Self-Care Matters

 

On Mindful.org they talk about Mindfulness for Parents. One line stood out to me and really resonated with my own life. "What parents need is help walking with, instead of struggling against, their pain, confusion, and doubt."

Don't forget about your relationship with yourself and taking time to take care of yourself. 

As a parent or caregiver of a child, you will inevitably experience pain, heartache, loss, frustration, and confusion. Mindfulness as a daily practice can help you feel those feelings, let them exist, pass through, and then help you move on.

In the Mindful.org article they share a great parent mindfulness called N.A.P. What parent is not in need of a nap? I know I could use one right now. It's a rainy Monday, a nap sure sounds good.

A mindfulness nap is something more and can help you work with, not against, feelings.

N.A.P

1. Notice and observe the painful sensations in your body and any accompanying thoughts as they show up.
2. Allow it all to be just as it is, without trying to change anything.
3. Pass the pain on through, rest into the moment until your painful thoughts and feelings pass through and away from you.

This practice talks about painful thoughts; these thoughts could be a frustration with your child and schooling, a child being hurt, a child growing out of the phase where they spend time with you, a child becoming a teen and being angry or mean, and so on. So many things could be viewed as pain when you are thinking about the challenges of parenting.

If you continue to explore mindful.org you will come to anther article on parenting and mindfulness. There is one from 2019 that talks about giving space. Space between an event and a reaction. Mindfulness teaches us to sit with the present moment, breath through the situation, accept it as is, and then address how it could be changed.

It is easy to react to a child. We meet chaos with chaos. We try to extinguish yelling with more yelling. We expect calm when we show anger. We need to be the clam when our children experience chaos. Be the safe port of harbor in the storm of life. Guide them in with light and protection. 

Mindfulness isn't simply about how to calmly parent your children, but it is also learning how to be mindful of other parents. Others may yet to reach the mindful space you have created for yourself and your household. Being open to understanding the chaos in others may help you identify your own chaos which has be left unattended. 

Try a mindfulness app Headspace or Calm. There are many others, these are the two that I find are good go-to to start out your practice.