Halloween, Courage And Innocence

0
277

BY DOVE

When I was a young person of about 12, I remember Halloween being one of my favorite traditions. In the small town of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, where I grew up, Halloween was always such fun. We all dressed up and took a pillowcase with us to fill with treats. There was no fear of anything bad happening with your treats or to you personally. Your parents didn’t need to check the treats to see if they were safe. No one would have considered harming a child in such a way. It was pure fun. We went in groups, dressed as something that was different than who we usually were, and as scary as possible. We were always blessed with the gift of the first snowfall just as you started home from trick or treating. What a time of beautiful innocence.

That does not seem to exist anymore and that makes me sad. So, I question, have we progressed as a species? Where and why did we lose that beautiful innocence and trust and what can we do to create a world of greater safety and truth for ourselves and our children? First of all, I think we must have experience at trusting ourselves. That only comes with trial and error. My dad always said, it does not matter if you fail, you at least tried, which takes courage, determination and effort.

I grew up with the courage to try things; you never know, it might just work. I never felt afraid of failure; you just look for another solution. Sometimes you would have to create several prototypes before you succeeded or decided it was time to scratch the project. That builds confidence. Have we become so protective of our feelings that we no longer have the courage to stand alone? Have we given all of our authority to the “science” outside of ourselves? The way our society has progressed has taught us to trust an authority outside of our own knowingness. That has to stop, because the agenda of an outside authority rarely has your best interests at heart. The outside authority has their bottom line or control of the masses at their center. We have been indoctrinated to believe that we don’t have the knowledge to know what is best for our bodies and hearts. That knowledge only comes from the experience of doing and succeeding, or failing.

Take a moment of your day and ask yourself, “Do I trust my path? Do I trust myself to be okay if I make a mistake?” That is the bottom line—can you love yourself even if you are wrong or screw up? If you can, you have the ability to survive just about anything. Let us embrace all of the times we learned from our errors because we then learned new ways of being. I long for the trust and innocence I experienced as a child and the only way I know how to create that joy is to trust myself with all my heart; even if I screw up, I will have tried. I let go of any outside authority and claim that part of myself that says, “I know the way. Trust me.”

We will get through all of this but only if we think with our hearts and have the courage to be our own authority, to trust the love within. Much love, Dove