5 Everyday Ways to Practice Mindful Parenting

By Ora NadrichOctober 23, 2015 4:19 AM 

 

Mindfulness means being in the present moment with total awareness. It keeps us focused and fully engaged in what we’re experiencing.

 

It also enhances the quality of our relationships because it makes us more attentive — and I can’t think of a more important place to be mindful than with our children. As a mother of two boys, I find that when I’m as present as I can be with them, our communication is much more clear, thoughtful, and meaningful.

 

Our kids shouldn't have to compete with our gadgets to get our attention.

 

 

 

 

There are many ways to be mindful with our kids, and all it requires is that we just make time to do it. Here, I'm sharing a few of the tips I found to be super-helpful when raising my boys:

 

1. Don’t multitask when you’re with your children.

 

These days, it’s so tempting to try to do many different things simultaneously. That might be fine if you’re at the office and need to get a few things done by a certain time.

 

But your children are not your job — they’re your joy. So when you're with them, stop doing other things that can wait. Put your focus and attention solely on them.

 

2. Listen to your children as though your life depends on it.

 

No matter what they’re saying to you, make it the most important thing you can hear — even if it’s just what they had for lunch at school, or the details of their bathroom experience.

 

Children know when you’re listening to them and when you’re tuning them out.

 

3. See beyond your children's silence.

 

Mindfulness helps strengthen our intuition. That means if your child is going through something difficult but isn’t talking about it, you’re more likely to recognize it and be able to help get them through whatever is troubling them.

 

If you’re distracted, and not in the present, you can miss important signs your child might be telegraphing to you without words.

 

4. Have relaxed family dinners every night that you can.

 

Sitting around the table and having a meal together is a great chance for your kids to open up and share stories with you about their day.

 

Encourage it to be unhurried and calm. Mindful eating means not rushing through a meal but taking it slowly and enjoying the entire experience. This can be a wonderful time for the whole family to connect and wrap up the day with laughter and warmth.

 

5. Put down your gadgets and make time for your kids.

 

Nothing is more important than getting to spend time with our loved ones. But sometimes we let other things take priority over them, making them feel like they don’t matter to us as much as the things we’re distracted with — like talking on the phone or being on the computer.

 

That doesn’t mean we have to stop what we’re doing every time they ask something of us. But if we allow ourselves to be constantly buried in our devices, it can take away from quality time with our children. Try to minimize using your phone or computer during family time, and always make your children feel that they’re top priority. They shouldn't have to compete with your gadgets to get your attention.

 

Mindfulness helps us value the moments we’re in, and there are no better moments to value than the ones with our children. Enjoy each blessed moment you have with your loved ones by being as fully present as you can be.

FINDING MY WAY HOME

By Danielle Scruton Boonstra

Evergreens whooshed by her as she drove. Peppered between them were trees shedding leaves of burnt red and orange. Her 1991 Acura Integra was packed to the gills. The air was just cool enough to crack the window open.

September.

No one was surprised by her leaving. The hugs at her old office were tight and true with whispers of, “You stayed too long” and “Go. Make us proud.” She had spent five years doing what she thought was right. Five years at a desk. Five years trying to be good, to meet a good man, to make a life worth settling down for.

Five years.

But she was wild at heart, and not in a false rebellion kind of way. She wanted roots, but she also needed wings. Family would come—she felt it in her bones. She would love and love big. But for now…for now she craved a landscape that matched her soul: untamed, pure and full of awe. For now the love was for herself and nature and art and God.

North country.

It was amazing how much money you could save when a place was calling your name. She heard it at night, just as her head hit the pillow. It was an echo from the distance and the pull was both sonic and visual; a rope running through fingers, pulling her closer and closer. A call so deep and bare she could think of little else. Her lunches were spent scoping lakeside cabins and small cottages in the hills.

No neighbors.

She was thirty years old but had never been alone. Between parents and boyfriends and roommates, she had shared her existence, her habits and her energy constantly. She was tired. It was time to feed herself, to dangle between chores and obligations and be still for a while. It was time to pray and paint and run with animals she had never seen.

No plan.

It would take as long as it took. Her soul was writing the script and she was not privy to the following pages. She lived by breath, by gut. A friend had called her fearless, but that wasn’t entirely true. She shook with nerves at times but gently let them pass. Would her broken heart follow her? Of course it would, but she would no longer follow it. No more longing for completion. She had read a poem once that said she was already whole and that felt true. She would follow that.

Arrival.

Pulling down the gravel road, she gasped. The small cedar cabin sat to the side, bowing deep to the grass-covered hills and the shimmering lake before it. A laptop screen could never, ever do this justice. Is home a place or a feeling? Looking out at the scene before her, she had to say it was both. It was an answer to a call, a relenting, a surrender to that voice that whispers low and sweet: “I’ve got you.” Tall grass at her feet, water close at hand and heaven within her.

Which Life Do you Choose?

