Conscious Family Journal

Attention Conscious Parents: Please Read This Book!

    

My review of Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, by Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D. and Gabor Mate, M.D.

   

   

Are you feeling increasingly disconnected from your pre-teen or teenaged child?

   

Does your child refuse to look you in the eye, or prefer to be alone when at home with you and your family?

   

Does your child ever say things like, “You can’t tell me what to do,” or “You’re not in charge of me”?

    

Does your child reject your authority and shy away from your company?

   

Does your child prefer to look like, think like, act like and be with their peers?

    

   

Welcome to parenting in the twenty-first century.

    

I read a lot of parenting books and while many capture my attention, very few actually keep me awake at night.

    

This one did: With Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, authors Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate caution parents that our children’s pervasive orientation to their peers – at the expense and in some cases to the exclusion of parental relationships – is downright harmful to healthy growth and development.

A Prescription for Energy-Deprived Parents

 

My Review of a Two-Day Energy Medicine Workshop with Donna Eden and David Feinstein

 

Here is something to consider for your conscious parenting toolkit: Energy Medicine, by Donna Eden. By following Donna’s suggestions and working with your body’s meridians, chakras and other subtle energies, you just might find yourself healthier and happier – with more energy to put into parenting!

 

“Your body is designed to heal itself. The ability of a body to maintain its health and overcome illness is, in fact, among nature’s most remarkable feats.” – Donna Eden

  

A friend introduced me to Donna Eden’s work in “energy medicine” about a year ago. I cannot even remember the occasion, but I do know that I felt an immediate attraction. There was something about Donna’s message (or her energy, perhaps?) that made sense to me.

  

I have been pursuing a deeper understanding of what she calls our “latticework of energies” ever since.

Retreat! Retreat!

A Review of Kripalu, a Yoga Retreat Center in Lenox, MA... a Home Away From Home for Conscious Parents and Families

Greetings, Earthlings!

I just returned from a weekend retreat at Kripalu. I am suffering a bit from my usual “Darn, I am back in my real life” post-retreat letdown, but it was definitely worth the upheaval.

Before I launch into my review of Kripalu (and I do recommend that you check it out, if you have the chance), let me just say that I am highly in favor of retreats in general.

We are all bombarded continuously with the small and gigantic stressors of daily existence. Such is life in the twenty-first century.

The thing is, these stressors will not go away.

If even one of them should happen to evaporate one day, six more will arrive instantaneously to take its place. You know how it goes.

In my journey to become a more conscious parent, I find it impossible to go it alone. I need to steadily and persistently replenish my body and spirit. Sometimes I need a cup of tea with a good friend. Sometimes it takes a village.