Our cabin is at the bottom of the five lines on this mountain.
As we were driving to our beautiful mountain getaway in Colorado. My then three-year-old granddaughter, Jadyn, asked where our cabin was located.
I said, ” Our place is located right where those five lines come down the mountain and join at the bottom.” I pointed to the lines on the mountain which are actually the avalanche shoots you see in the accompanying picture.
“Can you see them?” She stared intently at the mountain for several minutes. Then the following conversation took place.
Jadyn: “Can we play outside at the cabin?”
Me: “Of course.”
Jadyn: “Will the tigers get us?”
Me: “Jadyn, there are no tigers in the mountains!”
Jadyn: “When do they come down?”
Me: “Who?”
Jadyn: “The tigers!”
Me: “Jadyn, there are no tigers!”
Jadyn: “But you said the cabin was right where five lions come down!”
So much for my communication skills.
Fearless Jadyn
False fear of lions that don’t exist has the ability to paralyze your life. For example,
- If I don’t get that job, my life will be over!
- If I seek help, everyone will think I am crazy!
- Without _____________ (fill in your own blank) I cannot exist.
These three questions helped me kill the false lions/lies that kept me from trying and from being everything I could be:
1. What is the worst that can happen if I take this action?
So many times “the worst” is nothing to be afraid of. It’s a line, not a LION!
2. What will I feel if I don’t take this action?
Much better to have tried and failed, than to have never tried at all.
3. What could be the upside if I do take this action?
Surely it will be something that will not be possible if I don’t take the action.
Comments
I loved this post. I love how when you say something a child can perceive it as something else. When my son was young he was always asking if we were going to cross the turtleneck bridge (throgs neck bridge) I loved that.
My lions were always, as a single mom, hearing in my head the critical voices telling me everything I was doing wrong. “You are a bad mother,” was a continual lion always roaring at me. The lions finally wandered away when I stood up to those voices and simply said, “I may not be the best mother in the world but Im doing the best that I know how to do which makes me a good mother, not a bad mother.”
Pat,
“I may not be the best mother in the world but Im doing the best that I
know how to do which makes me a good mother, not a bad mother.”
Absolutely!!! That is all any of us can do. You ARE a good mom. Happy mothers day.
Ken