Free Form

My daughter is approaching that pre-teen age.  That oh-so-self-conscious-age. Changes are happening so rapidly (I swear she grows overnight). At present, she still plays and dances with the full abandon of a child. She is uninhibited – she goes for it and if it doesn’t work, she tries something else until it feels right. She is happy with what she finds in her process and revels in doing it again and again and especially in sharing it.    

One of the things I spend time thinking about, is how to parent her in such a way that she immerses herself in possibilities and retains this gift of “free forming”.  That she doesn’t allow the fearful people around her to influence and shut down this awesome ability she has cultivated. 

I know now as an adult that it’s a use it or lose it muscle. It is a daily exercise to strengthen that/those muscles. I also know that I was once a master at the “free form” and only with practice it will come back to me…like swimming, or riding a bike, or dancing…especially dancing.