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Mindful Parenting is a contemplative practice through which we become more mindful of our children and, in doing so, experience a more joyful life.
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The Mindful Parent is an organization devoted to sharing with parents and other child caregivers ways in which to enhance the many joys of parenting.  By mindfully attending to our children, both when we are physically present with them and when we are physically separated from them, we can enhance our sense of connection to them and, in turn, our connection to the cosmos.  This makes us a better parent, a happier person, and a more vital human being.
 
To facilitate a more mindful approach to parenting, The Mindful Parent publishes on its website, and in its bi-weekly newsletter, mindful parenting verses and commentaries.  The Mindful Parent website also serves as a community forum that encourages and supports a mindful parenting dialogue and the sharing of mindful parenting experiences.
 
In the spirit of developing a mindful parenting community, we encourage you to submit a mindful parenting experience through verse, commentary, and imagery to share with others.  We believe that through our collective experience, we can help each other develop a deeper and more meaningful mindful parenting practice.  Click here to learn more about making a submssion.  We thank everyone who has contributed or is considering making this very compassionate contribution.

Click here to learn what recent events are taking place and of changes to The Mindful Parent website.  Please contact us with your questions about mindful parenting or to share a mindful parenting experience.  We are devoted to working with you to enhance your ability to "be" with your children, and to experience the bliss that awaits you.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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TMP Book Series
Thursday September 16, 2004
The Daily Sip:
 Reflect On The Moment 
 
Mindful parenting is about opening awareness to the present moment so that the depth of our connection to our child can be experienced fully.  When that opening takes place (as well as the process of it beginning to take place) a flush of joy fills our hearts.  It is the feeling of awakening to being alive and a deep and profound awareness of who we really are.  From this awareness emerges a vastly expanded capacity to listen deeply to and know more completely our child. 
 
          This moment
          Like every moment
          Is the only moment
 
The above verse is a gentle reminder that this moment is everything.  So much of what we make of life depends upon something other than the present moment.  But all that life is, is found in the present moment.  When we disconnect from the present moment (which is very easy to do and often encouraged) we miss out on truly living.  It is only then that time passes too fast.
 
Today, when you find yourself getting excited, whether from an uneasy agitation or a thrilling experience, recite the verse and move into the present moment.  When you do, breathe deeply and slowly to help yourself more easily sink into the present. Look at and feel your hands.  Blow your breath onto your hands. 
 
You may find that the unease dissipates a bit and the thrill blossoms into something extraordinary.  Both situations offer the same prize -- the here and now.
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A complete archive of "The Morning Cup" colums can be found here.
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