When you’re a child, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. The Legos fall apart; the play-date gets canceled; it’s cold and wet out for the umpteenth day and spring feels impossibly far off. We sit on the living room floor watching the rain.
“Take a breath,” I suggest to Lucien.
He breathes in sharply, sucking all the air around him in.
“Let it out,” I say.
He breathes out his mouth like a breath of fire.
“One more,” I advise, taking a conscious breath in myself.
“Ha-aa-ah,” we say together, letting it out.
This always works. For both of us. (Adults get overwhelmed, too.) The trick is remembering to make the suggestion. Right now, wherever you are, be your own enlightened caregiver. Mother yourself.
Take a breath.
Jessica Berger Gross is the author of enLIGHTened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer (Skyhorse). She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and four-year-old son. “Like” her author page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter @jbergergross. Visit her at www.jessicabergergross.com.
Jessica Berger Gross
