Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. One who looks outside, dreams; one who looks inside, awakens. – Carl Jung
What I’m Reading
The Conscious Parent: Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children – by Shefali Tsabary
Now this is a book that belongs on every parent’s bookshelf. But don’t just let it sit there collecting dust, this bad-boy is one that not only urgently needs to be read, but it should be applied daily in your child-rearing journey.
This transformative book is not merely a “how-to” guide to becoming a better parent, we’ve read plenty of those already. This one reveals how our children actually have the ability to aid us in our growth as parents. It’s our children who figuratively take us by the hand and usher us into greater awareness – they guide us in our parental development.
We learn along side our children that the concepts of power, dominance, and control aren’t always necessary components in a successful parent-child relationship. Spiritual partnership should be the focus. We get to the point where we realize that we can learn as much from our children about life as they can learn from us.
I bought this book for Rachael last Christmas and I saw it sitting on her side table, so I picked it up.
This book is the real deal!
The following is an excerpt from a section entitled, You Will Only Accept Your Child To The Degree That You Accept Yourself:
“Accepting our children for who they are brings with it another component: accepting the kind of parent we need to be for a particular child.
When I accepted that my daughter was way more street smart than I had given her credit for, I was able to change my approach toward her. It was time to treat her as the clever girl she was, instead of as the little Miss Innocent I had hoped she was going to be. How thankful I am that I let go of my desire to be the parent of my fantasy and instead became the parent my daughter needed me to be.
Our ability to accept our children is directly linked to our ability to accept ourselves – both as we are presently, and for what we have the potential to become. After all, how can we hope to raise our children to be freethinkers and free-spirited if we aren’t these things ourselves? How can we raise independent, autonomous children if we ourselves aren’t independent and autonomous?
Accepting our children in their as-is state requires us to surrender our ideas of who they “should” be and enter into a state of pure communion with them so that we can respond to them as they need us to.”
There are so many gems in this book that I will be revisiting it and sharing various topics on this blog in the following months. Grab yourself a copy. In the meantime, listen to Oprah interviewing Dr. Tsabary.
What I Watched
Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds – film by Dan Schmidt
We spend so much time debating (aloud and in our thoughts) about which religion is superior, we fail to investigate the notion that all religions are simply offshoots of the same universal ideas.
At their core, each religion is designed to help us uncover and cultivate the ultimate nature of ourselves. They help us to find meaning and purpose in our lives.
In a fantastic documentary I watched over the weekend called, Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds, this universal truth is splendidly brought to light.
The movie attempts to show that we can choose to see the world both scientifically and spiritually. In this way, we can view our world from a broader perspective. And although each religion appears different on the surface, they each have universally similar foundations and goals.
“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.” – Albert Einstein
Also by bridging science and religion, we promote even more tolerance – because someone could easily attempt to deny the existence of a “supreme being,” but they can’t deny the basic inner workings of the universe.
I realize that this type of documentary isn’t for everyone and will be met with mixed reviews. However, if you take the time to really listen with an open-mind, it could completely change the way you look at things.
Trailer
Full Documentary
“All religions are the same, they all lead to God. God is everybody.” – Neem Karoli Baba
For more reading on the topic, check out these links.
Are All Religions the Same At Their Core?
Are All Religions “Saying the Same Thing?
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