The Gifts My Children Share With Me!

My life is beautiful...truly sometimes I look around and cannot believe this is my reality.  The older I get and the more aware I am, the more I see this as truth.  It's not perfect, and I oftentimes feel discontentment. But when I get out of my own selfishness, I see this beautiful life I have.  On days when things are particularly difficult due to an array of different things, I can lose myself in those things that occupy my thoughts.  However when I am losing myself in those thoughts; I know I need to be intentional and deliberate and focused...then I will see the beauty again. I am a person who needs to be intentional about caring for my mind, body and soul; otherwise, I can get lost in the negatives.  I believe God brought Neil into my life for a multitude of reasons, but the biggest may have been to teach me to see the good and be grateful.  My ailing body and mind, along with, personal hurt and loss that have come in these past several months have taken a toll.  The busyness of working a lot, the chaos of our living conditions, the lack of downtime, the anger and hate from others, the lack of time with my soul sisters have taken a toll.  One thing I've known for a very long time is what I need to care for myself, but sometimes I forget to actually do it.  I have recently seen a few of my girls forgetting to do this as well, and then I realized that maybe a few of them don't really know how to do it.  One of my girls is really good at knowing what she needs when she becomes overwhelmed.  One has not been, but I think she is starting to figure this out.  She and I took the morning off and spent some time talking about many things.  I told her what I do to care for my mind, body and soul; and she gleaned a lot from that conversation.  I always thought this daughter and I were very different, but in reality; I think we are very similar in many ways.  I'm seeing that my girls are learning, much earlier than I did, what they need to do to care for themselves.  I didn't learn this and see the value in this until I was well into my adult years.  It is something that is completely necessary to do.  I am grateful that they are realizing this now.  They are so much better at dealing with emotions and self care and realizing what they need than I am.  They are so much better at releasing anger and forgiving others than I am.  They are much better at moving forward than I am.  I am full of wisdom and life experiences, but sometimes I see that they are wiser than I am.  This, my friends, is a true gift....to be able to learn so much from the example your children set for you and to see them walking a straight path when there are so many curves and bumps.  Parenting is the hardest, bestest, saddest, happiest thing in the world.