Taking it all in. (Copy)

I am going to continue the theme of mindfulness, parenting and children. I have heard a lot of comments about the 12 exercises for mindful parenting, and it seems to be something a lot of parents would love to work with some more. I know I do. So when the intention to meditate is there, but we lack space, time and motivation what do we do? A women I really enjoy reading is Diana Winston. What an inspiration. She wrote a blog post about meditating with toddlers.

“Well one night while meditating, I had the brainstorm of bringing back formal practice in toddler-friendly style. And thus we instituted “family meditation time.” My daughter is only one so we don’t have too high of a bar. We sit together, the three of us, for five minutes. We have one of those wooden pyramid timers that we set for five minutes; we all listen for the ding (extremely exciting to the one year old in all of us). Then my husband and I close our eyes and try to meditate. (Operative word: “try”). And what does my daughter do? She tries to nurse. She fiddles with the bell. She pokes us and giggles. She wanders about, not too far usually. Sometimes she whines and occasionally cries. Once she seemed like she was meditating along with us—for about two seconds. More often than not she’s jumping on us.”

I smile when I read it, I know it happens around here a lot.

I often hear, in classes that they couldn’t meditate because the kids were screaming, tv was on and there just too much distraction going on. No time, no space, and kids are awake. It is possible to commit to being aware of what is going on in this moment, without it being in silence. I believe that for us parents, that is a big part of the practice - in our everyday lives. Being present with chaos. As Diana goes on; "She bonked me with a book, and I just sat there and took it all in— spacious, open, wild-child mind..."

In my home we have a buddha statue. It is in my meditation corner with my cusion. Well... the cusion gets moved around all the time, when it’s in my daughter's way. I find it sort of symbolic, to remind me to take presence with me troughout my day. I walked into the living room the other day, to find the buddha over in my daughters play-corner with lip balm on, and hair bands around its head. He still had a big smile on its face, so I took that as a thumbs up... And she loved it. She was in peace and having the time of her live. True awareness and meditation. And I just sat there, and watched her observed her playing, with awareness of what was going on inside me, taking it all in. I love my meditation corner, but it goes where she goes and so does my everyday practice.

What do you do? I would love to hear your experiences.

Joining the rampage #1 (Copy)

So week two hit the AIM2011 group. And I’ve been beating around the bush with listing what I’m grateful for. I don’t why, but it’s not that easy. Along the way I keep sizing things up, “this isn’t great enough to go in the list”, “who cares about that”, and so on. A great exercise in stopping, taking a breath, and just writing the damn list. Because I am grateful for a ton of things and sometimes, because I think too much, I end up not saying, writing or speaking of what I cherish, but mostly just what I don’t cherish so much - that’s putting it nicely. So here we go:

#1. Little Lilli ♥

The little girl who came into my life in April 2009. She is a strong little girl with a soft side that is scared of everything. I hope she grows out of it, I would I hate for her to be as scared as I am. I have spent most of my time feeling overwhelmed and not being the mother I wanted to be. The mother guilt had a hold og me big time. And I was so affraid of her leaving me again, and that it took over. The last few months the love has grown, and I am so amazed. I love her to bits and she teaches me so much. So thank you Lilli for chosing me.

Oh... and with her comes her dad - I am very grateful for him as well. But he was out last night, so he doesn’t get a full post today. : )

#2. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs I instantly feel in love when I hear that song. I don’t know why, but it just gives me the best feeling in the world. They are one of those band that I want to see before I go. And they are Canadian - which helps when I feel home sick.

And I waited 3 years for it. So another great things that happened in 2010.

#3. My grandfather - Wilfred Lyall.

He is not here anymore, but I feel grateful that he once was. He died too early, and I didn’t get a real chance to thank him. He was like a father to me, and showed me so much love. I miss him every day, and would love for him to have seen the way things turned out. A great man, with a great heart, the world truely lost a beautiful soul.

#4. The women

...that have attended my courses during the past year. I can’t thank them enough. They amaze me. The things they share, do for themselves, and give back to me, I wouldn’t want to live without. So thank you ladies, and can’t wait to meet the ones who will be joining this year.

#5. Ok then...

Stig my partner. He is a great person who never takes life too seriously, and is a constant reminder for me not to do the same. I love him very much, and I'm very grateful for the challenge of being in that relationship. I say challenge, because who am I kidding... it’s not always easy being a “control person” in a relationship with a man who isn’t having any of it. He makes me smile, and laugh everyday.

So I did it. The first real list of gratitude. I think it went alright?