Mindful Parenting is a contemplative practice through which we become more mindful of our children and, in doing so, experience a more joyful life.
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.
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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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Today's Sip: Your
Life is not a Movie
When it comes down to it, much of the time
there is no real difference between watching a movie at
the theater and "watching" your life. As for your life,
the screen is a little larger (it sort of wraps around). We get
lost in both.
Were you engaged in mindful movie going,
you would maintain awareness that you were "watching a movie" while
enjoying the movie. Each moment would pass with awareness of
the moment. So it is with mindful parenting. Otherwise,
before you know it the movie is over. You wonder where
the time went.
Today, when you see your child (or talk to,
or read an e-mail or letter from your child) open awareness to how
the events taking place are passing before your eyes. Make
sure you are not just watching a movie. In a theater, it sometimes
takes a very scary scene to jar us into awakeness. ("Yikes, remember
it is only a movie.") But in our life, we want to always be awake
and the moments are not always so scary.
My beautiful child
Here you are
There you go
Where am I?
When you are with your child, be keenly aware of
your child's presence: "My beautiful child/Here you are."
You are not just watching a movie. This is not a film you can
rewind. Be attentive to your child's departing: "There
you go." So often, we come into contact with and separate from
our child barely aware of what is happening. It is all a blur,
if that. If you delete an e-mail or hang up the phone, or if
your child leaves the room, open to the space left behind. Breathe
deep, soften your gaze, and ponder the empty space. Above all,
ask yourself, "Where am I?"
