<a href="http://www.thenestmiami.com/blog/?attachment_id=37" rel="attachment wp-att-37"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-37" alt="nest-abstract004" src="http://www.thenestmiami.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/nest-abstract004.jpg" width="200" height="146" />Every day as parents and individuals we have a choice.  Do we shut down our emotions in the hope of never being hurt again or do we open up with vulnerability and believe that no matter the circumstance we can tolerate and recuperate?  Young children have yet to learn to shut down an emotion.  A little one is open and willing to scream with sadness when their toy falls off the table.  A little one runs around the room arms flailing and voice loudly expressing joy because Daddy is home.  Our little ones teach us to feel with wild abandon and to live in the moment because they have yet to feel afraid.  Yet as parents, our own past hurts and our inability to trust interrupts this free flow of emotion and life.  We do this to protect ourselves from the possibility of pain, in the disguise of protecting and sheltering our children.  It’s important as parents to ask ourselves, how often do I tell my little one that “it’s okay” just so we do not have to tolerate their sadness.  How often do we tell our little one to quiet down when they are full of excitement because somewhere inside of us we believe that joy is fleeting and are waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Every day as a parent our children challenge us to feel with abandon.  Are we up for the challenge?  Are we willing to have this little one show us that to be truly alive we must risk pain, happiness, frustration, anger, joy, and love with the certainty that it may all end and we will be okay?  I hope that we can all take a pause the next time our little one cries with abandon and cherish living life unburdened from fear of emotion.

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