Hey Little Heart
The stories in my songs draw from both my teaching and parenting journey.
‘Hey Little Heart’ came to be when I was working with a child who had big struggles to manage her big emotions and was having a lot of ‘tick tock BOOM!’ explosive moments. It prompted me to think a lot about how we learn self-regulation and I ended up exploring these thoughts through songwriting.
Reflecting on my experiences raising my children and teaching I have seen that some of us just seem to have a harder journey towards self regulation. Regulating our emotions uses some serious mental muscle and these need to be built up over a lifetime with regular exercise like breathing, mindful awareness of our body and being present. Theres a big need for more intensive support and heaps of positive modelling from the big people in our children’s lives.
I think it’s a skill we all need to give more attention to…
It’s not that the answer to our problems is always as simple as taking some breath’s and taking a walk to come back to the present moment. More that we are better equipped to face our problems, worries and seek help when we have the ability to self regulate to a point that our bodies are not in a state of panic or extreme frustration.
Reflect on a time when you felt gripped by feelings of anger or worry and how difficult it was to have perspective in those moments… How did you feel? How did you manage these big feelings?
This is a helpful tool I use myself when I’m struggling to regulate my own big feelings when my/a child’s behaviour is really confronting me. It helps me to have empathy it gives me permission to move away from focusing on solving problems and directs me towards the real need which is supporting regulating those big emotions, connecting with breath and feeling the peace to be had in the present when life gets rocky.
How is your heart doing these days?
Mine can feel a little overwhelmed at the moment. I find myself getting stuck on fearful feelings about the future where is all this going? What will life be like for my children as they grow up? The list of worries can feel endless….
There are days when I feel like I’m wading through all these feelings and my ability to hold the space for my family gets stretched really thin and then snap! I lose it, it’s all too much.
Today I have been reflecting on the times in my life where those days have turned into weeks or months. Big exhausting stretches of time feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope with daily stress.
I am at a point in my life now that I can reflect with gratitude on the relationships that have sustained me in these times. The gratitude I have for being a mum and a teacher, for how it has taught me so much. By valuing and attending to the feelings and needs of the children in my life I have learnt to lovingly tend to the needs of my own heart. It’s the biggest work, the most important work and I’m so grateful to tell those stories through my music.
