"Whenever a baby just starts crying for no reason I'm like 'I get it. Totally on the same page, homie.'" That tweet by best-selling author, Caprice Crane, is exactly what I have been contemplating since I watched the doting-daddy video sweeping social media.
My favorite thing about A Second a Day from Birth is that the daddy did not only include the most perfect, peaceful baby shots of his son Indigo's first year. He did not shy away from the screaming fits and crankiness in the snapshot videos that comprise the string of 365 moments. I related to those ill-tempered cries, and thank Indigo and all babies for just saying it like it is. We all have that shrieking baby inside.
The difference for us adults, is our bad moods stick. You know Indigo's irritability doesn't hang on for long.
If I did a string of daily videos of myself -- or some fly on the wall with a camera did -- I would come off not unlike this baby. The joyous bubble baths would look pretty much the same. My moods though, would be slightly disguised, mutating due to their suppression into frustrations, ugly scowls and a short temper.
On the TV show "The Biggest Loser," before the contestants start losing weight they shoot a video of their heavy selves speaking to their future transformed skinny selves. My before video self would say, "Beware of what you might find out about yourself, my friend. Live carefully." And I imagine I would be thrown into a spiritual crisis as I watched the completed video at the year's end.
It is so hard to lose sight of life being just a string of moments, when we are busy worrying about the future or consumed by the past. I think my spiritual crisis after viewing my "year in the life" video would bring up the following questions:
- What can I do differently this year?
- Can I take care of myself better -- emotionally and physically?
- Can I let the angry feelings wash over me a little easier?
- Can I let go of the anxiety a little faster?
- Can I laugh from my toes, smile more openly?
- Can I meditate more?
- Can I spend more time loving?
Bottom line query: can I do all of this so that when I am captured for a second each day by the fly-on-the-wall videographer I am proud of who I am in life? I'd much prefer to look like a little Buddha, unattached to the ups and downs of life, with easy access to bliss, and overall at peace.
I know that the true magic of this video lies in the baby's transformation from a shriveled newborn into the makings of a little man. But I'm going to let Indigo inspire me to keep my head on straight and let the emotions move through me like they do for all the Indigos of the world, so I can have a looser grip on negativity and an easier slip into joy and peace.
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