How do you treat You?

Where have you learned about self-love?

Do you still practice self-love to this day?

This past weekend, I volunteered in the spelling bee competition.  It was the practice round for the volunteers and the participants.

In the section I volunteered, the participants were grade 1 and grade 2 children, courageous children.

One by one, they went on stage when they were called and, spelled the word that was given to them.  Some of them tried to but were unsuccessful.

As I watched one little boy, in particular, who did not succeed in spelling the given word, my heart broke.  It was hard to see that little boy running to his mom and crying.  It was hard for me to experience this moment.  And as I was trying to keep the tears from running down my cheeks, one of the mothers said to me: “It is heart-wrenching!”  I nodded and ran out.

Yes, it is heart-wrenching!

My friend who was also volunteering, when she saw me, asked me what happened.

What happened is that I always break down when I see little children putting themselves out there whether it’s singing, dancing, acting, and apparently spelling…whatever the activity, they touch me so deeply.

As I watched that little boy running in his mom’s arms, I wondered what she would tell him. I wondered how she will uplift this little soul.  Would she say: “Great job, little one, I am very proud of you. You are a very courageous boy for participating in that competition. You are great!”?

Would she build him up?  Would she nurture his soul?  Would she impart blessings in his life in that very moment?

I also wondered if she would allow him to understand the bigness of that first step or, would she be only caught in the spirit of the competition and allow comparison to take over?

Would this little boy be given permission to be  who he is and to know that whatever the outcome, he has already succeeded just because he tried.

That moment, if understood properly, would be a teaching moment for everyone involved: for the mom, for the boy, for everyone who was blessed enough to experience it. That moment came bearing gifts. That moment was a lesson in love, a lesson in teaching, a lesson in demonstrating. This was a big moment because this moment will determine how with the example of his mother, this little boy will understand how to treat himself in the future.

That moment was a momentous moment because the ordinary made place to the extra-ordinary. If we are open to see it, the miraculous replaces the mundane…if only, we. are. open. to. see. it.

That moment was beautiful and pure to me. That’s why it touched me and that’s what happened when we see with our spiritual eye because in that moment, a veil was lifted and the mundane is no more.

I was thankful to have been part of that moment.

As usual, in every competition, there was a winner. My hope is that all participants learned something from that practice round whether, it is to be proud of their accomplishments or, to win with humility or, to lose with grace or, that it takes courage to do what most people will not do or, to be better prepared.

Whatever the lesson, I hope in that moment, they learned to be who they are meant to be.