A new Thanksgiving Tradition

This past Sunday was the Canadian Thanksgiving...

I always talk about Thanksgiving and how it’s my favorite holiday in theory. What a wonderful idea, right? A holiday dedicated to appreciation and a feeling of thankfulness for what we have. It’s a great philosophy and one that should be ringing out from the ways during the day. But, then you throw in Turkey dinner, the stress of building a meal as per tradition, you throw in different stories and focuses or you try to make it about appreciation and end up wondering how to do it differently than Easter or Christmas... than solstices and nature holidays... what makes Thanksgiving stand out?

I’ve been a parent for 14 years this Wednesday. 14 years. And for 14 years I’ve been looking for a way to bring specialness into each holiday, how to bring spiritual awareness and emotion into each celebration, so it didn’t get overcast with stress and anticipation.

And this year, Thanksgiving was finally created.

It happened quite by accident really. My younger daughter (who’s the party planner by nature) and I were talking and she was making decorations and activities for her and her brother. The usual What am I thankful for stuff.. as well as place mats for dinner. We were talking about how to make it different, more celebratory; especially since her older sister had commented that we never really “do” Thanksgiving. (What a thought, I was horrified... theoretically it was my favorite holiday... and we’d never “done” it.)

And then the thought flowed in.

We decided to write letters and cards to each other, telling each other what we appreciated about each other. For an hour in the afternoon my children and I filled envelopes telling each other how wonderful each other were. It was an incredible feeling space to spend time in, writing down all the wonderful aspects that make them themselves. We decorated them and made them special, letting them light up the table that night.

I wasn’t prepared for the feeling of opening my envelope that evening. I was focused on what I appreciated about each of them, but to read what they appreciated about me; well it made me cry in overwhelming joy.

In my course Spiritual Kids, building foundations for the Spiritual Aware Family, I offer an exercise in the appreciation board; a wipeboard you hang in the kitchen to leave comments on what you appreciate about other people in the house. The idea came from my friend Elizabeth over at www.appreciationboard.com and I fell in love with the idea right away.

But this little ceremony we did on Thanksgiving was a flood of the feeling of appreciation and thankfulness. A perfect new tradition for a perfect holiday.

What followed was a discussion about what we appreciated about other people we knew, other family members, friends and acquaintances. That too was an incredible experience, as we didn’t always pick the easiest names... we didn’t see the people we chose very often or we didn’t know them very well. It stretched our thankfulness muscles... which of course is what Thanksgiving should be for!

A little different than the stereotypical “what are you thankful for?” but as my husband points out, that version of Thanksgiving should happen every day.

But noticing the little things about people you know and bringing them up over a candlelit, fancy dinner while exchanging letters of appreciation with the people you love.... followed by pumpkin pie... now that is a celebration indeed.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Whether it was this past weekend for you or in a month’s time! <3

The Pursuit of Spiritually Aware Parenting

Someone asked me today what my “goal” is in the work I do, and an image flashed across my mind.

It was a pregnant mother to be walking into a spiritual bookstore in Glastonbury over in the UK.

The woman was me.

14 years ago, my husband and I were expecting our first daughter and like some excited school girl I danced into every bookstore I could find, looking for that tool, that golden compass which would help me find the spiritual path I knew pregnancy could be. Up until that point, I’d avidly gobbled up every spiritual book I could find. Before meeting my husband, I’d Marianne Williamson’d, Deepak’d and Dyer’d. I had gone old school with holy books and philosophy leaders and on the flip side, had watched Oprah until the sun went down. I’d even been a screenwriter for a spiritual television

program for children. Spirituality coursed through my veins and I’d met my husband through the most spiritual connection I’d ever experienced, using connection, the law of attraction and intuition.

It seemed like pregnancy should be the same. It felt like parenthood was a holy rite to be passed though and I wanted to meditate through labor and teach yoga to her before she could walk. She would be enlightened and know all the tools I’d been gathering for years, so her life would be golden.

But, I hadn’t counted on the fear, socially inflicted doubt and the fact that my life had sped up and I already felt I was running out of time!

I felt rushed as each trimester passed...I talked and read what I could find but I felt I would never have the quiet I craved and the more I craved it, the more I didn’t know how to savor it when I found it. I felt like a runaway train was behind me that hollered “She’s coming soon and you aren’t lined up yet. Line Up!”

My feeble attempts to have small rituals or make things sacred for our daughter, were done for my own outward show, trying to convince my fearful heart that I would “get it right”, while I really felt that  I really didn’t know what I was doing, or who she was, or who I was going to be as a mom. I wanted to enjoy that time... but it was flying by and tainted with morning sickness. I felt like I was having a shadow experience of something I wanted with all my heart.

I sometimes felt so guilty for feeling like I was failing her and she hadn’t even been born yet.

And so, I wandered into bookstores, looking for the book that hadn’t been written.

And I kept aimlessly looking for a couple of years.

2 daughters later I decided it was time to slow down and tap into the inner resources I’d known all along was within me, but I’d been too nervous to look before. I’d have to dig deeper than I ever had. I’d have to be vulnerable and push back the veil.

For some reason, I thought that parenting was something everyone had figured out already, and I should play by the rules. I might have found true love across the ocean by mere instinct and without any dating experience like everyone else. but parenting... surely I was safest following other people’s lead.

But I finally got it. I couldn’t play a role and feel authentic to myself. I couldn’t have the spiritual experience while pretending to be something else. Trying made no sense. My girls, my husband and I were going to have to live a different story. The veil had to be pulled back. The real me had to emerge.

And so it began... oh it was shaky for awhile I can tell you. The philosophy had to be invented as going, and with a daughter who had iron will, I fell back into old habits more than not. I screamed, I shouted, I guilted and I even shamefully spanked as my own reaction to the lack of control and dictatorship I had (I mean everyone else said I should be in control, was I really supposed to give that up?)

But little by little I remembered Who I was... and who I wanted to be. I remembered I was connected when I felt good, and if fighting felt bad, it wasn’t good.

So I started passing on tools to the girls as I practiced them again for myself. Exercises, games, stories, anything that could offer them emotional awareness. Homeschooling provided us with the best platform for emotional awareness lessons and life tools.

And then I got pregnant with our son.

I went back and redid pregnancy, the way I had wanted to in the first place.  I rewrote the experience and connected to the source within my son by 16 weeks. He was my eyes and ears to how the pregnancy was going. It was enlightened.

Everything rolled together and kept rolling. Our girls were learning how to feel, and to follow their hearts. They became sensitive to how the law of attraction brought in what they were feeling. They became in awe of the world around them, and integrated spirit and magic into near enough everything. The world made sense on a deeper level for them. They did yoga, and learnt how to meditate....

Scratch that... they’d always known how to be the incredible spirits that they are.

Along with our son, they taught me how to allow and move through stages rather than force them.

Behaviour became an indicator of how they were feeling about themselves not how “bad” they were and my stress was a sign that I needed to connect to ME, not to find fault in Them.

There wasn’t any pressure to pass on wisdom, I got to learn some. I got to play more, I got to laugh more.

Life finally slowed down and I could enjoy it feeling fulfilled and authentically me.

And that’s my goal for my work. I want for as many of you as possible to find ease in the chaos and speed of the day. I want you to feel so much deeper than the routine and daily chores. I want to empower children to look for the deeper route in life and to have emotional awareness, knowing themselves so they can navigate through it all. I want love, laughter and ease for everyone.

Is that too much to ask? Maybe. But not too much to try.

Its right around the corner, you know? Just pull aside the veil and see what’s there.

5 Steps to Less Screen Time

It’s everywhere, and yes, even sometimes in my own house.

Screentime overdose.

It doesn’t take all of the studies that exist to know that our children, and ourselves, are glued to our screens too often. We’re missing out on present moment living due to computers, smartphones, and television. Remember how on weekends, streets used to be lined with children playing? Now, often residential areas are like ghost towns, just because everyone is stuck inside.

And it’s not just our children. We can’t say it is. Facebook and notifications distract us from our family and we offer nothing but an example of distraction; distraction from life itself.

I would love to say that I was a parent that had kept electronics from my children. I was so close, our daughters were 8 before they had ever tried a computer game. Living off grid for a long period of time, without highspeed internet, had kept everything pretty limited. But then we moved, got busy, they had homeschool programs online, we got a shop, and soon our boy wanted to take part in games with his sisters... boom. We were lost.

It happens. It spirals. My last hooray is staying away from smartphones simply because I don’t want to tempt myself.

