January 12, 2019

Quote of the Week

"Live the actual moment. Only this actual moment is life." -Thich Nhat Hanh

Raising The Mindful Family

"Busy schedules, digital devices, long commutes—all of this leads to family members who are disconnected from each other as never before. Psychologists Stefanie and Elisha Goldstein show us ways to strengthen relationships, increase everyone’s well-being, and bring the family back together." How? By practicing mindfulness at all levels of our relationships. This week's featured article  from Mindful magazine illustrates practices for cultivating mindfulness as an individual, couple, and as parents.

Reading Corner

Title: Breathe Through This: Mindfulness for Parents of Teenagers
By: Eline Snel
Stage: Teens

"Parenting a teenager is a challenge, to be sure, but Eline Snel has some very good news for those facing that challenge: there’s a way to stay mindful, present, and, yes, positive throughout it all by developing a base of mindful awareness as your resource. With her characteristic practical wisdom, Snel provides methods for developing that resource, along with strategies for forging a bond of courage, compassion, and trust with your teenager—and for making space for yourself within the process too. Mindfulness meditation helps us stay calm in tense moments and be less reactive with our children. It allows us to respond to them in ways that are most helpful and that promote dialogue rather than clashing. The practices that Snel teaches, developed in her clinical work and honed in her own experience as a parent, are supplemented with one audio download of guided meditations for parents and another one for teens." --Publishers

Be the Change

This week, try out one of the 7 practices outlined here for being a calm, mindful parent even when life gets crazy.

If you have a story about how you've practiced mindful parenting in your life please do share your experiences with the community using this link.