(originally posted on Facebook)
There are moments in life where seemingly small and irrelevant events are actually the key to life-changing epiphanies.
About a month ago, one of these moments happened to me. I was out in the old town, sitting on the steps on the square, mesmerised by a busker’s talent when a little blond girl and her parents stopped by.
The little girl (let’s call her Emma) immediately smiled at me. Not just any smile, hers was far more than that. And it definitely FELT that way too.
Emma was about 3 years old. Her eyes were piercing. She climbed on the stairs and sat opposite me, mirroring me, in her cute, 3-year-old ways. She brought her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them, not caring at all about her little dress not being fit for that endeavour and flashed me an even wider smile, her eyes speaking to me in a language that couldn’t be put into words.
As Emma sat there, just two metres away, not shy at all, and not intimidated at all by the fact that she was mirroring a grown-up woman, something happened. More than a click, it felt like one of these moments, when a piece of art is unveiled and the audience gasps. Mentally. Because it is too shocked to even blink, let alone say anything.
At that specific moment, I couldn’t understand what was happening. The only thing I remember is being it by the realisation that one day that 3-year-old would be a woman too, and having to look away, as my eyes were welling up with tears.
Those who know me know that I’m NOT fond of children (at all!), and that up to that day, I had never wanted to have one either. However, at that specific instant, I knew something had changed, even if I couldn’t put words to it. Yet.
On my way home, I thought about Emma, trying to make sense of my emotions, trying to understand why the thought of her becoming a woman someday had made me so emotional.
I remember that instant when she looked at me, and just like people see their life play in fast forward in their head when they face death, in a fraction of a second, as Emma looked at me, I FELT her life play in fast forward in my heart, until the day she’d be “a woman”. Until the day she’d be my age.
Today, things started making sense. And as I sit down writing this, I am finally understanding what really happened there. The life I felt playing in fast forward wasn’t Emma’s life. And it didn’t happen because I was facing death, but quite the opposite. It happened because I faced BIRTH.
The moment Emma’s eyes and mine locked, as she sat opposite me, mirroring me, was as if she impersonated the 3-year-old in me. She became the “container” for the child in me, magically freeing space inside of me, for the WOMAN that I am.
In those magical seconds, the woman in me was born. And she realised that the inner child she had been nurturing was now healed enough for her to be able to nurture an “outer” child.
Emma, the day we met, my inner child and my inner woman were suddenly UNtangled.
There was a woman, and there was a child.
You being the child allowed the woman in me to finally step into her essence. And for that, I will always remember you as the 3-year-old girl who helped birth the woman in me and I am eternally grateful.
Dedicated to my own Inner Emma, I love you.
***
They say writing a book is a transformational journey, I keep being blown away by how much my life has changed since I’ve written and published my book.
Just as I birthed my book, the whole experience birthed a new me. Like a butterfly breaks through her chrysalis, I feel like a new me has seen the light.
If you have felt called to write a book, by all means, say YES. It will be the first step of a whole new life beyond your wildest dreams. Say YES and you will always look back at that moment as the day that changed your life.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, just start by typing YES in the comments. I’ll be happy to have a chat and direct you to the beginning of this amazing adventure.