Life. That’s what’s at risk here. Life and tools for life. I’ve felt my way to the point that, for me, it’s not about keeping my children away from technology, it’s part of their generational make-up, rather I need to help them use it with awareness. We have the opportunity to offer our children solutions, awareness to their focus and attention, as well as, hey, a serious amount of fun play  time. Life flips by while we scan newsfeeds and cat videos... not to mention the numbing effect of violent video games and the emotional turmoil experienced by children in the name of entertainment.  But what’s scarier... if something can be... is the fact that “if you don’t lose it you lose it.” If you don’t know how to follow passions, interests, and wonderment, you lose the ability to experience it at all.

So, here’s my list of 5 things you can do to start curbing screentime. (and please note, there’s not really any “enforced” abandonment of screens entirely. In order to offer awareness and tools for life, we can’t simply restrict and take away. In many ways that simply encourages our children to do it anyway, but not get caught. However, it also means that building awareness takes some time. This isn’t a quick fix and it shouldn’t be. Its foundation building and therefore, a little time makes it a little stronger.)

1)      Play with contrasts.

 Start to draw attention to the emotional affects on each other of computers and games and even tv shows. Become the experiment. As a family, what happens if you only do screens after lunch or at certain times? What happens if you only go on AFTER you go for a walk and get some exercise... why does it feel better? What feels better? How does it affect how you feel and the general feel of the house? Also, if you’re struggling with television screen time, talk about the different feelings of different shows. What do fast and loud shows feel like, compared to slow ones? Look for differences in behaviour when your children are taking part in one form of entertainment and another. When you take part with the contrasting experiences your children aren’t feeling TOLD what to do or feel, but are observing it themselves and then can start to make conscious decisions on what works for each person. This is Screen/emotional education.

2)      Find alternatives.

When we don’t use it, we lose it. If we just tell our kids to get off of the screen, chances are they will be baffled at what to do instead. This isn’t 30 years ago, when childhood was filled with finding things to do. Our children live in a time when they are told what they can do. Chances are few of us still feel comfortable with our children taking off and not telling us where they are going. So, what do they fill their days with? What interests them, sparks them, excites them? What about hobbies and crafts and a huge stack of wood out the back that they can make whatever they want out of. Providing alternatives is providing opportunities... and what’s surprising is that, with those opportunities and alternatives, they rarely want to chose the screen instead. CREATIVE LIVING... is the name of the game.

3)      Be the example.

 It’s true. Each time we don’t know what to do with ourselves and we choose Facebook instead (my personal demon) of finding something creative ourselves... even just playing with our kids, or meditating under the stars, we are saying that life needs to be distracted from. Each time we say “just a minute” because we are surfing the net... we give the permission for our children to zone out on a screen. Ouch. But so true.

4)      Do a family challenge. No Screens (NONE!) for a week.

 Go camping, turn off the wifi, turn off the electricity, do whatever it takes. But just get away from it for one week. Stock up on books and board games... go on midnight walks and crazy times. Have fun. Let awareness build all by itself.

5)      Turn your attention to your children’s time OFF of screens. The truth is that the law of attraction works with everything and the more we notice what’s not working, the more we notice it... more and more and more. Same too though, the more you notice what is working... the cuddle up bedtimes when you talk together, the morning breakfast when everyone chats, or the walks with the dog when everyone gets exercise, the more those will happen, and the more you will notice. If you are totally focused on how much your family is in front of a screen, then no matter how much everyone tries to get off of them, you’ll never notice. The Law of attraction makes it so. So, start looking out for the moments of connection and play... you might be pleasantly surprised.

Setting New Year Intentions- A process of creation

I love New Years. It’s a time to re-focus, review and reset intentions for a new time. I look at the past year, acknowledge what went well, and what didn’t, and reset my sails accordingly.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of spinning my wheels in the same rut if I don’t stop and look at intention, and where I want to turn my attention.

Intention- just as the title of my book release this year- Intentions for the Spiritually Aware Parent. Intention has been a strong theme of 2015.

 Life is a pressure pot of power and when we have a simple vision, even waking up and setting the intention to be more present in our moment, with a little focus we can reap a million fold. It’s an incredible experience to hold an intention for a moment, let it slip out to the universe and then watch it unfold before you.

I got a theme for my intention of 2016, and I’m taking it from the Queen’s Christmas message... although the quote is supposedly an Ancient Chinese proverb, but I hadn’t heard it until this Christmas day.

“It is Better to Light a Single Candle, Than Curse the Darkness.”

I come from a family of gossipers. We’re a big family of a lot of women and we get around and talk... a lot. Often the conversations growing up were about other people, or complaining about situations, or at least just observing what was in our situation. Over time I’ve learnt about intention and about how our perspective can illuminate what once could feel dark. It is sometimes only about telling a different, deeper story and shifting focus in a direction that feels better, to change the course of a conversation or a day.

Ok, curse the darkness might be a little strong... but it is actually apt. For when we observe what we don’t like and hold it in our thoughts... things get dark and all we do is make it more intense with our focus.

Therefore, I would like to invite you to create a New Year Intention this year, rather than a resolution. Rather than focusing on what is wrong and planning on changing it, consider focusing on a feeling that feels wonderful and letting it resonate and radiate through you. The more we put focus on something the more it appears. Let’s put focus on light and love.

But how do you find that pure intention? That one you really mean?

I invented a little exercise which has brought a lot of clarity for me and I hope my girls will try their own take on it.

 I call it the New Years Tree.

The tree represents the Year... and starts with a seed.

The seed is your intention. Your focus. A small intended shift that has big impact.

For instance, if you can tell in the photo, my seed is to have more self discipline (which is defined by more scheduled days and focus.)

From that seed, roots will sprout.

The Roots are the spiritual grounding effect the seed will bring when active.

For me, things like clarity, security and freedom will come from my seed of self discipline.

(Therefore, they aren’t a goal, they are a result.)

Next is the trunk... the process or path the year will take.

A path of mindfulness and awareness comes from self discipline.

And from that, the fruit.

From that route, I will grow further co-creation and interaction with my readers and clients, I will have more play with my family, more adventure, more fun. I will have more experience and expansion.

But those things don’t have to be on the list of my Intention as they are results of the intention ,or the seed, planted in the year.

It’s a playful, yet insightful exercise and one that can set a clearer intention for the new year.

 We’ve done other exercises, my daughters’ and I;

 we’ve written intentions down and thrown them in the fireplace to send them to the universe. 

We’ve done inspiration boards, visualizing what we intend. 

We’ve had lit candles, blowing out the old year and giving light to the new.

And, since I was a teen, I’ve written a year in review and the year in preview in a journal.

It’s an exciting time of re-birth and rejuvenation that I hope lights you up from the inside.

In case you are wondering, I have great plans and news coming over the coming months of 2016.

 I am honored to have you on this journey with me. If you want any help setting up your New Years Tree, don’t hesitate to contact me. We are all in this together and together...

We can light a lot of candles.

Happy New Year everyone.

Shine on!

5 Tips to Feel Better Around Family Over the Holidays

It’s twelve days before Christmas and already I can feel the tension building...

Hmmm... come to think of it my shopping list is way behind... oh well. I have some general ideas brewing. I’m sure they will unfold beautifully.

Yes. That’s my approach to everything lately:  I look forward to the unfolding.

But as someone who has her three kids, spouse and dog staying in a large home with my sister and her family, other people’s approaches, traditions and functioning is foremost on my mind.

It’s a holiday tradition in itself isn’t? The feeling of uncertainty regarding family, friends and the melting pot that often turns into a pressure pot over the holiday festivities. It could almost be funny if it wasn’t so painful sometimes, as we all get that sense of dread, wondering will it all be ok.

So, I’m compiling a quick list of how to survive a family holiday gathering... a Coles notes as it were... a cheat sheet on how to keep the love flowing and everything unfolding beautifully.

1)      Find your inner connection... and be able to do it quickly.

When do you feel the best? What thoughts make you settle into a space that rings out as YOU. Within us is a space, an inner room, that we let go of everything that bothers us, stresses us and makes us feel awkward, insecure or worried. Rather we sit back in the gentle space of Who We Really Are. But often these times are fleeting, and when we find them we appreciate them, but we don’t know how we got there. When do you feel most like yourself? What thought creates that space for you?

We can all find shortcuts that trigger a feeling space of Who We Really Are, it just takes a bit of focus and good habits. Often, if we have a crystal, a piece of jewelry, a symbol or trigger point, that reminds us that of Who We Really Are and how we want to be Spiritually Aware each moment. With that simple reminder, we can jump from the reactionary space amongst our family into a grounded space, an observatory perspective, which allows us to see the situation as the whole, not as the chaos. From this space, life flows, new solutions are found and things fall into place.

2)      Not my Circus, Not my Monkeys.

