ahhhlaska

I am an avid armchair traveler. I love staying warm and cozy at home while watching slide shows of the trips taken by my more adventurous friends and family. today I went to Alaska and British Colombia with my friend Julia, who is an AMAZING photographer. This slide show takes a while to download, but it's so very worth it ...

parenting safe children

for those of you near Boulder, CO:

Feather Berkower teaches an incredible workshop for parents about how to prevent your child from being a target for sexual predators. We all know about teaching the Stranger Danger rules that keep kids safe from the stereotypical trench-coat-wearing pedophile. Feather teaches us how to empower our kids to stand up against ALL kinds of violations, including the much more common situation where the molestor is NOT a stranger, but a friend or relative who knows the child and family well.
www.parentingsafechildren.com

the $ game

this book is BLOWING MY MIND:

Busting Loose by Bob Scheinfeld

www.bustingloose.com

non-violent parenting

a friend forwarded this story to me today. I don't know if it is actually true or not, but in my opinion, it offers great wisdom either way.

I'll be writing more on the topic of lying very soon ....

NON-VIOLENT PARENTING:
>
> An episode in reverse psychology:
>
> Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the
> M.K.GandhiInstitute for Non-violence, in his June 9 lecture at the
> University of Puerto Rico, shared the following story as an example of
> "non-violence in parenting":
>
> "I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my
> grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in > the
> middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no
> neighbors, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going
> to town to visit friends or go to the movies.
>
> One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day
> conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was going to town, my
> mother gave me a list of groceries she needed and, since I had all day
> in town, my father ask me to take care of several pending chores, such
> as getting the car serviced. When I dropped my father off that
> morning, he said, 'I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m., and we will go
> home together.'
>
> After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest
> movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I
> forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered. By the time I ran to
> the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting
> for me, it was almost 6:00. He anxiously asked me, 'Why were you late?'
> I was so ashamed of telling him I was watching a John Wayne western
> movie that I said, 'The car wasn't ready, so I had to wait,' not
> realizing that he had already called the garage.
>
> When he caught me in the lie, he said: 'There's something wrong in the
> way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me
> the truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I'm
> going to walk home 18 miles and think about it.'
>
> So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the
> dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads. I couldn't leave him, so for
> five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through
> this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered.
>
> I decided then and there that I was never going to lie again. I often
> think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me
> the way we punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson
> at all. I don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone
> on doing the same thing. But this single non-violent action was so
> powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday. That is the
> power of non-violence.

balance

I can hardly believe that it's been three weeks since my last post. I have been so busy with many wonderful new developments! You've probably noticed this in the flurry of emails I've been sending...

I finally got out for a walk in the sun and fresh air today, and slowed my thinking down enough to receive the message that has been circulating around me trying to get my attention for weeks.

EMPTY

As I walked, I recalled the mini-tai chi lesson I took over the summer at a workshop. One of the exercises was to imagine each leg as a vessel for energy. As you place your leg down in front of you to take a step, you pour the energy from the one you are standing on into the one you are moving onto. Then when the back leg is empty, you lift it up and place it in front, and pour into that one. It feels very noticable when you pay attention to it. but to pay attention, you have to slow down. in my case, WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY down.

Today I finally slowed down enough to notice alot of things. And I realized that the empty/full dynamic is true for more than legs. It's true for mind and body and spirit as well. I am so grateful that my daily life overflows with exactly the kind of juicy interactions that I thrive upon. And no matter how wonderful they are, I still need to take time for empty, too.

which for me means solitude with zero input other than maybe some sunshine, a nice breeze, and some beautiful scenery. no music, no books, no conversation, no writing, no thinking or problem solving. I love all those things, and as nourishing as they are for me, I also need to clear time every day to get out of my head and into the awareness of my body.

I need to balance focused mental activity with intentional mental stillness. And after sitting at the computer for hours, I need to balance physical inactivity with uninhibited motion. When I don't take the time to do this, I end up with 4 day headaches like the one that finally got me outside this morning.

so now that I've got that info written down so I can remind myself of it later - I'm off to spend some time alone!

see ya!
:)