The Day My Daughter Said, "That Bothers Me"

Us.
We are truly, truly precious, aren't we?
And yet, sometimes I criticize myself.
Sometimes I end up speaking ill of myself.

Yesterday.
I said, "Oh, I'm such a fool."
Then, my daughter said,
"That bothers me. You shouldn't say things like that about someone who is precious to me."

In a playful tone, yet so kind.
I felt like crying while I laughed.

I see, I see. When your precious daughter says something like that to you, you know?
You can't really say things like that about someone who is precious to her.

At that moment, within me,
the degree to which I wanted to cherish myself rose up softly.
A feeling of loving both my daughter and myself.

Because she conveyed that to me in such a gently teasing, playful way,
that became my happiness observation journal entry for yesterday.

There is no doubt that this event itself made me happy.

Actually, within that,
there was a trick to self-love.

It was that my daughter called me "someone who is precious to me."
Because of that,
I think I split into two versions of myself.

One is the me who was saying, "I'm such a fool."
The other is the me who was told,
"I'm such a fool."

My daughter called that "me who was told"
"someone who is precious to me."
And then, what do you know?
I couldn't call myself a fool anymore.
My heart tightened, and I felt so cherished.

You see,
I value thinking of myself as two,
or three, or even more
separate parts.

People often say, "Take care of yourself,"
"Let's love ourselves."
They call that self-love or self-care.

But isn't it a bit difficult for you to take care of yourself?
Try stroking your left hand with your right hand.
It feels good, right?
But it's a little different
from having someone else do it for you.

The self who does the caring. The self who is cared for.
When these are stuck together as one self,
self-love probably becomes a bit difficult.

The self who does the caring. The self who is cared for.
The self who is watching them.

Even more than that.

The current me.
The past me.
The future me.
Each of them, caring for one another.

Between the selves who know each other best.

Sometimes, turning to the self who is always "doing the caring,"
saying, "It's okay now."
"You can rest. Thank you for everything."

I think it's okay to have days where you speak to yourself like that.

This is one of my theories on self-love that makes me happy. (Currently a hypothesis)

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mederu days | Happiness Observation Journal