One of my new favorite sayings, it really is all about what’s your business and what’s not. As family we’re usually the first to jump to a sibling’s defense (even if we haven’t a clue what they’ve been up to all year) or the first to make some little joke or comment to fill the social silence gap. But Not my Circus means- my life My monkeys means- the components of that life.

If your uncle Dave is talking about how your Aunt Sue drives him crazy and spends too much... you don’t have to take sides. Change the topic. Stay in your own circus If its anything like mine, it’s enough to handle. When we let go of other people’s business we not only shift priority to our own lives (and usually our children) we also empower people to focus on their own monkeys. This can go as far as telling yourself not to even TALK about OTHER PEOPLE! No gossip and suddenly you open yourself up to a world of better feelings and wider conversations. And it can start with just you. Not my Circus, Not my Monkeys is about empowerment for everyone, and it can start with you.

3)      Find The Third Choice.

Sleeping arrangements being argued over... be Switzerland... and rather than getting attached to one side of the argument open yourself up to another solution, be the space finder. This is done only through taking a step away from the situation, remembering that time is illusionary and nothing needs to be rushed. Sometimes we all get so caught up to make a point it seems like whoever speaks the loudest and fastest wins. Breathe, take a step away, find some quiet, offer the problem up and ask for a solution. You might find that while everyone else was spinning around, life unfolded in your space and ideas flowed in. Everyone else will have wasted their breath and emotional focus, and you simply let it be and evolve.

4)      Each for Each.

Diversity is a gift. When we allow others to think differently, believe differently, live differently, we create a space where we get to do the same thing. Also, the law of attraction kicks in as well. We truly do get what we give. The Golden Rule, of Treating People The Way We WANT to be Treated, does literally work. When we acknowledge that another person’s way isn’t Our Way, but ok for them, we send out the feeling space of love, understanding, compassion and acceptance. By living in that space, we radiate that energy out, and create more of the same. We always get what we put out.

Therefore the old saying of Each for Each is What I Teach, isn’t just for children in a nursery rhyme, rather it’s a quick reminder that “seclusion isn’t inclusion it’s the stretching of the void.” Judgement and criticism can never create peace, especially within ourselves.

5)      The Magic is in The Moment

Our children are so good at knowing and living in the pursuit of feeling good. They know that if it feels Off, it’s Off. We spend the rest of their childhood trying to convince them they have it wrong... when really they’ve got it right. By following how something feels we live in awareness of each moment. It doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t do what we need to do, but we take a step aside to focus differently, place ourselves in our inner room, or wait a bit before jumping in.

 Our children do this by living in their moment and it is a child’s Moment that matters. It is the little cuddles Christmas Eve that feel the warmest, rather than the big dinner. It’s the icing cookies, or watching candles flicker that create the best memories.

Most of the stress we create perpetuates around the big deals we feel we need to create for our children and family, finding that perfect gift, creating that perfect memory, when by letting life unfold, and enjoying the little moments, we create bigger moments full of magic... naturally. Also, when we other family members, when we are taking care of the moment, focusing on the little joys with our children, we create a bubble around us and our  kids. We share looks, laughs and exchanges, we connect with them, rather than being distracted by the bigger picture. Life flows.

There they are. 5 quick tips to a Happy Family Holiday Experience. 

With them, I would like to extend this invitation: Create a New Experience This Year.

So often each holiday get together is exactly the same, even down to the trimmings. If we don’t get along with Grandma and she makes us feel the same now as she did when we were ten, there’s a bit of a reason. We always get the energy we expect, as, when we remember an experience, we create that space and emit it. Then we get it back again. Law of Attraction Strikes.(if you want more detail on how to alter your attraction point for the holidays, I cover it fully on my audio course.) Therefore, set a different stage. Invite a different experience in. Focus on the positive aspects, change the feeling and expectation, shake it up.. and see what happens.

Here’s to Happy thoughts, dreams, and focuses and may they create a beautiful New Year!

Check out Christina’s Audio Course- Taking the Stress out of the Holidays and take part in the 75% discount using the code holidayspirit to get it for $19 in time for the holiday rush.

6 Spiritual Awareness tools to offer our children

When you are a Spiritually Aware Mom , you want to be able to pass on some tidbits of wisdom to your children you’ve learnt along the way. However, unlike organized religion, sometimes it’s a little less structured in the filtering down system and quite honestly, deciphering and figure out the best way of phrasing something can get overwhelming. 

Its sometimes best to pass on a few tools of simple awareness, which then our children  can draw their own conclusions, observe, choose, explore and ask their own questions and the answers can then flow in the right time and space. This allows Spiritual dialogue to come out of a state of our own connection , and our children’s, which is key.

So, I’ve put down a list of the top 5 tools for spiritual awareness. Because let’s face it, sometimes a list is just a nice thing to have.

              Emotional Awareness-when we are aware of how we feel , and honestly can express it, we can use it as our guidance system. As positive spiritual beings, feeling positive emotion is an indicator of feeling as Who We Really Are, feeling like ourselves, negative emotion is simply a sign that we are thinking about things from a perspective different than our true selves.

When our children can sense how they are feeling, they can shift to feel better, to connect, and to have an awareness of what action or inaction to take.

How do you pass on emotional awareness- simple. Simply talk about emotions in your everyday living. Express how you are feeling, ask how your children are feeling, talk about how TV  shows make you feel, or stories. Talk about choosing a story that feels good, talk about not watching something because it makes you feel bad.

A craft that’s a great introduction is to simply get a child to color emotions. Ask them to show you mad, sad, stressed, happy, blissful, excited. What colors, what lines? Even in squiggles a picture can relay feeling and this can be started as young as 2 or 3.

                  Appreciation- When our children feel bad, and know they feel bad, they sometimes want to feel better but don’t know how. Appreciation is a great bridge to feeling good from a bad space. Simply focusing on the emotion of appreciating shifts us emotionally and creates the space we can focus on new thoughts. I like to create lists of appreciation regularly with my kids. From going through the ABCs and finding something to appreciate for each letter when they can’t go to sleep, to focusing on finding 5 things that they appreciate when they are upset or in a tantrum, appreciating makes us feel good. It just does. Our kids feel it strongly and they LOVE to appreciate any little thing. Soon, they’ll be using it all the time.

Note that I used the word Appreciation rather than gratitude. Gratitude, no matter how wonderful to express, doesn’t carry the same feeling space as truly Appreciating. Simply say the two words for a moment, you’ll feel the difference.

               The law of Attraction- we get more of what we send out. Its law. Our children can actually understand this concept really easily. You can explain it in a number of ways. First, we are like magnets, attracting back to us the same as what we send out. If we are stressed we are holding up a stress magnet, we are asking the universe for more of the feeling we are emitting. If we appreciate (there it is again), we are holding up the appreciation magnet and asking for more of that feeling. Each feeling is an energy and radiates from us. We get more of the same every time.

Our children can see this in evidence daily. When they start off a day badly and it never really shifts, when they keep getting hurt, are complaining, and whining, things happen to make them complain more or get hurt more. When good things happen, they build and the day gets better and better. When a child is feeling sorry for themselves, you can pull out the Magnet card and ask them if that’s what they want to hold up. Is this the feeling they want more of? This, in turn creates more awareness of how they feel and what they are attraction.

Another way to explain it is as an echo, echoing back to us. No matter what, we get what we send out. But it’s based on What we ARE, what we are radiating deeply.

              Self appreciation- We are all unique, special individuals and its important our children appreciate who they are. This goes beyond what they look like, although they should always be told they are beautiful/handsome and that they shine. I used to tell my children that before they came the world just wasn’t quite right, that something was missing and then they decided to come and the world became perfect. We want our children to feel like being themselves is the most important job for them in the world. That we don’t want them to blend in or sacrifice Who They Really Are for anything or anyone. How we see them sets this up within their foundational perspectives of themselves. If we focus on their successes, their joys and their experiments, rather than their mistakes, shortfalls and weaknesses, then they will believe that they are capable of great things rather than being shadowed by self doubt and insecurities.

We express ourselves through our opinions and preferences, therefore asking our children what they like and what they think creates a space where they don’t need to agree with us and share the same opinion. When their own opinion is validated they are reminded that it is important to be true to themselves.

One way I love to strengthen this perspective is to simply ask two questions daily. “When didn’t you feel like yourself today?” and “When did you feel like yourself today?” When this is asked after school or after a busy day, a child is given time to reflect on how they felt and how they want to feel, as well as ponder on what it feels like to be Truly themselves.  Now my children are older they know that, whenever they are trying to make a decision, I’ll always ask them what feels most like themselves.