"I choose the life that I live each morning when I raise.  I choose to live an enchanted life full of self-care, I choose to let the stresses of every day life melt away while I breath slowly through difficult times. If an obstacle comes in the way of an opportunity, I allow time to find a way to get to my goal.  We are in control of the life we choose to live.  If you are unhappy then make the changes needed to find happiness.  No one was given a perfect life, it doesn't exist but what we are given are endless supply of new beginnings with the start of each and every morning when we wake again with another chance.  What will you choose with you gift tomorrow?  Will you let your life pass you by and not pursue your dreams?"    

Carly Gutierrez ~ A Holistic Goddess

START PREPARING FOR THE LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS

Stay Ready. Then You Never Have to Get Ready.

This has come to be one of my most significant life mantras. I have lived most of my life thriving on overwhelm, leaving everything until the last minute then scrambling under pressure for whatever it might have been I needed to get ready for. I would think, “Oh, I’ll start going to the gym to get ready for this or eat a better diet to get ready for that, start practising this or reading that when I really need to.” Of course, in truth, most of those things never really started and I have now embraced an action lead lifestylewhere I have no need for a last minute shift in behaviour or practices. I have, for the most part, replaced bad habits with good ones on a daily basis.

Staying ready means I have no fear of a random opportunity coming my way. I’m ready for it. Waiting to do something until you need to is delaying life. And who wants that? Not me. Whenever my emotion-led chimp brain kicks in that says I can’t be bothered to exercise, make healthier food choices, go out of my way to do something for someone else or myself, or create menial distractions than work, I repeat that magical mantra to myself. It reminds me to keep the neural pathways in my brain and the cells in my body sizzling, so when the big things come, I’m already halfway there.

Now that I know am always in a state of readiness, those opportunities I was waiting for to be the excuses or catalyst for change are flowing to me effortlessly, like the words I share with you today. Who needs an excuse to get fitter, stronger, smarter or better read? Do it now. My mantra is feel good for feeling good. I’m not ready for anyone or anything except myself. I’m ready for me. When you are ready for yourself and you are your number one priority, the world is absolutely your golden oyster, inviting you to take part fully in today—a cosmic opportunity never to be repeated again in the history of mankind and on planet earth the most magnificent playground in our solar system and universe.

We complain about our earthly worries but seriously, who would want to be born on Mars or Pluto? There’s not much going on there. When we tap into the resources of ourselves and re-source our inner wisdom (which may have been laying dormant waiting for that magic conscious key of awakening) we are open to receiving the resources of the universe to complete whatever soul mission we have come to realise. The only reason we ever feel bad is when we block the stream of energy flow from our source. The key may be in the door, but there are sometimes those jams of resistance that are hindering the flow.

One thing I know is that when we stay ready in terms of keeping fit and healthy, practising self-love and aligning with our source, we have access to that bath of energy and motivation that needs no excuses to rage and roam free. You can be the goddess that you are now, not when you have lost those few pounds, conquered that fear or started that thing. Since we are always expanding, we will never have achieved everything we want or need to, but as long as I keep to daily practices which hold me in a peak and loving state, I know that I am always in a ready state for whatever opportunities await.

My top three ways to stay ready and participate fully in my own success?

First, remembering and focusing on my past achievements to remind myself how I have overcome and conquered many things before. This puts me in an ‘I can do it’ mentality.

Next, focusing and getting clear on my why. Achieving anything is never a lack of ability, it is always a lack of motivation. Taking a few minutes a day to focus on my ‘why’ in life—what drives me and my vision for the future—gets me in a peak state. Keeping vision boards and anything compelling for your future in close proximity to you can act as a reminder.

And last, moving every day! I know it goes without saying but the only times I feel anxious or unsure of myself, I wonder when did I last exercise and find that usually it’s been a while and there’s some pent up energy that needs expelling, hence the jitters. Going for a run, laying down a few burpees or booking in that gym class always maintains the balance and my sense of readiness.

When you stay ready you welcome those things that you want, you are telling the universe you are a match to those things that reflect your highest good and purpose. For so long I pushed away those things I wanted, using their un-manifestation as an excuse to stay put or stuck in one place. I would use all the excuses in the book to find excuses not to move forward, believing that life had to be hard and without ease.

As the old saying goes, if you don’t like something, change it. If the thought of letting go or moving away from a situation feels good to you, then the reality is going to feel even better. If we move in the direction of release, the universe will always conspire to support us. Faith and gratitude are always rewarded and they are the two principal practises and components that have enabled me to lead a life of freedom and joy in a short space of time. Follow your inner guidance system, it is your internal key to the joy that is already yours. Claim it now and you will always be ready!

About Julia

Julia Cameron is the creator and visionary behind the Julia Cameron luxury lifestyle and accessories brand. Julia loves all things health, fashion, spirituality, travel, art, empowerment and inspiration. She exercises her passions through her blog, social media channels, youtube channel, jewellery and accessories lines, lifestyle tips, interviews with movers and shakers and the health and fitness retreats she runs with her partner Jean-Pierre De Villiers all around the globe. She is an entrepreneur at heart, writer, designer, presenter and voice over artist with a passion for creativity and helping others overcome fear and self doubt so that they can live the kick ass dream life of freedom they deserve and in the process become the best version of themselves and feel like the goddesses that they truly are. Find her on her Website, Instagram @juliacameronstyle and Twitter @juliacameronJMC.