Writing the last few posts has been like walking through the layers of who I am – a Teacher, Childcare worker, Dreamer and Women in transition. I have briefly shared about my personal journey, my passions, my lens on childhood and practical things I have learnt. But underneath all that, I have been falling, growing, and healing…
Patience and self-regulation, the emotional safety and needs we are able to give children is indeed a gift. It reminds us of the Grace we forget to give it to ourselves sometimes. Children remind us that healing and growing is slow, loud and sometimes messy – and that is okay.
I had amazing teachers growing up, there were so many underlying issues that couldn’t be addressed – because where I am from, a small neighborhood in South Africa, going to public school, we didn’t have luxuries of being attentive to the teacher-child ratios (Crowded classrooms). And even though growing up I wasn’t actually sure what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I vowed that I would give every single child I came across lots of love and attention, I vowed to listen – you would be surprised by how much kids have to say.
That promise changed me.
In learning to nurture children, I’ve learnt to turn inward – to be attentive to my own emotions, my own growth, my own healing. I’ve come to believe that kids feel our energies and feel the truths before we say them.
One night, while my husband and I were babysitting my cute niece, she woke up so gently from her sleep, sat up, and smiled at something just over my husband’s shoulder. Her eyes followed it ever so softly – with no fear in her eyes, just peace. I remember saying a prayer while I was freaked out but took so much comfort by her calmness. Maybe she was smiling at an angel? Maybe children are so intuitive and they are able to see beyond what we can even begin to comprehend.
There are a number of spiritual and metaphysical reasons that attempts to explain why children might be hypersensitive to energies. Children are said to being more intuitive, open and are able to perceive energies (even spirits) around them that grown-ups tune out. It is said to be a normal developmental phase of imagination-spiritual interpretation view. This is explained through overlapping lenses of purity, openness and developmental uniqueness. Whatever the reason, I believe we are called to protect that sensitivity. To create a safe, grounded space where the child/children can stay open, intuitive and whole. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263519560_A_measure_of_spiritual_sensitivity_for_children?utm_source=chatgpt.com
This next season of posts is less about answers, or my journey in Early Childhood development, it’s going to be more about searching soul searching – finding Nomagugu again, my faith, embracing grace and spreading hope. I am in a season of self-rediscovery, and I am aware that it comes with its own set of fallbacks, emotional challenges and its own spiritual stretching. I am looking forward to having you on this journey, and am especially excited to learning from YOU, what inspired you, and how you are self-discovering.
Before pouring into anyone else, I’m learning to come back home to myself-and to the One who never left, even when I felt lost.
Rooted-Gracefully.com 