               Silence- Offering our children the grounding space of silence creates a safe place for them to sense who they are. We live in a loud world and we might as well bring that to our children’s attention. Computers, Television, even normal conversation has a fast paced loud energy that children are sensitive to. They react in one of two ways, shutting down completely or spinning out of control. When we bring their awareness to silence, they see the contrast, and in that contrast it becomes a tool for happier living. This can be done at bedtime, with deep breathing, showing them how to breathe all the way to their navel. It can be done in playing games of how quiet can they be or how slow can we talk and awareness can also be drawn to silence in contrasting experiences, such as watching a fast, loud program and then saying you want to watch a slower show after in order to feel the difference, or saying that you’ve had a fast day and you need some quiet, or incorporating the phrase “Having a loud head” in every day conversation and showing how you deal with it.
Meditation is the obvious choice for finding silence, but this can come in a lot of forms. Sitting outside in nature, going for a walk, a five count breathing session, or writing subconscious pages, even coloring can be a statement of silence, which you can share with your child or at least offer them as an example of how silence creates the space for yourself to thrive.

      Magic.- We need to believe in magic, all of us. We need to trust in unseen forces and the “impossible.” I don’t mean play Santa Claus and be the Easter bunny, I mean go for walks and notice the incredible miracles that happen daily around us. From flowers blooming, to snow falling, teach your children that this is magic. Real Magic. Seeds lie dormant waiting for spring, our hearts pump blood without thought, babies are born, life is full of infinite possibilities. When we offer seeing life as magical we are reminded that we don’t have to fit into any category and life is unlimited. Our children know this when they first arrive and it is so tempting to teach it out of them, but when we allow this view to flourish, they embrace life with intention and openness. One way to encourage their belief in magic is to not always have the answers. When they ask a question about how the world works, ask for their opinion first, how do they thing the world was made? Then give your opinion, but remind them that life is magical. For it is.

There is a wonderful sense of wellbeing when we remember that other forces, good forces, are at work keeping balance.

No matter what, when our children know that they live in a home based in love and not fear, then they will have a spiritual foundation which allows them to flourish. As Spirit, we are all here to remember how to trust in wellbeing and flow with life and love, and the better we trust in that ourselves, the better example we are for our children.

These tools are also the foundation for Christina's course, Spiritual Kids; building foundations for a spiritually aware family. The course uses crafts, activities, exercises, stories as well as video and Mp3 to provide you with a spiritual toolbox, in order to create a proactive, interactive spiritual experience with our children, helping them build strong self esteem and sense of Who They Are within a confusing world.

The Unbeaten Path

Our children are seen and VERY heard. In fact, they are loud. And no matter how much we might want to pull our hair out, spanking or any physical punishment is by no means an option.

We’re a different breed of parents. We’ve morphed from the “Obey your mother and father” doctrine and found a new unbeaten path. We might find it a little muddy sometimes, but we don’t look back. We grew up in homes where democracy was laughed at. It was a dictatorship, with a parent as the leader. We didn’t question, we didn’t express our opinions, rather we saved it for a time when we were “rebellious teens,” our parents found they couldn’t control us and we finally found our voice.

We had our babies and we looked at them with humility. We saw them as precious beings, new here, but old in spirit, we saw them as knowledgeable, as wise, and we saw an opportunity for us to learn from them how to love and live simply. We wanted to see the world with their wonder.

 We don’t want to crush them. We don’t ask them to conform to what others think is the right way. We don’t ask them what they want to do when they grow up, as we’ve decided they can be and do everything and anything. Our boys can wear dresses and paint their rooms pink, our girls can too... or they can shave their heads, skateboard, and paint their rooms blue. We’ve gotten rid of stereotypes, and have-tos.  We want to enjoy our time with our kids as it seems to go so quickly.

Yet, yes there are days that the noise and commotion can have us more dazed than a stun gun. We love the idea of a team, a family unit, working together for a common good, but our children often don’t understand the philosophy. When being born into an unrestricted environment, where rules are limited and fun encouraged, its understandable why chaos can sometimes be the result and yet we plod on, sure that it can’t be that far left to have just a happy go lucky family who gets along.

They aren’t always the serene angels that we held in our arms that first day. They decide they like to play rough and can karate chop as if they are reincarnations of Bruce Lee, even though we’ve never exposed them to it. They talk back to us, and make us feel silly, knowing just how to expose our insecurities and yet they don’t mean it, just speaking their mind. You know, like we weren’t suppose to. We see it as rebellion or bad behavior, but remind ourselves to wait for it to pass. Things pass through stages... right. It’s not about control we spit through our clenched teeth.

We lose it sometimes. We feel guilty when we raise our voice, yet wonder if the power struggle still exists, as our children can shout without remorse. We encourage communication, we talk about feelings. We remember watching Mr. Rogers and tip our hats off to him for making it look so easy.

But we know who they are. They aren’t little devils as our parents might think, they are explorers and adventurers. They bring us wild weed bouquets and tell us it will all be alright when they see us stressed. They give chubby arm hugs and tell us we’re the best in the world. They aren’t filled with anger. They aren’t brats. They are living in a playful moment, which sometimes goes wrong. It is a life of learning.

But then our children grow. They grow and as they grow they get interested in new things. Suddenly it’s not about running around wildly, tracking mud through the house and catching ladybugs as pets. We find ourselves with a moment, when remarkably everyone is in their own beds, reading to themselves or playing quietly, dreaming their own dreams. We find ourselves peeking into their rooms to see them happy and content, or spying on them while they are with friends seeing them take part in the world with a sense of self confidence and clarity like we never had.

And then it happens. They friend us on Facebook, they come in to chat about whatever is on their mind. We are their confidant, their friend and their sound box. We listen and suggest, antidote our own mistakes and support them through theirs. We see them as a friend. We request help for a happy home, which they agree to, because they know the concept of a team effort for a common goal.

It’s an unbeaten path, without a map or guide book. It has no guide for one main reason. We knew it the first time we looked into their eyes. We are each our own individual selves and our children are their own selves too. We, like any relationship, are people who are on the journey of life together. Therefore, our journey, together, is the unmarked territory, that we get to discover, together.

The six year old philosopher

Its two days before he turns six. Am I allowed to take a moment? Sigh.

Six is such a big thing for me. It’s the space between little boy and boy. It’s when he’s suddenly expected to help a bit more, be a bit more thoughtful, more considerate. It’s when he graduates to full team member. There are benefits and definite drawbacks for the youngest of a family.

Lying in bed being put to sleep he asks the question that always sparks a new phase in my book. He’s been making the six transition in so many ways lately... but tonight he crossed over.

“Mom, I don’t get it. Who made the first person?”

Thank our pregnant kitty cat for teaching him the birds and the bees young. Farm life is always such a great source of information.

Not wanting to influence his sense of ancestry and knowing that he was probably closer to knowing the answer than “grown ups” I simply answered with a “There’s a lot of different ideas, what do you think?”

He paused thoughtfully watching his fish.

“I think God married someone and then people were made.” Another pause. “Nah, I think probably God made us, He can do anything.”

Now I’m going to interrupt here for a second. Our little (not so little) boy has an interesting concept of God. We’ve kept the concept of God general, without doctrine, allowing everyone to have their own relationship, their own ah-ha discovery. We’ve passed on that there is Universal, unseen power, and that it is Love. They know I have quick chats with the power and meditation is God time. But there’s not been many semantics. I want them to experience their own magical stories of deep understanding.

So, in keeping with that, I’ve found it interesting to hear our boy’s thoughts. From a young age he’s talked about God in passing. It’s become regular conversation to hear him say “Oh yeah, when I was with God I saw that... or went there... or did that.” He believes we come back after death, he likes to talk about what he’ll come back as. I know he’s been here before.

So, I was curious to hear his version of creation vs evolution.

I told him about different ideas of creation stories. Which he took in stride and then I told him Darwin’s theory.

He burst out laughing. “That’s silly.” He replied.

I suggested sometimes people resemble apes or monkeys.

“Only in a Monkey suit mom.”

Now I know, Creation vs Evolution etc... hot topics I’m sure. But this isn’t saying anything about my perspectives or even proofs or theories. This is my boy’s. Our six year old boy. Sigh. (another moment)

Don’t you find it interesting that the more magical story, the more loving story, the enlightened spiritual story is the one that makes sense to him? The scientific, matter of fact, in your face story- is just silly.

We live in strange times. My husband pulled up this youtube video last night about this underground city.... an extensive catacomb of underground apartments created thousands of years ago. Scientists and Archaeologists are baffled at how and why this sort of construction could have been designed and created all that time ago. The program was made by History.com and after describing the skill and miraculous structure they turned to the why. Their solution... some sort of Alien Invasion.

