Feels Like Glory
My 8-year-old has a gift for being totally in the moment and totally in her body, pretty much all of the time. I really admire this quality about her. She has heightened sensory awareness, full body awareness, and is comfortable moving any way her body wants. Not surprisingly, she has found her way to gymnastics and dance classes to explore her love of moving her body in lots of different ways.
Bonus: she feels things deeply and expresses them readily. At first, this really threw my husband for a loop. His instinct was to “shush” her strong, fully embodied emotional expression. We are socially conditioned this way when it comes to emotions…make them smaller, quieter, and all the better if you can make them go away.
I have had a different experience of her strong emotions and expression as she’s grown up. First, I relate to her, as I also was a child with quite big feelings and uninhibited expression, though this changed as I became conditioned by the world. I internalized messages like don’t be so loud / silly / sensitive / emotional. It’s too much. Reign it in. Calm down. As an empathic kid, I internalized these messages even when directed toward other kids; they didn’t have to be directed at me.
So when I witness Autumn freely express how she feels, there is something really healing about it for me. Holding space, allowing, and validating her big expression of feelings is like freeing a little girl version of myself who held it in so I wouldn’t bother anyone.
I learn a lot through my kids – it’s one of the gifts of parenthood. With Autumn in particular, there is a phrase she uses to express something amazing she feels in the moment. When she is in a moment of pure ecstasy, she will exclaim:
“IT FEELS LIKE GLORY!”
I chuckled the first time I heard her say it, thinking I’d never heard that word used quite that way. But as she continued to say it in various circumstances, I realized it was a truly accurate expression for what she felt. Whether it’s a really good back scratch, a cool plunge into a pool, or a warm bubble bath – “it feels like glory!” is the fullest expression of her delight.
A quick glance at the Oxford Dictionary shows that glory has three primary meanings:
1. (n) high renown or honor
2. (n) magnificence or great beauty
3. (v) to take great pride or pleasure in
It seems to me that Autumn’s sentiment is a bundle of all three. If it “feels like glory,” then perhaps it feels like…
A moment of total honor.
Complete magnificence, awe, and beauty.
A wonderful, exquisite pleasure.
Lately, my moments of “feeling like glory” have involved barefoot walks in clover patches. Standing at the foot of a waterfall. Laying out a blanket in the backyard to feel the sun. A delicious meal outside on our patio with all the time in the world to enjoy it. A long phone conversation with one of my best friends and a cup of coffee on the porch. Joining in with my kids’ laughter and goofiness.
Tell me….what feels like glory to you these days?
If you aren’t sure, set an intention sometime to discover it. Stay open and curious to see what you notice that gives you a feeling of awe, magnificence, and exquisite pleasure. I tend to believe that no matter our life circumstances, feeling like glory is something readily available to everyone. It’s the thread of joy – of being alive – that we hold onto even when life is hard or we are faced with challenges.
Share your moments of feeling like glory in the comments…we can bask in the glory together.