Living A.W.A.R.E.
Awe
Wonder
Appreciation/Gratitude
Reverence
Embodiment/Engagement
Here are some initial suggestions to get you started Living AWARE:
Awe: Go outside to watch a sunrise or sunset together (without much talking, except maybe ‘wow!’). Watch clouds or birds. Spend time in a majestic forest or go to where there is a beautiful expansive view. Just BE together. Being in a state of Awe reduces stress and increases empathy. Trees are ‘AWEsome’ to spend time with. They have a profound healing wisdom that we are just now starting to understand and appreciate.
Wonder: Go for a walk and wonder (in silence or using imagination rather than scientific ‘answers’) at the miraculousness of ants and clouds, rain, mountains, flowers and the amazing variety of fellow Human Beings. Gardening is an activity with abundant opportunities for wonder.
Appreciation/Gratitude: Appreciate your children and other family members and friends for just being who they are, being thankful for the joy and warmth they bring into your life simply by existing. Find any small opportunity to model and express gratitude. It’s a lovely thing to do at mealtimes or just before sleeping. This experience can actually bring the heart into a gently coherent state which is calming and centering.
Reverence/Respect: At the beginning of at least one of your meals, light a candle and reverently give thanks to the Earth and the Elements (the farmers, the store staff…) for the food on your table, and just for the experience of being alive. It helps children to have reverence modeled by the adults in their lives. A candle and a verse at bedtime is sweet and comforting. Make up your own songs and verses. I have some. If you’d like ideas let me know. Being a person worthy of your child’s respect also falls into this category – holding a trustworthy ‘container’ (boundaries, schedule, values), being reliable in your guidance and appropriate in your expectations. We lose their respect when we get impatient or are not reliable in our word.
Embodiment/Engagement: Engage in movement that is fun and enlivening so the body feels good to inhabit – the Self feels good to have a body as it’s home. Play, hug, climb, run, create, sing, dance, laugh. Children learn through ‘doing’. Household chores and purposeful work can be fun and enlivening and will lead to a healthy sense of competency. Unstructured, imaginative, independent play fits here. Children need a few hours a day of this in order to fully process, learn from and integrate their experiences. Without this outlet, they can easily become overwhelmed and dysregulated.
It is my hope that these suggestions spark your creativity and inspire you to expand on them and to explore the many possibilities that may unfold from them.