There is an interior place that we should all keep, a space of peace, of stillness, of feeling of being well and satisfied, despite what happens outside.
This interior space is our refuge mainly in moments of uncertainty, anguish or loneliness.
We should all be able to easily find this space, so that we can take refuge in their peace and security in difficult times. However, what you often feel is a great emptiness. A distressing and intolerable emptiness that desperately wants to flee. It is so that being unable to find the inner recollection seeks to placate by external means what does not come from within. Sweet foods such as treats, TV, constant noises and sounds are the best allies to avoid feeling yourself. We want to achieve at least for a moment the feeling of physical and emotional harmony that does not occur without these sedatives.
We know that many of the deficiencies felt in adulthood are rooted in childhood, so the importance of looking after children, of accompanying their processes, of knowing their needs.
Rudolf Steiner, the creator of Anthroposophy, has discovered that the human being has twelve qualities that he called as Senses - Twelve Senses.
To be concrete and for this knowledge to be available to everyone, I will refer to one of the most fundamental senses, what Rudolf Steiner called the "Sense of Life" or the "Sense of Fullness or Well-Being."
The "Meaning of Life" has a primary goal: Communicate the feeling of being well.
For a moment, close your eyes and feel inside. Feel if there is calm, if there is stillness. Now remember a time where this calm was not, where he felt altered, nervous or in some pain. This is the meaning of life, the meaning that communicates peace, or the sense that communicates an altered inner state.
The first activity of the meaning of life is to transmit peace and calm when everything is in order, and when it is not, it is disturbed by symptomatizing in the body or in the mood. We usually realize that we were fine, when we started feeling bad. That is, in general we perceive the meaning of life when it is altered by some internal or external reason.
The child is born with the awareness that the world is good. And in the first experiences of discomfort, pain or physical or mental discomfort, he must be confirmed that the world is indeed good, calming him, accompanying him and containing his Being so that he returns to peace.
That is why the meaning of life is one of the fundamental senses. Because it communicates to the child the most sensitive: How do I feel? How is the world with me?
When the child is small, his body is uncomfortable, indominable. As it grows, it knows its capabilities and its limits. He controls his impulses by appropriating himself.
But how he lives this process of adaptation and self-knowledge is vital for his future.
The growing child must connect with the feeling of being well, of being comfortable with himself, of being careful and content. As I said, it is here that the child has to confirm that the World is Good. It is in himself, in the sense of life, where he must feel goodness and stillness.
At first you will begin to perceive it from the body, which will echo inside. What begins as a physical care translates into a mood of being well, of being satisfied, of being at peace and secure.
And this care must come from outside, it must come from their parents at the beginning, and then from the most immediate environment.
It is essential that the child feels restraint, shelter and care from his parents, both from his body and from his internal state.
Parents are for children the figure of God. They are the closest they have to the Heavenly Father-Mother. For the little boy they are his world, and from them he needs to receive love to build trust, dedication, the joy of existing.
The child, through the care of his parents, learns to trust in the containment of the world, and on the other hand and equally important, a place of recollection, a place of calm and stillness, is generated within. Here will reside security, hug, trust and dedication, and of course, all this will contribute significantly to the development of your future personality.
In this place the child can be at peace with his body and his spirit.
This place is the one we desperately look for when we are adults. It is to this place where we want to return every time something dissonant happens.
This place is inside the child, but here is the work: This place is built with the presence and intuitive care of adults.
Many parents tend to be scared or alarmed when the child is simply calm. They mistakenly reflect that being small means being in constant motion, whispering or in an excited mood. But what scares is what we should allow to happen. The tranquility. The child has the ability to be calm, only sometimes it is not encouraged or allowed.
The child, from a very young age, must learn from silence and stillness without meaning to be discouraged or sick.
If the child manages to feel calm, if accompanied with delivery, you can know what it is to feel good internally. Good with yourself and others.
Rudolf Steiner called this state "feeling good inwardly as integrity."
Today we see children react excessively to everything. We see them easily altered, we see them come and go with their emotions to the surface. There is a part of the child that is out of control and reacts easily.
If the child feels like a harmonic integrity, he feels whole internally, his body and his spirit will be able not to break against various conditions. More simply, if the child's interior is well contained, he knows what stillness is, he knows what calm is, he will not be vulnerable to any fact.
Today we are facing children absolutely vulnerable to any stimulus, children with a very low tolerance. But how can we ask these children to remain still, not to shout, to be calm, if in many cases they do not know that state? Unfortunately, disharmony is often more familiar to them than harmony.
This is what we have to rescue: the request for help from children. Mankind must regain calm, must learn the various ways of being well. He must regain inner life because this is what the Children of Today need most.
Containment and care is what they need, and it is not only about body care, but also emotional and spiritual, with sincere dedication, with true internal participation by the adult.
If the child receives this love through the care of the environment, if he can know what it is to be calm but happy, he will experience the goodness in his being, the goodness of the world, a record that will remain for his entire life.
Before finishing, just a subtle and important clarification: what the child will experience will be what is behind our actions, beyond what is shown. The child will take the essence that is behind the forms, so the work is mutual.
Children are a reflection of ourselves. We can show them peace of mind, we can take care of them exaggeratedly, but what the child will take is the essence of each act. It is the rhythm of our breathing at that precise moment.
In the second installment we will deal with the alterations of behavior and character linked to the poor care of the inner life of the child.
Author: Nancy Ortiz
Creator of the The Children of Today
www.caminosalser.com/nancyortiz
Editor of www.caminosalser.com
Bibliography consulted: Fearful, sad and restless children, by Henning K hler.
Link: https://www.caminosalser.com/
(Source: https://www.caminosalser.com/856-indigocristal/el-cuidado-de-la-vida-interior-del-nino-primera-parte/)