I’ve heard a lot about the theories of Aliens inspiring and creating things on earth lately. It seems to be the new default for things we can’t understand. We can’t have a spiritually inspired person, they must be possessed. We can’t have divine inspiration it must be from outer space. Our concepts of magic and wonder must be squished into a little box. One where things add up and make sense.

Do we always need outside data? Isn’t it a little exciting to look within our inner most hearts to hear truth?

I could have answered my boy’s question tonight with an answer. I could have chosen a system to believe and relayed it to him, forming his young mind to believe that I have all the answers. That I know the truth... when I don’t. I know what feels right to me, but it might not feel right to him. So, he was asked to answer first. It felt good. I told him it felt good.

Not silly at all. Just a little bit lovely, a little bit magical... and a little bit like a six year old growing up.

Opportunities in Disappointments

Her eyes filled with tears when she found out she didn’t get the role she wanted in the local theatre production and my first reaction was to go ask the director why she hadn’t and demand to give her what she wanted. I bite my tongue while she cried in my arms.

The extremes of parenting:  a few generations ago kids were told to toughen up, the world wasn’t run for them and they shouldn’t expect special treatment, now we run around them, trying to make everything perfect for them, telling them they can achieve anything, attract anything, do anything. We tell them the sky’s the limit and then run around killing ourselves trying to prove it and make it happen.

Extremes of anything aren’t healthy and its time we stopped kidding ourselves. We aren’t in charge of our children’s lives and maybe it’s time we had more faith in their capabilities.

It’s never a question of toughening up, but it’s time we remind ourselves that we are fueling the instant gratification fire of the 21^st century within our children. They are used to Ask and receive at the lightening speed of putting food in the microwave, seeing new movies online and having questions answered at their finger tips. They have a fast flow of in and out, interested to bored, want to can’t be bothered. On the other hand, we are the generation of parents who know it’s not healthy to let them cry it out when they were babies (it’s now scientifically backed up), but we carry that though into their teens. We don’t like to see them upset, we don’t want them to cry, and it hurts us to see them disappointed. So we’ll do anything in our power to make sure.... what? To make sure they are never unhappy?

But we are also the generation that knows we are instilling beliefs and values into our children by how we live. We can’t offer them the Suck it up, life’s hard line, it goes against a deeper truth we are aware of. Life is full of infinite possibilities, it is possible to live our dreams and dance like no one is watching. It’s our generational mantra. It’s also something carved out for ourselves...by ourselves. We can’t do it with our Mommy holding our hand, taking anyone down who gets in our way.

What we often forget is that the more we try to make everything fall into place for each of our children’s smallest wishes and desires, the more we try to push ahead for them, the more we create a message that says “you can’t do this without me.” The more we stop the tears of disappointment with promises to always make it alright, solidifies the idea that what the want is the only way it can go, without any openness to what could come as pleasant surprises.

We don’t have to be the principal of the school of hardknocks. We don’t have to administer the disappointment, but we don’t have to prevent it either. We can build up our children’s sense of self value and their life time tools by reminding them that, yes, things might not be going their way, they might not be getting what they want, but what they are getting might turn out better than they could ever imagine.

                My daughter took the role. She had rehearsals with people other than her friends and she seized her offered moment as a gift, rather than an insult. She rose to an opportunity, while I know I would have turned it down flat at her age. I would have been determined to have what I wanted and nothing but. Her opening night was last night and she came out of the theatre laughing and happy. She’s met new friends, had an amazing first performance and decided the role she thought she had wanted wouldn’t have really worked for her. She’s friends with the director and is looking forward to many more performances. Better yet, she’s grown in her perception of herself and how to be herself at the same time as letting life offer her chances rather than seeing them as disappointments.

Yes, there are truly times when our children become the teachers and we get to sit back and watch in awe. Our children, like ourselves,  know that life is for embracing not judging and disappointment is when we are telling the universe that it has no idea what it’s doing. But deep down we know, we may not like it, but we know: The Universe Always knows what its doing.

The Art of Boredom

My boy isn’t impressed when I express pride every time he announces “I’m bored.” At five years old he’s reached a new plateau and its one that has him slightly confused. When he was a baby signs of restlessness were greeted with me singing with him, bouncing on my knee or introducing new sights or sounds. Toddlerhood had his own explorations, but sometimes I would come in to set up a new sensory table, a new activity. As he grew a little more, he looked to his sisters for amusement, getting involved in their games, getting them to play with him, trying to be twelve rather than four. He has played and played and played, frustratingly never learning or moving forward, but having quality time with his sisters. But now at five and a half, he’s wiser. He’s played great games with all of us and he wants to do more, but he’s developed preference on what he likes to play and simply joining in to other people’s stories, just isn’t cutting it. His old games and toys, don’t seem to offer amusement and so often we just won’t do what he wants us to do. So, the wail of “I’m bored” follows.

And his mother says, “I’m so glad”, and I am.

Our children aren’t bored enough now days. We as parents seem to feel it’s our job to amuse, to set up and distract. Sure, I play. I can often be found on a bed driving some imaginary bus and saving some stuffed toys from some horrible fate, but then I stop for a bit, or sit on the “bus” and read, while he rides, drives and saves. I’ll offer options, but he’s five now and my instincts have told me, it’s time to enable, but not to amuse.

Remember car trips?  Remember staring out the window for sometimes days, watching the world wiz by and imagining everything under the sun, even just swearing you’d never take your children on road trips?

Remember going shopping with our mothers, or waiting for them to get their hair done? Remember playing with our fingers, as they were the only amusement, literally, on hand?

Now, we seem to do everything in our power to make sure our children aren’t bored. We offer them toys or iphones, we offer them treats to distract them or simply get other people to take care of them while we shop, so it goes smoother and they don’t get bored, because that would be a disaster. But who is it a disaster for? Is it really that bad for them that they are bored, or is it the inconvenience for us that make us avoid it so frantically?

Boredom offers opportunity. It is our spirit’s way of saying I have room here. I have space where I can do something different. I want to try something new. I’m ready for the next adventure. Boredom says let’s try something crazy. Boredom is the imagination’s invitation to come out and play. That’s why our parents did well to offer us that tub of clay or simple blocks to compete with boredom; they are tools for the imagination, rather than amusement or distraction for it.

Our children are children at an important time. Some say that when 85% of them retire from their careers, those jobs haven’t even been invented yet. Their imaginations have to be razor sharp, yet we live in a world that can actually blunt it. Boredom invites them to find solutions to problems, even if it’s just jumping on their bed chanting I’m bored! Boredom asks them to ask themselves what they think, what they want to do, whereas computers, iphones and most toys of today tell them what to do and not to think about it.

Well my son hates being told what to do, and although he’s been allowed to experiment with a few computer games, he’s come to the conclusion that they don’t leave much room for him to make the rules. His sisters don’t like him to make the rules either. But his imagination does. His stuffed toys do.

He still might not be too impressed with my “Yay for boredom” attitude and he’s a little confused when I say, “Hey squint you eyes and watch the light dance”. But he’s getting there.

And I still will join in a game every once and awhile, as long as his amusement isn’t depending on me to play. I’ll join in for my own amusement knowing he is strong and smart enough to create his own.

My darling girl's traumatic entrance and my son's blissful one.

