy to being purposeful. I became aware of doing something similar within my business adventures. For example, at the slightest sign of not being good enough, not knowing enough, or of others being more masterful than I, I read and research more books (my toys) to busily distract myself from facing anxiety and insecurity and avoid taking risks.
Can you relate? Think about it this way . . . How often do we give in to our children because we simply do not want to deal with their cries, their anger, or their fears? Unwise!
We all must eventually face our uncomfortable feelings in order to grow our “responsibility and self-control muscles” or our “faith muscles” etc. Of course, I am only warning against extremes and suggesting we be more conscious of why we do things. That gives us choice about how to respond more wisely.
As adults, how many ways do we allow ourselves to be distracted and miss valuable resources and experiences both within and around us?
At one point when I had brought out too many items from the toy box, my husband gave me a raised eyebrow.
I was busted. Kindly so, but necessarily so.
I stopped and saw just how capable this precious little girl was of solving her own situations. In fact, she was very proud of herself as she tested shapes, collected books, carried around baby dolls, and gave us instructions on what she needed from us!
Thank you, little one. Thank you for reminding me that life is a journey of discovery and delight. Your little light was bright and lit my path of conscious awareness.