Breaking the Parental Cycle
April 6th, 2013
“I never thought I’d be my mother and then I heard her words coming out of my mouth! How did that happen?”
Every heard anyone say that? Yup, people say, “I’m never going to raise my children the way I was raised,” but then they do and don’t know why.
Unless we do something consciously to break the cycle, we are destined to raise our children as we were raised and perpetuate the mistakes of the previous generation on the next-generation, and so-on down the line.
If we consciously confront and transform the challenges, problems and belief systems that created how are parents raised us, we can find freedom and conscious choice in parenting our children.
So how do we find something that can break that pattern? The answer may be different for everyone and that’s why there are so many systems, programs and books that can help us to do that. For me, I took the Landmark forum when I was 23. That is how I was able to I raise my children differently than I was raised. Even so I wasn’t completely free of my past while I was raising them so some of the patterns were perpetuated anyway. I figure that if each generation just keeps transforming their past, we’ll eventually break the cycle and have complete freedom to raise our children without the influence of the past. That’s why my youngest daughter did the landmark forum too. Now she can continue breaking the cycle and have even more freedom to raise her children more consciously than I did.
In some circles the process of transforming one’s life is referred to as “doing your work”. That means I’m doing the inner work necessary to overcome the past, to be fully present in the moment and to be whole, healthy and happy in body, mind and spirit.
I’ve been on my own spiritual and healing journey since 1989. I’m continually working to achieve the goal of being fully present in the moment. I’ve written about most of the things that I’m using so you can read about them as you like.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socates
These are some of the things I’m doing now:
Holosync Meditation CDs: meditate like a Zen monk and resolve unresolved emotional issues just by listening
Living from the Heart: teaches us to live from the heart
EventTemples: website where everyone who knows how to live from the heart can join others in sending heart energy to those in need around the globe
Practicing being in the moment: Eckhart Tolle’s book, The Power of Now
Landmark Education Self-Expression and Leadership Program: a program that’s part of Landmark’s curriculum for living
All the World’s a Garden
March 31st, 2013
What this is
All the World’s a Garden is a new website committed to global transformation.
Why it is
There are people around the world who are researching the problems of desertification, food shortages, and other related problems. Their research and solutions are scattered across the internet and are sometimes hard to find. Then there are those who want to live more ecologically, growing their own food, raising their own production animals and being the change they wish to see in the world. All the World’s a Garden is bringing these two together and encouraging them to contribute to each other.
How it works
All the World’s a Garden is a repository for resources related to topics of living more ecologically and healing the earth. There is a Resources section with resources such as TED talks, educational materials, inspirational information, books, and solutions that are working toward transforming the planet. The Community Forum is a place to share your wisdom, knowledge, insights and inspiration on topics such as gardening, raising animals, family domains and the like.
The Vision
The website is dedicated to transforming the world into a beautiful, abundant garden that supports all of nature and all of her creatures and creations.
How you can help
Be part of the transformation:
Volunteer to help with the project
Share in the Community Forum
Suggest a Resource
Topics
Suggest a resource or start a discussion on one of these topics or something of your own:
- Animals
- Children
- Cleaning
- Communities
- Ecological housing
- Family domains
- Gardening
- Healing the land
- Horticulture
- Landscaping
- Living fence
- Living in harmony with nature
- Living in harmony with people
- Orchards
- Plant water filtering
- Renewable energy
- Whole food cooking
See and Hear Everyone
January 1st, 2013
Happy New Year!
This year let us remember that humans are gregarious in nature. We all need to belong, we all need to feel loved. If we are all one, just imagine how it feels to be cut off from others. I’m making it a point to reach out to others, be nice to them, spread cheer, smile, be the solution, be the change, pay attention and really listen. I invite you to do the same.
There may be people in your life, or even on the outskirts of your life, that need love and attention or understanding. Go out of your way to give them that. Even if you think they seem fine, and especially if they don’t, I encourage you to take time to reach out to people in your life and connect. Too many of us ignore people when we see they are in pain. Even more of us pretend nothing is wrong even when we know it’s not. I can hear it in someone’s voice when their words don’t match how they are talking. Tune in and pay attention when people talk. Someone someday will thank you for it.
I believe many of our challenges come from a desire to be understood and understand others. Just talk to a teenager. I think the major complaint is still, “My parents don’t listen to me and they don’t understand me.”
Let’s live together in the community we were put here to have, and include everyone.
Let’s MAKE it a Happy New Year! It’s all up to us.
Posted in Dawn's brilliant ideas
The Illusion of Time
October 6th, 2012
Time may be an illusion but when the sun goes down I still have to get some sleep.
I totally get that time is an illusion. I’m always in the present, never the past or future. Nothing is happening in the future. Nothing ever happened in the past, it happened in a “former present”, as Eckhart Tolle puts it.
That still doesn’t change the fact that when I get to the end of the day, let’s say that’s when the sun goes down, there are still things I want to do before I rest. Tolle recommends getting rid of psychological time. To do that he recommends being in the moment, dealing with what’s there at the time, perhaps planning for the future or learning from the past but ultimately being consciousness in the present. There are many techniques outlined in The Power of Now and as Tolle reminds us, only one is needed.
I find when I’m present in the moment “time” goes more slowly, the clock seems to move slower and I get more done before I go to sleep at night. Another benefit of being in the moment is really enjoying what I’m doing, no matter what that is. I keep lamenting that I don’t spend all my time outside. Then I look at how present I am when I’m inside and how do I expect to enjoy being outside when I don’t practice being present when I’m inside. Sorry, this sounds confusing. Let me equate it to something else. When my mother taught my sisters and me table manners she said that how we eat at home is how we’ll eat when we’re out at a restaurant. So, how present I am when I’m doing things I may not totally be in love with (e.g. shopping or being inside) is how present I will probably be when I’m doing things I do want to do.
Slow down the clock by being in the moment, enjoy life by enjoying everything and live powerfully!
Posted in Healthy Mind
Take Care
April 27th, 2012
When we take care of ourselves it’s easier to feel good. Do things that nourish you so you have something to give back to others. It’s unselfish selfishness. If you can’t do it for yourself because it makes you feel selfish, do it for those around you and the planet.
Posted in A Recipe for Bliss