I got pregnant again when our first born was just 2 months. I know, I know... so many people came up when they saw me pregnant and smiled saying “breastfeeding isn’t effective birth control.” She was a surprise, she was spontaneous and when I look at her today I think “how could you ever be anything but, my delightful, energetic girl?”
Learning what I had from my first I refused more tests then before, but I still had a few bloodtests. On one appointment I was told I needed further tests to make sure I wasn’t getting gestational diabetes. The inner warning bells went off as I heard about the sugary mixture I would be asked to drink and the idea of challenging my body to get results seemed crazy. I reviewed what I had eaten before my appointment and realized that I’d been to starbucks and had a coffee cake and a iced mocha which had been my cravings and pleasure for awhile. I had also had grapefruit juice in the morning. To my doctor’s fury I skipped the test and told her to do the bloodwork again instead. I ate with caution before going to her office, and my tests came out normal. I then changed my diet for the rest of my pregnancy, cutting down on refined flours and eating lots of potatoes and natural foods instead.
A month before I was due I got horrible backpain. I thought it was from lifting my daughter up, but it got increasingly worse. My doctor came over, (did I mention she was also our next door neighbor) and said it was simply Braxton hicks, there was nothing to worry about, and she left to go to the beach with her family. An hour after she was gone, our second daughter was born on our bed.
It was probably one of the most incredible births as I wasn’t expecting it. My water broke the second she was going to be born, I felt my body push without my thinking about it. From being within she was suddenly without and she was breastfeeding right away.
But the sudden panic of it all had the ambulance being called and as I lay there in awe and wonder, 10 firefighters dashed into our bedroom. They come first, before any medics, did you know that? They didn’t know what to do and suddenly medics came in too. Our daughter was taken from my arms to be checked up on, I was given Picotin AGAIN for the afterbirth, even though I said I was breastfeeding. They thought all was fine and then suddenly decided our girl’s lungs sounds a little rough. So we were bundled up, I was stretchered down three flights of stairs and we were all in the ambulance.
So began a two week nightmare. Our daughter was pricked, poked and injected. When we said we didn’t want it done, we were told we were crazy, we were thought of as religious fanatics even though that had nothing to do with our motivations. One woman even argued that “St. Luke was a doctor!” as if that pronouncement would redirect my instincts and my daughter being objected to everything my heart told me she shouldn’t be would suddenly seem alright.
Because I was aware of the vitamin K shot I had eaten enormous amounts of kale and other leafy green vegetables when pregnant. Of course, when they whisked my angel off they gave her the vitamin K anyway, not listening to my logic. Because of the high amount of vitamin K in her little body, our daughter’s blood clotted incredibly quickly, so everytime the doctors wanted blood, they had to test numerous times. She looked like she was pin cushion. Not only that, but it caused her to get high jaundice so she was stuck under bili-lights and in the ICU for a week.
I jumped into action, even as my family thought I was over-reacting and I got lectures on how I “should just trust the doctors as they knew what they were doing.” I got a breast pump and started pumping all the time. My husband and I drove the doctors crazy as we performed energy healing under the lights calming her heart down and letting her know we were there. Finally a doctor cornered me saying the jaundice was taking too long and they were going to give her something to bring it down. Our objections, and suggestions of getting her to a window for some sun, we threatened with child services.
They agreed to not administering anything that day. They gave their word. But the next day, when looking at her frail body we saw a hole in her arm and no one would say what it was from. The mark was so large one doctor said it looked like it had been given from the inside. Our daughter still has a scar from the needle no one admitted to giving. No one said anything had been administered, no one admitted to giving the injection that they believed would take the jaundice down. Instead, everytime we protested or pushed it, the room would get strangely silent. We felt like our daughter had been kidnapped and we were forced to shut up and play the game to get her out of her cell as fast as possible.
Finally, she was home. She woke up every night with a hacking cough that made a chain smoker pale in comparison. They’d filled her lungs with something to make them burble. She still is susceptible to bronchitis or bad coughs if its damp out. And so we started to heal her. My diet became my focus and I breastfed with a daring glare at anyone who suggested otherwise. We started carrot juicing and she was getting teaspoons of it by 4 months to help with her lungs, and we fled the country, back to the UK, to escape the eyes of the system, which was feeling proud of another “success.”
Recalling our second daughter’s birth still makes my tummy turn. It still brings up anger, frustration and anxiety within me. But, I also know that the work I’ve been doing for the past two years in Spiritually Aware Parenting is because of that experience. Our second daughter has taught me that we do chose where and how we come when we are born. She still does things in a huge entrance. She’s full of life and vitality and probably drama. She demands for life to be clear and decisions to be made fast. As I think of her, under those lights, with shades on her eyes and her bottom in the air, I remember thinking she looked so matter of fact, so “alright life, if this is what you’re offering, I’m going to see the best of it.” Her spirit shone though and although I would do things oh, so differently now, if I could go back, I know that again, she came at a certain part of my journey and it set things in motion. We are such co-creators.
Five years later we got pregnant again. We knew the instant he was conceived and I also knew this time it would be different. I was determined to have a spiritually aware pregnancy and if you’ve read my first book, you know that’s where it started... with our little man. We connected together at around two months. We checked in with each other and no doctors. The idea of a doctor’s office frightened me. But having moved to a different province, there was no other choice. A small town, with one hospital, no midwives or birthing centres, it looked like a maternity ward was the only way to go. I got on the phone and called every naturopath in the book. I’d waited until I was six months. Finally, someone referred me to an OB at the hospital so I went to meet him. He was frantically busy with so many other expectant mothers. He was nice, but overworked and his only objection on my birth plan was the good ol’ Picotin which now I knew I didn’t want. “I don’t leave my patients in pain if I can fix it and end it fast.” He said.
We were given a tour of the ward and a list of pain relief options. When I said I’d had two girls without anything the nurse looked horrified. I was out of there.
Suddenly, home birth became the only option. I didn’t know other women did it all the time. I didn’t know what ramifications would be. The back up plan, as my husband said, was to run me down our long drive way in the wheelbarrow to get to the car to go to the hospital if things looked rough. With H1N1 in the hospital, I was only going there in an emergency.
I ran overdue by a few days according to my own calculations, but bang on target for the OB’s (darn). I was nervous, scared, anxious and yet when I tuned in to my body and baby, I knew all was well.
I did some yoga the night he was born and soon I woke up with my water breaking. Not fully trusting in everything I teeter tottered all night between tapping into the best birth experience, a holy sacred time, to wondering if I should holler for that wheel barrow. Out of the skylight window I gazed at the moon during contractions. I knew, no matter what, this is how it felt right to be.
My husband swears we’ll never do another unassisted and I think our daughters are turned off having babies from hearing me wail, but I look back at our son’s birth with a smile on my face. It seemed the closest to listening to my instincts and trusting in the wellbeing I’ve always known was there.
I might as well say here and now, and probably there and later, that although this book, Business of Baby is so enlightening and supportive of my instinctual beliefs, it is my truest beliefs that on this journey of life we all do our best and with the knowledge we’ve gained up to the point of each experience. Life is about growing and learning. It is so easy to fall into the trap of defending everything that happened before, but in truth it what has been only gets us to know and we can always grow and change our opinions. Like I say in my book, I feel the trick is to be educated, to research and hunt around for the best feeling options. If you read something and it feels good, do it, if it feels off, don’t take an author’s, or a doctor’s word for it.
Well, I was worried the review would be long winded! Let’s get on with it.

WTRA now on KINDLE

Great news!
My first book, Who They Really Are: a guide to being a spiritually aware parent is now available on kindle The book looks at conception through to age 2, the emotional and physical challenges that the parent and new child can experience and how to deal with them from a spiritually aware, feeling good perspective.
Described as the perfect baby shower present this book offers feel good solutions and practical tips to tap in to everything we really are. It was written when our son was small and marked the beginning of this wonderful writing journey I have been on the past two years.
Be well, happy and thrive. And happy reading!

Interview with Mark Victor Hansen

As I mentioned in my post regarding my review for Mark Victor Hansen's book Richest Kids in America, I also had the opportunity to have an interview with Mark and hear his thoughts on business, children and universal laws. Here's the interview. Enjoy. I know I did!

The theme of this blog is spiritually aware of parenting, which uses universal, spiritual themes such as positive thought and the law of attraction in parenting scenarios. How do you feel these themes effect entrepreneurship?
Hansen: I think the law of attraction is amazing. I’m a great student of it. I listen to audios in the car every week, from Abraham and Esther, who is a friend of mine. So, I am tuned in to all this stuff. The only issue I see happening sometimes is that some people think that it is all mind, and you don’t have to do and I think you’ve got to add a magical elixir of taking action, bring results. You have to be it before you can do it. But you’ve got to do it so you can have it. That’s the principle.

As the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, what inspired you to make this your GoRichKids.com?
Hansen: America is in the most desperate times, thanks to the crash of our economy, starting in 2008. Our government, may not be bringing in the results we all need right now. Case in point, the Federal Reserve is printing money, carelessly, as far as I’m concerned – giving it without stipends.

I decided that we as individuals can be the solution and we all have to do our part. So, I decided that I would take a visionary leadership role and be a thought leader on this and create a monumental momentum. The future and the present belongs to our young people and if we can get a million kids creating a million dollars, that’s a trillion dollars. That causes our GDP – our Gross Domestic Product to go up eight percent.

I want to be the inspirational gadfly to inspire everyone to their highest best creation, innovation and invention. And the most important people right now who can really take the lead in changing our nation, changing our world are young people.

From spiritual moving stories to kid entrepreneurs, is there a connection, or was there sort of a logical progression?
Hansen: I’ve been a little entrepreneur since I was nine years old, so I’ve always, always, always loved the success stories – Horatio Alger started writing “rags to riches” stories and ended up building a whole enterprise doing so. Andrew Carnegie who made a fortune with steel, with almost no education, started the library system, as we know it. And I think the number is 2,586 libraries he gave to America. People like those two gentleman inspired me to achieve greatness and I want to do the same for the next generation.


