Let me start by saying that this post isn’t about how awesome my baby is. To be fair, he is pretty awesome though. Nor am I one of those moms who fawns over every precious little poop. Granted, I get a bit excited if it ends a bout of crying. Before I was a mother, babies were definitely part of my pile of good. But it wasn’t until after I got to hang out with one so much as a mom that I began to ask myself why. Why do so many people just go gaga over babies?
One of the purest moments of joy I’ve ever felt was the first morning I was waking baby E-Max up, leaning over his crib and, after stretching like a true Yogi, his eyes focused on mine as he flashed me a HUGE smile. Now I live for that first morning smile. I’ve always known baby smiles were sort of a big deal. But when it’s YOUR baby..... If only I could find away to bottle that emotion up, well let’s just say I wouldn’t have to worry about putting E-Max through college in 18 years.
But I learned quickly, you cannot trust baby smiles. For as quickly as a baby’s face lights up, it can turn all baby frowns and wails. One minute you’re singing your heart out to your baby, laughing at all the monkeys falling off the bed and bumping their heads, and in a flash, you’re getting swiped at with sharp little baby claws as your child throws his head back and lets out a screech as if to lament his tiny place in this world. “What the actual f*** just happened?” you may think.
At first, I was reminded by this quote about the most famous literary fairy from Peter Pan:
Tink was not all bad: or, rather, she was all bad just now, but, on the other hand, sometimes she was all good. Fairies have to be one thing or the other, because being so small they unfortunately have room for one feeling only at a time. They are, however, allowed to change, only it must be a complete change (J.M. Barrie).
Is it just that E-Max is so small he can only have one feeling at a time? Is there not enough room in that tiny baby brain of his for the subtleties of emotion?
My conclusion is well, yeah, sort of. Because of his developing brain, he isn’t too aware of his past and, at just over 3 months, he probably would have a difficult time even grasping the concept of “future.” Babies exist wholly in the present.
Does this sound familiar?
For all those who have experienced first hand the benefits of meditation, you’ll recognize “being present” as key to any successful meditation practice. It is something so many of us struggle with - getting caught up in the stress of yesterday or the worry of tomorrow. Yet, babies so effortlessly live in the moment. In fact, it is all they can do. Sometimes that means being filled with joy just because you caught your reflection in the mirror. ometimes it means beaming with pride because you’re able to pull yourself up on your own two feet. And sometimes, being completely in the moment means crying out because of gas pains.
The cool thing is that we were all babies at one point. We did it once, we can certainly do it again. We can all “be present”, no matter how big our dumb ol’ brains get.
So take a look around you. What little gurus are in your life? And what do they have to teach you?
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