Sunday, September 13, 2009

Worry Less, Love More

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. We attended the Rethinking Education Conference in Dallas. It was amazing to be around so many like minded people! I will update a post about that soon. Some of my favorite sessions were hosted by parenting coach Scott Noelle. He sends out an inspirational email daily called The Daily Groove. The topic for today is one that I have been trying to work on, so I thought I would share:
:: Worry Less, Love More ::
Perhaps you've been led to believe that worrying about children goes hand in hand with loving them. But in truth, parental love is far more powerful*without* worry than with it. Worries focus all your attention on what you *don't*want and put you in a state of *fear*. This sends a message to your child that you *expect* bad things to happen. And since children naturally tend to meet their parents' unspoken expectations, worries are self-fulfilling prophesies. Today, if you catch yourself worrying, don't worry about it. :-)Instead, use your awareness of worry to shift your focus in the direction of what you *do* want, and reach for thoughts that soothe your worries:
"It's not the end of the world."
"It won't last forever."
"I've successfully handled worse situations."
"We always find our way."
...etc. Before long you'll start feeling hopeful, and you'll feel your heart opening, too. An open heart is all you need for love to flow unconditionally...unhindered by worries.
http://dailygroove.net/worry-less-love-more Feel free to forward this message to your friends!(Please include this paragraph and everything above.) Copyright (c) 2009 by Scott Noelle
We attended a session at the conference with Quinn Eaker, who is the son of Barb Lundgren- who put on the conference. He told a story of when he was five years old he climbed up this huge tree in their backyard. His mom came out and saw him in the top of this tree. It scared her to death, but she knew putting her fears on him would do nothing for him, so she just went back in the house. I have been trying to stop saying, "Be careful." to the girls. It is shocking to me how many times I feel the need to say it. I have never seen myself as a big 'worrier', but I am worse than I thought I was. Lately I have done a lot of turning away because something the girls are doing scares me, but I have decided to make an effort not to put my fears on them:-) Try noticing how many times you say things like, "Be careful." today, you might be surprised!

2 comments:

Jill said...

Worry less is good advice for any Momma! And I definitely have had to repeat a few of those "thoughts" to myself so I don't work myself up over something that will pass!

Sarah said...

Beautiful post.