"Shy as magnolias?"

I found the following quote on a Facebook page I "like" called "Elephant Journal" and because it appealed to me I decided to let it sink in and write about it.

Quote

"I am convinced that most people do not grow up...We marry and dare to have children and call that growing up. I think what we do is mostly grow old. We carry accumulation of years in our bodies, and on our faces, but generally our real selves, the children inside, are innocent and shy as magnolias.” 
~ Maya Angelou

Feelings

This quote brought a smile to my face.

Yes, I dared to have children and taught them about life as best as I could. The process was not simple and easy, not for them (I think) and not for myself.

Who am I to even think that I know what is best!!

Having had a mom like me must not have been simple. Mom knowing (almost) everything that was going on, mom getting her first grey hair, because of all the worries .. or, was it worries or just mom getting older and perhaps not much wiser.

The child inside

I shall never forget my first "real" client after becoming a therapist. A young boy, age 9. My family doctor in that period had referred him to me.
I felt honored and a bit insecure and there he was. A shy boy, with his mom, sitting in my chair. A boy, who could not cope with school and other children and the rest of the world at all. What a challenge.
He did not wish to speak to me, which was frustrating and I took his feet in my hands and they were so pale, almost bloodless.
I treated him with foot reflexology and he seemed to like it.
The next time he came by himself, living just around the corner. His trusting mother just sent him off to me. I was better prepared then, did not force him to speak, just gave him an inbound copy of Donald Duck cartoons to read while I worked. He hid his face behind it. 

After some time he lowered the book and looked at me. 
It was a look full of wonder, recognition and enchantment and incredibly as it sounds, his feet became pinker.
I taught him the trick of how to ground himself.
He only needed 9 appointments spread out over a couple of months and that was it.
My young client had found himself and he shared so much with me in the process.

Magnolia in bloom

This was one "magnolia" that started to bloom and through all my working career I have learnt to respect other people even more than before.

Gratefulness

It is through experiences like that, that I have felt another presence there, supporting me in different kinds of ways. I have always felt so much gratefulness of being allowed to work with people.
Maya Angelou has put into words so beautifully how it is to try and find the real Self we are and to dare show the world that we are in fact growing up.

With respect Juliet Joan

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