When did you do the most growing up?

I can't say... when does a tree do the most growing up? Isn't it growing leaves and shedding it all the time. Is the time when it grows from the seed to the tree the only time it grows....

Either I am still a very young seed (at heart) or a tree that will always grow LOL

I can think of occasions when I had to grow through pain.... but I can also think of times when I grew through joy... I don't want to put any one above the other. I am eager to learn all the time, and for that reason, I suppose I take any opportunity for learning and growing that comes my way.

Probably becoming a mother has been my most rewarding growth opportunity. Although I ended up a single mother when I had no intend to do so whatsoever and that alone was a huge growing opportunity although sometimes a painful one. Even when I was still married to the father of my children, I was already a single mum LOL.

I do not like to look back on growth. I am looking forward to growing more. But I don't want to grow up.... I want to grow deep, up, out and in....

A lot of us pretend to be grown ups but the reason is we don't really know what to be adult is. We believe it is being responsible and serious when it could not be further from the truth. These are ancient myths that don't serve us anymore. Even being responsible is greatly misunderstood: how many people take responsibility for their own emotions instead of making others carry the burden of them? How many people take responsibility for their suffering and make sure they don't sit in their own suffering juices instead of just going through the pain and beyond it? How many people show their children or other children they are in contact with how honesty is the only way? And this starts with being honest about how you feel about things?

We just live in a world where children can be so incredibly mature and are trained by people who pretend to be adults but who act totally irresponsibly and childhishly...

And what about being serious? This is all a big joke. When I work I don't want to be serious. In fact, sometimes it's when I laugh that I do the best work. Being committed and being serious are often confused.... I want a committed life, not a serious one. I want to dance, and sing, and paint and hum without feeling I have to be the best at it to have the right to enjoy it....

Isn't this the legacy that we should give children of this new world? Grow in joy, grow in trust, grow in honesty... grow in vulnerability (which is actually a strength and not the other way round), grow in tenderness (not in toughness)... and however much you grow, don't ever forget to reach out for the sky and for your highest dreams.

Namaste