"You are not the mother I thought I would have," declared the almost 4 year old child of mine between bites of breakfast cereal. I looked at this person sitting on my lap - a mini-version of me by everyone's observations and took a breath. 'Wow' has my thought. Calmly I answered, "How would you feel if I said to you, 'You are not the daughter I thought I would have'"?
"I wouldn't like it." she sullenly answered.
"What makes you say that?" I ask curiously.
 "I don't know," was her response.
She went on to tell me that she had the best dad in the world and he had the best car in the world. Within the span of the next 12 hours - I was vilified, adored, admired - with sentiments ranging from, "You are so mean" to "You are the best mommy in the world" to "I love you so much."
   As words have power - I started to look at how I was affected by the various declarations of this kid and everyone else I interact with on a daily basis and how to best respond (looked to Celestial Prophecy for indepth exploration of energy pulls/drains/creations). Intellectually I know that  she is 3 3/4, authentic/without a filter, and living in the "Present." Also, as kid #2 - I've done this before. Also - I am in a very balanced state of being right now (eating regularly, getting great nightime quantities of sleep) - so I can approach life's stresses with a degree of ease.
But what happens when I am sleep-deprived, stressed, hormonal? Intellect goes out the window and "Reaction" becomes the norm.
So solution: self-love (eat regularly and well, exercise, sleep) - to deal with energy pulls from every direction.
Okay - that was easy.
And the reflection/observation: Everything is transient - thought/feeling - this too shall pass. Looking to see if there is a kernel of truth to statements others throw at you - and if so - rectifying behavior/action, or if it is their "stuff" being projected upon you - or in the case of an almost 4 year old - a "trying on" of expression/emotion/being.
In anycase - I was left with a bit of pride at her formulation of expression - I mean really, "You are not the mother I thought I would have" is pretty darn clever!