Читать книгу Growing Strong Girls - Lindsay Sealey - Страница 8

PART ONE

A Girl’s Journey Inward

Growing Strong by Connecting Inward to the True Self

THE MOST IMPORTANT relationship a girl will ever have is the one she develops with herself. When we prioritize making a solid connection with her, she can know, first-hand, what a secure relationship feels like, and she can emulate that security as she looks at her whole self: her emotional, mental, social, physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects.

When a girl knows who she is, she is empowered with the self-knowledge to grow strong; when a girl recognizes how she is feeling in the moment, she is empowered with the self-awareness necessary to be strong.

Think about it: Who knows all her favourite things? Who knows what she fears most? Who knows her deepest, darkest secrets and her magical, adventuresome dreams? Who knows how to love her and be there for her in the exact ways she needs? Who knows how to provide the kindness and self-compassion she needs at exactly the moment she needs it? The answer to all these questions is: she does.

A girl requires courage to connect with her true self. It takes fierce boldness to look inward and to really see all she is with acceptance and love—both the parts she is proud of and the parts she feels tempted to hide. It takes real fortitude and bravery to embrace her uniqueness in a culture that is begging her to conform. A girl’s strong sense of self and her rich inner life become the solid foundation on which she can navigate her journey outward in relationships with others and onward in her life and work, and cultivate a desire to shape the world in which she lives.

We can encourage this growing connection inward by guiding her to spend time figuring out who she is and trusting that everything she needs she already has deep within herself. It is through sitting in stillness that a girl’s greatest source of strength and inner power becomes heightened. We can be the support she seeks by seeing her and hearing her. We can reflect back the worth we see in her, and be the gentle reminder of how valuable she is—valuable not because of how others see her but just as she is.