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Experiencing the Joy of Connecting With Our Children
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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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A complete archive of "The Morning Cup" columns can be found here.
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Monday February 14, 2005
The Morning Sip:  Your Ring and
Your Child's Hand
 
Today's verse opens us to the presence of our child in our life each time we glance down and see a ring on our finger.  (If you do not wear a ring, then you can imagine the sensation of your child's hand around your wrist if you wear a bracelet or watch).
 
               I feel this ring
               Wrapped around my finger
               Like my child's little hand
 
Today, when you notice one of your rings, shift your awareness so that you feel the metal hugging your finger.  Move the ring around a bit if that helps to locate the sensation.  Is it cold?  Is it tight?  Recite the verse and reflect on the time (Was it yesterday?  Was it 20 years ago?) when your small child would wrap his or her tiny fingers around your fingers.  Just as you felt the metal of the ring, open awareness to feel the warmth of your child's precious fingers.  Can you see them?
 
When you do this, slow down and sink into the moment.  Breathe deeply and slowly.  Exhale fully.  How wonderful to share the warmth of your hand with the warmth emanating from your child's hand.
 
Connect with your child each time you glance down at your fingers.  It takes but a flicker of an instant.  Smile.
 
Originally Published August 30, 2004