Day 18: Interconnectedness

Never have I felt so close to another human being. Perhaps it is that my baby contains half of my DNA. Or maybe it is because I have spent nearly every waking (and non-waking) moment with her since her birth. During those waking, and even non-waking, moments, my attention is constantly attuned to her every snort, grunt, eye flutter, and wiggle. One of the core principles of mindfulness is that we are all interconnected, and never before have I so viscerally understood this as now. Our mirror neurons cause us to have sympathetic responses to anyone's emotional state, but that experience is undoubtedly heightened by the mama-babe relationship. I feel her joy, her sadness, her frustration, as if it were my own. Certain ways I move will suddenly feel like hers. I have never once feared that I would roll over on her while sleeping because my body knows of her existence at all times, even when my conscious mind has drifted to dreamland. We are intimately and deeply connected. I invite you to bask in this deep knowing, and consider that it extends not just to your babe, but to all beings.

#mindfulness #Postpartum #newborn