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"I just love being me." This is what a friend overheard her four-year-old grandson murmuring as he played quietly by himself.
You could, I suppose, put it into the "cute things kids say" category; but I am struck by how unusual it is, in our culture, to hear anyone—adult or child—express such a thought.
As best I can remember, I was seventy before such a thought would have occurred to me. I now, indeed, love being me. But it took me the greater part of a lifetime to get here. It seems to me that this expression is actually a gift we make to the Universe, to Spirit, to the gods.
Just think of it! There you are, creator and observer of human life. How often does one of your creatures say, "I just love being me"? Which really means, "Thank you for making me who I am." More often they say things like, "Oh, I hate myself!" Or "I know I should love myself, and I would if only . . . ", the rest of that sentence made up of as many variations on the theme of dissatisfaction as there are reasons for not turning in one's homework. Actually, learning to love one's self is a form of homework, to be practiced and worked on and studied until we get it. Imagine what a bonus it must be for Spirit when a four-year-old says, out of the blue, "I just love being me!"
You've created a world. You've peopled it with humans and enriched and decorated it with sentient beings of all sorts, from fireflies to grizzly bears. And all you ask in return is a little appreciation for your efforts. You've created them, after all, in your own image, if that part is to be believed. You've imbued them with a spirit of the divine, each one of them--divine sparks that are inherent, innate, in each living example. And what is your reward? "Oh, I hate my life," they say. "Oh, I'm so unhappy!" "Oh, things aren't going my way!"
Wouldn't it be gratifying to hear, instead of all that grousing, words like "I just love being me!"? Because how can they profess, as some do, to love god if they can't recognize and love the divine that is within them?
Is it just a question of indoctrination? Do unhappy parents inflict misery onto the next generation—through ignorance more often than through malice—so that each of us has to re-invent a wheel of spirituality and self-love?
All praise to that little boy's mother for having fostered, with or without intent, the self-love in her four-year-old that allows him to murmur, "I just love being me."
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