Sunday reading
Edited Note: I had this piece all finished and written out and then the internet quit on me and now it's all lost...so this second try will be less than before...
This is the beginning of a weekly post where I read a new book every week. The days may change as life changes (and I am not real sure I like it on Sundays), however, this first book is on mindful parenting. I am unsure if it was the writing style (a casual conversation-like I do but smoother) or that I attributed and accepted this to not being American culture (and I have always been proud of not conforming to American culture-istics-which in itself is very American-to the annoyance and teasing of others) thing but with every chapter, I found myself relating it to my life. I have by its definition have a "monkey brain" (which to be fair isn't nice to the monkeys as they have very survivable instincts based on their brain and their environment) and while my childhood was, according to the book, chaotic in nature (we had lots goings on although it in an orderly state for 4-6 kids in our positive (mostly) rowdy obnoxiousness) we did have mindful practices. I can vividly recall moments where my mother mindfully distanced us all from the situation we created or found ourselves in as well as specific tasks and actions we were learning responsible for to achieve and encourage self-sufficiency (although, I think it was to contribute to the nest rather than leave it). Now that I have a kid, I can see the behaviors continue (albeit in a looser fashion).
A sub-concept in this book was parental self-care...I found d a handout from some time from somewhere laying about the house yesterday when crafting and recalled it when reading about it in the book. Basically, there are four needs that should be met: physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual. Physical needs are things like eating, drinking, and sleeping properly, doing something active like exercise, and hanging about in nature. Social needs are finding ways to connect, with friends, other adults, your family, and partner/kids, also finding time alone. Intellectual and spiritual are things like learning new things (hobbies), reading and writing (journaling), and finding a way to be of service (find a cause, volunteer, join a spiritual group). Most of this seems pretty common-sensical to me but then again, most common sense things need to be bluntly plained to me anyway.
I will leave you with the mindfulness crafty art piece I and the Luna did (she colored, I collaged). :)
