natural parenting center

picture this

The great camera that my sister gifted me when we lost our other camera has gone kaputz. I feel sad without a camera, sad without the tool to hold within my sight, even if for one second, a slice of the beauty that is all around me all the time, and then to see that slice again and share it here with you. 

And while I happily accept another camera gift from another friend and wait for the memory card to come, I will appreciate the flow of each day without the pressure I can sometimes feel, to hold onto all of it, every last speck of these gorgeous days via the photograph. 

It just might be more Zen to not own a camera. But, whatever. I'm a mama spending days with two growing wonders, so a camera I will have. 

(pssst. xoxoxo)

Inviting pain for tea

Hello pain. Here you are.

Sit down with me. Here, right beside me. 

I have a cup of tea for you.

I haven't always been here for you, shutting you out rather than welcoming you.

Yet, you are part of me, part of this thing, this human experience.

Part of why I am here.

To feel you. To let you have your way with me. To scour those sands of innermost landscapes into new shapes. There is something fresh about that rawness. Like preparing a house for moving. Like emptying the fridge before a long vacation.

You won't have all of me, though, for there is a place that no pain can touch. A place that sits back and watches all the pushing and shoving and wanting and spinning. The me behind the scenes.

When we know that self exists, we can sit down for tea with everything.

 

A fresh take

art by bill hatcher

When I think about being on the beach, I think that what I'm also after is a fresh take on things, new eyes and wind in my hair. Sometimes where I end up, through an inner shift I bring myself to,  is embodying a truer me...more grounded, powerful, clear. 

All the Universe wants from us is to be honestly ourselves. So simple and so huge, too!

If you hunger for a little more of this, whether in the area of parenting or anything else in your life, then let's do it together. We can look at specific issues you are having with your children, things you want more of for yourself, old habits you are ready to be rid of but feel stuck when it comes to changing them.

One week of email coaching can give you something profound, if you are ready and willing, and for only $50. 

 

"What you seek is seeking you." 
—Rumi 

born

This spectacular human being was born three years ago today. She rocks my soul. Her raw passion, alive and fierce and whole and here.

Remembering last year and feeling awed by this thing I've been given, this time with them, this life called "mother", the precious fortune of making her a cake, this rolling of minutes into months into years. 

This life. This particular form of them. This chance to craft their childhoods. This girl and this boy and the family of us, emerging. Landing and taking flight ten thousand times a day. 

This chance to love. 

I get it. I hear the call. I am awake to what is here, for me. What I've got. It is water through my hands and I will drink every last drop I am given.

Two of many

Here are two things that stirred me, today. Of many.

Letter to My Daughter Upon Our Weaning

and...

 

I look for them, these stirrings. I seek out ways of looking that brings me to tears and giggles, anything and everything to remind me of the Mystery that is E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G.

Elliott says often, Mom...Is this a dream? 

I say, Yes...I think so. Then, Tell me what you see.

An iris. My hand moving through space. Two whole separate perfect human beings that were once a grain of rice inside this belly.  Look at one common little thing with awe. Let your mind be blown.Regularly. Make it the practice. It's good stuff. 

hard day wisdom

buddha in the garlic

Some days are hard. There is just no escaping it. And as you've heard, there is wisdom in no escape. Yesterday was one of those days for me. With the wings of self-friendship at my back, though, I saw through the haze to the riches that exist amidst tears and struggle and pain. Here are some of the thoughts, from notes that I texted to myself to remember and share with you...

::When I wake up crabby, the sooner I can get myself to tears, the better. 

When the hard, tight edge of anger shifts, at the cusp of a different thought about what I'm really feeling deeper inside, rather than just what I'm mad about in the circumstances, crying softens me. It touches me down into a sort of still point and I stop my spinning and fighting. I like that feeling of softness creeping back in. I am kinder after that.

It was surprising to me yesterday when I went from being mad about them not getting into the stroller to walk to the library to realizing that I'm scared of dying. That's the power of inquiry...getting to the heart of things.

::I see how I blame things, even food, for what I don't like that's happening. That energy of blame is toxic. I will sit with the discomfort and see what's really there instead of looking for something to fix because I refuse to heap that kind of crap onto my kids. Blaming is a learned strategy. It's not helpful.

::Controlling others causes pain all around. Control is an extension of fear. I can see that when I get scared about something (always about past or future thoughts), I try to secure a certain outcome by controlling what's happening in the present moment. We seek control in the exact areas where we lack self-trust. Afraid you cannot be trusted with food? You will be more controlling of how and what your children eat. Afraid that you cannot trust yourself with money? You will be more controlling of how and what your children buy. 

Hard days are hard. Thankfully, we surface.

 

 

Open the door.

Open the Door 

 

On the other side of the familiar is the extraordinary. 

Have you always known this was so? 

That quiet hunch, that there is more to you? 

More to life than the day-to-day absence of satisfaction? 

Everything a door, every wall an opening, on second look. 

Every floor a trapdoor. 

Every solid thing you lean against, a thing on hinges. 

When you walk through and look back, it’s gone. 

When you drop through and look up, there’s only sky. 

You are floating but nothing’s holding you up. 

It isn’t the way it appears to be. 

You aren’t what you think you are. 

When you think you’ve got it, and you put your fingers around it,

your hand comes up empty. 

There never was anything to be afraid of. 

Outside the room of every terror,

          someone is looking in the window, smiling.           

That’s you. 

Give it a go.  You don’t have forever. 

What if you had only a day in which to do

the one thing that matters? 

Today is the day. 

Don’t try too hard to figure out what this means. 

Smell something burning? 

It’s the inside of your head. 

Just let yourself fall backwards. 

Never mind wondering if you’ll be caught. 

Be quiet. 

Let yourself rest from all the effort. 

It isn’t a dream. 

It’s real.

You are the dream. 

Know what you know. 

Open the door.

Jan Frazier

Today: sign up for sibling rivalry support!

Remember that today is the day for Natalie's group coaching call about sibling struggles. Check it out here. You still have a couple of hours to sign up. Enjoy. I am so glad you will have the chance to be in the presence of this woman. She rocks my world like you wouldn't believe. EVERY time I am with her, I walk away a better mama. xo