Beautiful scene
Many parents
Many children
Mindful Parenting is a contemplative practice through which we become more mindful of our children and, in doing so, experience a more joyful life.
Your mindful parenting practice
tip
of the day.
Be sure to
sip slowly
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Zen Health. All rights reserved.
The Mindful Parent is a
servicemark of Zen Health.
Experiencing
the Joy of Connecting With Our Children
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.
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making this very compassionate contribution.
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children, and to experience the bliss that awaits you.
The
Mindful Parent
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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