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Teachable Moment

On our walk last weekend, I paused to watch a toddler making her tentative way up and down a couple of steps while her adults kept an eye on her but did not rush to help. At first she tried to just walk down from the one stair to the next. But at the edge she paused a bit, went back, returned again but did not step down. It was a wise decision. The rise on that step was quite high. She did not give up. After a while she was back and this time she sat down, lowered her legs and tried to slide her way down. It was the right idea but still a bit hard for her to pull off given her size and her wobbly gait. So she sat there drinking water from her sippy cup. She clearly wanted to climb down and get on the grass but had exhausted her options. 

One of the adults now came over, scooped her up and placed her on the grass. The joy in that baby was palpable even from a distance where we were. There was something supremely peaceful about the scene to me. This baby had only one thing she wished to accomplish. Nothing else mattered in that moment. She was fully present and connected with her purpose. Despite suffering some setbacks, she made it in the end, with a little help from friends. That was a teachable moment for me. Often I am not fully present, my thoughts can lurch between past and future, completely missing the here and now. This baby demonstrated how to correct the error of my ways, trust the limits of what I can do on my own and trust even more that the universe will lend a helping had if I have gone as far as I could on my own. 

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