Cand onnecting with Inner Wisdom Peace During Family Activities by Jody Johnston Pawel, LSW, CFLE When you think about connecting to your soul and inner wisdom, do you automatically imagine being in a still, quiet setting? If you are a parent, is your next thought that getting such stillness and quiet is impossible with children around? When you have children, it might be a rare occurrence to be alone, in quiet stillness, but it doesn’t mean you can’t connect with your soul or inner wisdom. Just as there are sitting meditations and walking or movement meditations, you can go through your daily family activities while simultaneously staying mindful of your breathing and inner being, getting or staying centered and grounded. As the saying goes, “Wherever you go, you take yourself with you,” so you don’t have to always be in a calm, still, quiet setting to get or stay centered and ground, to find inner peace or wisdom, or to hear your soul speak wisdom to guide you. With practice, you can make those connections anytime, anywhere. That’s what my husband and I did this past weekend. We are empty nesters, so we have more stillness and quiet than we sometimes want, missing the energy and activity of family life. On the final weekend before school began, we had our first overnight stay since the pandemic with our eight-year-old granddaughter and the first overnight ever for our two-year-old grandson. We were so impressed with how smooth everything went and just how good the kids were, yet it was more emotional energy and physical activity than we usually pack into a day or two. Nevertheless, we were able to flow through whatever ripples and bumps we encountered with relatively little upset. We flowed with unexpected events by modifying our plans and in a little over 24 hours we went to an outdoor play, slept well --- even sleeping in (rare
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for a toddler!) --- and went to a park where we had a picnic, played on a new playground, and even had a fun creek adventure racing leaves through the rapids. Nothing was rushed or pushed. Since the children have been learning self-regulation skills, we didn’t have any full-blown tantrums or meltdowns. When they were hurt, or sad and missing their parents, we were able to breathe, stay centered and listen with our hearts. The weekend was a different path than we usually walk in our daily lives and while we were each happy for the time spent together, the children were ready to go home to the parents they love so deeply and to whom they are so attached. We created many wonderful memories together on this path of self-discovery, not knowing what we had in us until we needed those skills and reserves. The children learned how to self-regulate and go about daily life while their parents were away and we learned how to find our inner peace and wisdom, stay centered and grounded, even during a long weekend of fun family activities.
About the Author: Jody Johnston Pawel, LSW, CFLE, is the author of The Parent’s Toolshop® and The Conscious Parents Toolshop® online courses. Jody offers a free parenting webinar each month at www. ParentsToolTalk.com and a free Conscious Parents Toolshop® course at www.ConsciousParentsToolshop. com/. Jody also has basic, intermedia and advanced parenting classes as well as personalized group and private parent coaching. Jody is also a trauma-informed trainer for foster-adoptive parents in Ohio and other
Summer’s Twilight 2021