When anyone takes on a business idea, I feel it is vital that it comes from everything that they are; that they really believe in, and all of themselves. How do you suggest people find that hidden passion within themselves and how do you suggest that they find the confidence and courage to go forth with the idea?
Hansen: Those two questions have the same answer, whatever your dream is, has to become a magnificent obsession, so much so that it’s the last thing you think about before you go to sleep at night and the first thing you think about in the morning. And then what you’ve got to put together is a T.E.A.M. I’ve re-acronymed this to mean Together Everyone Accomplishes Miracles. And each of us is here to create and deliver miracles.

And that’s what I think I’m doing with GoRichKids.com. We have hundreds of daily users right now, and that number is going to grow into a million. They, and their parents are all saying,“I never thought of this” or “I never believed that before and now I do”. And they start seeing models, that they say, “Holy smokes, I can turn this part of my life around” or “I can do this!”

How would you describe the difference between an idea and a great business idea for a child? How do you suggest they know which ideas to go for?

Hansen: First of all, you’ve got to write down too many ideas and then there’s gonna be one idea that just looms out and you say, “That’s it.” That is a game changer. Now game changers are like iTunes – Steve Jobs himself was a game changer.

Pixar was an animation game changer, Jobs ended up owning ten percent of Disney. Apple computers was a game changer because he made it aesthetic and user-friendly. He decided he wanted to be in the game changing business. I’m gonna say, if a kid writes down a hundred ideas, there’s gonna be one that’s a game changer and if he or she pulls it off,. it’s gonna be really worthy.

GoRichKids.com is intended to be a game changer.

If a child has a great idea for a business, how would you suggest parents encourage it?
Hansen: Help the child think it through, write it out, create a business plan and partner with the people that could deliver the goods, and take it from dream by putting a foundation under it and then build it into its own reality.

I mean, the littlest kid was sitting out at the Swap Meet here in Riverside with his mother, who was selling nothing, and he comes up with pencil bugs. And the little guy created pencil bugs; ends up selling pencil bugs and $3.6 million dollars in his first year.

And his mother dropped what she was doing and started helping him, full-time, and together, they kept creating greater dreams. This kid is going to be phenomenally rich. He said he wants to be financially free by the time he's 16. He’s only 12 years old and I believe he's well on his way to achieving that goal.

It's just so exciting to watch these kids really get on fire about an idea they've created and then let the idea flourish.

Would you talk a little bit about the role of imagination in business?
Hansen: I’m looking at a picture of my hero, Walt Disney, in my office, who used imagination when he got fired and had his business stolen from him. He watched a little rat run across the floor and he said, “I could draw up that rat. I’ll call him a mouse and I’m going to call him Mickey,” and because he had no resources, he just started doing all the cartoons himself – he was a cartoonist animator.

He said, “I don’t have any money to hire a V.O. (a voice over), so I’ll be Minnie and I’ll also be Mickey.”

So, when I think about imagination, two things come to mind: imagination creates your reality. And imagination is God in human form, as far as I’m concerned. God imagined this whole world, this whole universe, and then you and I, are made in the image and likeness of God, so we can imagine it a slightly less level.

And then the smartest man in the last century, by most people, is Albert Einstein. And doctor Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than facts.”

So, you can go out and use your imagination in a creative way. I mean, we used our imagination to create Chicken Soup for the Soul– stories which people said, “Oh, poo-poo, we don’t want Chicken Soup stories”. We ignored all of that and created an empire that did nearly a billion dollars. So, it’s amazing what you can do with your imagination. I'm living proof that with imagination, anything is possible.

I read a statistic a few days ago that said that sixty percent of jobs are children’s generational hold, haven’t even been invented yet. How do you feel this affects children entrepreneurs and how could we prepare children for that new future?
Hansen: First of all, I’m convinced I’m going to be in businesses that I don’t even know yet because I plan on living to be 127 years old, so I’m less than half-way through my life.

What is so exquisitely exciting is that 25 years ago, if somebody said you that we would being using the Internet, you’d say, “Excuse me? What are you talking about?”

The more kids of today know the past, the farther they can go into the future. Steve Jobs watched the Star Trek that helped generate ideas and with that magical ingredient, imagination, he created what would become the iPhone and the iPad and other devices and platforms.

You simply must watch the future because that’s where these kids are going to spend the rest of their lives. The best jobs haven’t been created yet; they haven’t been titled yet; they don’t have names yet – and no one is thinking about them or are they? Perhaps your kids are the future Steve Jobs' of the world.

Can you tell us about GoRichKids.com that you created and who it’s aimed for. Is it only for kids?
Hansen: It started out being only for kids 17 to 20-something years old and what has happened is that their parents have become just as passionate about the online course as they have. GoRichKids.com comprehensively covers business models that can fit almost any body in any condition and we’ll only keep adding more as time goes on.

We want GoRichKids.com to teach models that will guide people in knowing what true north is, realizing their full potential as a profitable success.

What is the most inspiring story you’ve heard from the GoRichKids.com experience?
Hansen: We have so many but one that comes to mind is a kid who says I’m his mentor, named Cameron Johnson. He says that he has read all my business books, like One Minute Millionaire. He’s now only 22-years-old and running the biggest Ford Dealership in America. But he started out back when beanie-babies were at their height and ended up making, somewhere north of $10 million. He went on to buy and create ten other businesses.

He teaches kids on GoRichKids.com about the value of stocks and what it really takes to become a young entrepreneur. Anything is possible if you just believe, if you're willing to do the work and if you find the right mentor.

We hope with this course, it will give kids no matter what your background, or where you are in the world, access to online mentors you normally may not have privy to. We can can eradicate “have not-ness” and cause fundamental abundance and create a shift to “have-ness” in the world so that every kid who dreams of the possibilites can become a true entrepreneur.

A book review, which came out of no where, but I'm glad it did!

I was a little surprised when I was contacted regarding Mark Victor Hansen’s new program for entrepreneurial youth which is based on his book “The Richest Kids in America.” As a writer of Spiritually Aware Parenting I wondered how it would fit into this blog. The title suggested that it was about money and nothing but money. Not that money is a bad thing. The concept that spirituality and poverty should go together ought to be way, WAY out of date. Perhaps somewhere in my subconscious the idea of money still has a bad name.
That needs to be fixed!
So for that reason and for my new pledge to say Yes to opportunities that come my way rather than judging them too soon, I agreed to read the book and conduct an email interview with Mark to further understand the program. The interview is currently in progress, so stay tuned.
However once I read the book, I wrote and said I would like to review it as well. It fit well with the blog, my daughter loved it and quite honestly I found it inspiring as well.

Mark Victor Hansen is the co-creator of The Chicken Soup for the Soul series which has sold millions all over the world. In his book for kids, he combines the ideas of wealth with universal truths, and at the same time helps build up a child’s sense of self and wellbeing: it’s a back door spiritual pick me up.

His book Richest Kids in America starts off with an introduction to the universal concepts of conscious living. Within his first few chapters Mark empowers children to listen to their inner voices, to learn how to hear it, trust it and go with it, even in every day issues. He offers exercises to build self-esteem such as making lists of things the reader does well, rather than only focusing on the self-defeating criticism that so often bombard all of our minds. Mark successfully promotes following one’s bliss, finding passion and doing what you love as that is a statement of Who We Are. He writes about the value of the imagination and how it truly is a tool for creation of our realities and offers examples as proof of how anything is possible with a bit of mind focus. What’s amazing is, as a parent who for years has put “spiritual” books in front of my children and has started to wonder if it was getting the opposite result that I wished (read eye rolling) I got to offer this book to my children as a different avenue. While they were excited to read a book that they thought was about kids their age who had found ways to make a fortune, I was hiding my excitement that they were reading empowering literature, which would build up their trust in their own inner self.
The book relays numerous stories, real life accounts of children and teens from the ages of 9-23 who have found that inner spark, focused on it, trusted it and made the plunge, resulting in becoming incredibly wealthy in a short period of time.
The focus of this book isn’t about get rich quick schemes. These kids have worked with focus and persistence, learning to stay true to their vision and themselves. This book is a great tool to inspire our young people to trust their own unique talents and individual journeys. There is a theme of taking a problem and spinning it on its head so it launches itself to being about opportunity. My daughter did point out that a lot of the children/teens were overcoming huge problems, such as cancer, which she couldn’t necessarily relate to, however she was inspired by the passion each entrepreneur showed in their work. In a time when children and teenagers are given a hard time, in the media especially, for complaining about the small things, or just sitting around, I find Mark’s book a breath of fresh air, enabling teens to see themselves in a better light. It is easy to believe other people’s opinions about ourselves, and it’s lovely to see a book that is an advocate for the younger people of the world to not be bothered about age or experience, but to follow their hearts and intuition.
The one thing that throws me off, and perhaps still does, is the title for I find it implies its only about the pursuit of cash and how to become rich, when really the book covers so much more. As a parent I don't know if the title really hits the heart of the book, but saying that, it could be a smart thing, because as a teen, often we would pick up a book about making cash way before one promoting inner peace. Like I said before, its nice to see a book cover spirituality undercover, when kids of spiritually aware parents could be fed up of hearing universal truths full out.

