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.
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.
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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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Today's Sip: Leaving the Nest
Most of
us live alongside birds. They fill the trees we walk and
drive past. We see them perched on telephone wire.
We see them winging their way across the sky.
Many
birds play a very involved baby-bird rearing role, up to a point.
Then, their offspring are on their own. We all know the saying,
"time to leave the nest."
Whether you will see a thousand birds
today or just one, let that event cue a moment of mindful parenting.
Dear bird
Do
you remember
Building the nest?
We can all visualize a bird building a nest
in preparation for its laying of an egg. We can also remember
the preparations we made when we found out we would soon have a child
-- painting a room, buying furniture, reading books, loving conversations,
asking questions -- for some of us this was just yesterday, for others
it may seem a thousand years ago. But, as with the bird,
it was a time past. It was a time that continues to recede into
our memories.
Today, when you see or hear a bird, recite the
verse and open your awareness to that time when you prepared for the
arrival of your child.
Every moment of your life as a
parent, you prepare for the arrival of your child.
