Dear Daughter,
Here is what I need you to know:

1. Your breath will always bring you home. It is your ruby slippers—just close your eyes, inhale deep into your belly, and follow it. Trust your breath to know the way back—every time.
2. Let your heart be a lantern, not a vacancy sign. Hold it up and brave the darkness. Listen and it will reveal the beauty within the shadows. Take care not to fill it with squatters, but allow it to show them their own way.
3. Treat your mind with gentleness. It means well, but is often mistaken. It will be pulled in many directions—when you are unsure, refer back to #1.
4. Your voice is the most powerful thing you own. It is your responsibility to set it free. As long as you stick to #2, your voice will be one of your greatest assets. 
5. Never fear your belly—there is a cauldron of fire in there! It cooks down doubt and sparks your dreams. Rub it like the Buddha and put delicious things inside.

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My daughter is six years old – the age at which little girls are considered “precocious,” because they have not yet absorbed the cultural messaging to dim their light, “fit in” and play small. They yell and dance; they run and twirl; they make goofy faces and wear tutus.

Yet even at this tender time of youth, my daughter is already encountering ‘mean girls’ at school, who tease her for an unorthodox lunch choice or drawing with the wrong color crayon. The other day I caught her sucking in her beautiful round tummy, and she turned around and asked me if she was ‘fat.’

NO!

This post is my response – not just to her, but to the precocious little girls inside each of us.

© Skye Nicholson 2022

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Skye Nicholson is a certified empowerment coach for women and author of Unexpected Alchemy: Poems of Addition and Awakening, now available on Amazon.