I’m sure that when our interview is completed Mark will be able to fill us in on the details of his program based on the book, or you can visit The Richest Kids Academy at www.gorichkids.com.

His book Richest Kids in America is available through Amazon.com.

The journey to School, from the Homeschooling view

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve posted here.

Over the last while I’ve been writing different posts in my head, but have been failing to actually get my fingers to the keys. We’ve been busy folks lately, and quite honestly it’s got me reeling ever so slightly.

As many of you know we’ve been a home schooling family for the past 4 years.
I’ve loved it since the beginning and it’s been a fascinating journey, watching my teaching techniques change as my parenting techniques shift to the spiritually aware perspective. 4 years ago my daughters and I would sit at the kitchen table, we had workbooks, pens, pencils in front of us, I had big rolls of paper hanging from the wall, and a white board.

We did brainstorms, projects, worksheets. We had weekly schedules arranged from yours truly, and monthly themes. I ran a great school. Now our eldest daughter LOVED it! She would push herself to the extreme, jumping ahead in workbooks, playing school and raising her hand to ask questions, she learnt how to read quickly and absorbed information like a sponge to water. Our other daughter would often be found with her head on her workbook, the same page open for at least half an hour. Then she would feel stressed and upset when her sister learnt things fast. She would drag her heels to the kitchen every morning, and many a time in those early years (before I knew any better) “I’m going to HAVE to send you to school, if you don’t do the WORK here!”
Somewhere in my head, even though we were home schoolers, I was convinced that there were targets I had to meet and of course in some states and provinces this may be the case, but the Unschooling movement is well on course to being huge.
It felt so off to TEACH our younger daughter. It felt so forced and then there was our elder daughter literally begging me for more. I was starting to get burned out.

Then our son was born and they were put on a strict diet of workbooks daily. I bought really thick ones and we broke the week into subjects. I still tried to teach in a school setting and offered projects and school videos that I discovered on Youtube at night, nursing our baby. But something else had changed to. With my journeying into Spiritually Aware Parenting and my new found, full blown commitment to feeling good and trusting in my instincts, I found myself not wanting to force any more. Rather I wanted to encourage them to discover knowledge, to be excited by it. I wanted to gently open doors rather than open them, push my girls in them and then describe to them what they could see. At the same time I found that the girls weren’t interested in the projects and shows I was putting before them. They did their workbooks, sometimes asking to do them instead of reading at night, sitting up in bed way too late until I told them they really had to put them down.


The result was interesting to say the least. I became our younger daughter’s dream teacher. She learnt what she wanted to, and she discovered the amazing ability that she has to grasp information when she wants it. She didn’t just learn how to read step by step, she woke up to reading and could suddenly read. Suddenly she was doing math sums and telling me answers when I didn’t think she even understood the concept of it yet. She was dropping information to me as common fact, without any pretence or sense of pride even. Rather it was second nature to her. She had learnt through some hidden passages in her head and all my work at Forcing schoolwork to her had probably been holding her back.
Her sister however was getting bored. I’ve been trying to fill the void. We joined a homeschooling group, they took swimming, skating, they made life long friends. They kept farm animals and had responsibilities. But no matter what I had found something inside myself that screamed “let them learn at their own pace, through their own passions. LET THEM PLAY.” And so they got to play… and play and play.

Since practicing letting go of my need to control what they learn, to meet outcomes and BE the teacher (I still sometimes have control issues that I work on, I still sometimes think that everything would be easier if everyone would just listen to me and I don’t understand why they don’t, but then I remember that not only does that make everyone else deny their own voice, it also puts a whole lot on my shoulders that I really don’t want!) Since practicing all that, we’ve become the family I’ve always dreamed us to be. The girls play and laugh. They read like maniacs, and recite poetry. They had their own school this fall (named weird fish school after some sweatshirts they own so it could be their uniform) and a really nasty teacher (which WAS NOT ME!) They are 8 and 9 and they still play with their 2.5 year old brother and will willingly watch his programs with him and enjoy them at the same time they will sit and watch Jane Eyre with me and enjoy it. We go to beaches and their father tells them about sea life and about tides, crabs and coasts. They explore and learn every day, even if its just by playing a few computer games (which they are constantly told they play too often as it makes them space out and brings adrenaline into the house), but they can find their way around machines better than me. I’ve been loving watching them grow and explore at their own pace, their own plan with us supporting them.

And then Sunday happened.

I sensed they were bored, so suggested that I set up some work for their pretend school and they could take what they wanted and leave the rest. (they still do a year worth of workbooks, its just that they like the brand I get (Brainquest) so they finish it fast.)
Our eldest turned to me and say, “I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and I’ve decided I want to try school.”
I was pretty proud of my self containment, and told her alright and I would talk to her father about it and we would set it up. It had always been made clear that if anyone wanted to go to school they could and homeschooling was only the Happy option not the only option. If it didn’t make someone happy, then it would stop. I was proud of her to, that she had thought it out and stated it to us.

The next day we went to the local school, and were happy to find it small, run by lovely people. The children seem happy and I appreciated how the teachers talked to our daughter, not just us. She was enrolled quickly after and we’re waiting until the school’s special centennial event next week takes place so she can start when it’s a bit calmer of atmosphere.

Our daughter is so excited she can’t wait to start. Meanwhile for most of the week I’ve had to hold back tears or run to the bedroom for a sob. I felt like a hole would be made in the home, that nothing will be the same. The first few days I pondered if I had failed her as a teacher and then an inner voice reminded me that the principal had looked surprised when I told her what our daughter was studying and had assured us that she would be well on par as the class. As I kept looking for better feeling options, things started to clear and I soon realized that parenting is a different thing than we often imagine. Somewhere it stops being about Taking care of and tending to, all at once it becomes about trusting and supporting.
This was her decision. Ironically, or perhaps powerfully, that Sunday morning after meditation I had written in my journal that I was worried our eldest daughter wasn’t being fulfilled “I’ve always felt deep down that she needed official schoolwork, unlike her sister who thrives and learns with play.” I had written I had then asked for help, help to feel my way to new options, and right choices. A few hours later, our daughter said those famous words. “I want to go to school”.

I also became aware of my own desires. That for ages I’ve wanted her to be inspired, challenged and broadened. I’ve also felt frustrated that I couldn’t take her where I felt she wanted to go in learning. I also had felt her sister feel left out, and awkward, even her wanting a chance to feel younger to play more with her brother, but often felt rushed to grow up because her sister wanted to. She’s needed some parental one and one time to sort things out. This school enrolment was perhaps taking place because of a bigger picture than just a child’s whim.
I then reminded myself that it doesn’t need to be permanent. She can change her mind. She’s starting incredibly late in the school year and in September she can return to home schooling, but with new knowledge of what she is missing. Rather than the fear of the unknown. How exciting is that prospect?
Now, I also know our younger daughter may feel like she has lost an arm. At 10 months between the two girls, it’s like separating twins. So her and I’ve decided to start her on a new curriculum too, one that I’ve been wanting her to get involved with, known for its imagination, its freedom, its creativity and sense of adventure. We’ll do it together, her and me, at whatever pace she wants. We’ll be ordering from Oak Meadow next week, so they can start new school together and do homework together.



There’s a sense of great new beginnings around here. And as I told my eldest daughter tonight, she needs to know that as a family we will miss her terribly in the day, but she’s not going into this alone. Her father, myself and her younger sister are spiritually behind her, in front of her and beside her always and we will experience this as a family. We are becoming more and more the family we’ve always wanted to be.


And then there’s her brother who taught me a valuable thing today as I watched him draw. At 2.5 he draws with no intention, but looks at his paper with wonder when he sees what wonderful thing has appeared. As we get older we tend to reverse that, we draw with intention, but are harsh on our final work, saying it’s not how we wanted it. Although we can often create moments in our lives out of pure intention, perhaps if we were to let go and draw first, we would be surprised and overjoyed to see the wonderful things we had created and enjoy them in their manifestation, rather than disappointed in being different than we expected.