Who Do You Want To Be Today?

If You Could Do Anything This Year, What Would You Do?

This is a timely question that we can ask since we are just still in the second month of this year. I want to revisit my last post to add a little more to what I was really trying to convey:
We adults can learn so much from children. In asking my young boys this question, I noticed they didn’t edit their answers based on fear or self doubt or even reality. They just let their minds wander to the outer reaches of what they could perceive to be right for them at the moment. And they didn’t judge it. As they talked about it, you could see in their faces and their bodies that they were actually experiencing this imaginative vision as they spoke about it!

What does this kind of imagining do for us? When we imagine, we embody the experience (just as I talked about my kid’s faces and bodies “living” the experience). Happy endorphins rush into our blood stream so that we are changed physically. Once we are changed physically, we actually act differently which causes us to attract and gravitate toward things similar-in-feel to what is on our mind. What does this mean? This means by allowing our minds to imagine our best lives (without limitation), we allow ourselves to attract anything that resembles our “best lives”. Otherwise said, we “manifest” the essence (the feeling) of what we imagine. Once we have felt the “feeling” in our bodies, we can recognize anything that resembles or gives us that same feeling. We can begin to more easily connect with these things, places and people that give us that feeling… And this leads to manifesting what feels to be our “best lives”.
This can work in the negative sense when we allow our minds to “worry” or imagine what might happen based on fear. So why not decide to manifest your best life. Here is my idea of my best life:

Full of fun
Fulfillment
Satisfaction
An abundance and endless amount of love (given and received)
An abundance of wealth (whatever comfort level feels right to you)
An abundance of vibrancy, health and energy
A sense of wellbeing
A feeling of empowerment
A great sense of achievement
Stability, groundedness, safety
A sense of adventure, newness, spontaneity
Enjoyment indulging in creativity
A knowing and trust in my own wisdom
Feeling happy in my own skin and my own body
Feeling and knowing that my husband and children feel fully cared for, nurtured, loved, supported, cherished, admired, empowered by me and deeply connected to me
Connecting deeply with dear friends
Connecting deeply with other people
Connecting with the beauty of nature
Creating beauty all around me
Creating meaning in all areas of my life
Sharing the beauty and meaning that I see and create
Assisting others to help themselves to discover and live their best lives

Did you notice these are all feelings that I can embody? Having a list like this to meditate on is the fastest way to manifesting your best life. If you do create a list of more concrete things such as “making a six figure income while working less than 20 hours a week” or “owning and driving a 2013 Audi allroad T2″ or “comfortably wearing size 4 pants” or “weighing 105 pounds”, make sure that you are listing something that you actually believe you can achieve. If not, your doubtful thoughts will be the feelings your body will experience and manifest.

Here’s a recap on how to live your best life:

Ask yourself, “If I could do anything (be anything, experience anything), what would I do?”
Imagine your best life
Create a best life list
Mediate on these things and embodying the feeling of living it
Expect and know that these things will happen (very important!)
Know that you deserve it (also very important)
Enjoy living your best life!

Please email me to let me know that this is working for you! I’d love to hear what your best life feels like!
Your Sensible Girlfriend

There is something about imitating grown-ups and doing what we do that is so satisfying to children.  I cook and bake a lot, so my two and a half year old son is happiest when cooking and baking with me.  I can see how this satisfaction and pure bliss permeates his soul.

His Waldorf preschool teacher put it in perspective for me when she said we feed our children healthy food, but this kind of interaction is nutrition for the soul; it’s not an option for them; they need this in order to grow into healthy, well-balanced people.

I believe if we don’t feed this need, the outcome for this malnourished soul can be mistaken for: naughty behavior, helplessness, neediness, attention seeking or many other symptoms depending on the individual child. It definitely heals these behaviors in my children.  (It’s not only baking with your child that is good food for the soul… I’ll have to write another post on that subject)

Baking with children is not quick and it is definitely messy.  My two and a half year-old son helps measure the  ingredients, sift the flour, crack the eggs (not all of it always makes it in the bowl) and loves to mix.

He likes to get his hands on all of it.  He likes to be totally involved.  I like how he can see the results of his efforts when the cookies or cake comes out of the oven and he gets to eat it.

And I can see how this really helps his self esteem because it makes him feel capable.  My younger one just likes being involved with his hands in something messy.

One of my friends said she doesn’t bake with her kids because she’s not familiar with baking and doesn’t know what recipes are easy for kids.  She asked me what do I bake?  My answer is that I don’t limit our baking to specific recipes just because they are easy or kid-friendly.  I just bake whatever I think my children will enjoy eating.

We make a lot of muffins, bar cookies, cookies that require cookie cutters, pizza dough and occasionally cake if I am making one for someone’s birthday or a special occasion.

I let the table and floor get messy covered in flour, sugar and dripped egg whites.  Another part of the “fun” for my children is cleaning up the mess.  I let them suck up the spilled remnants with the vacuum cleaner, lick the beaters of course and also let them wash the dishes.

They love every bit of it because they are doing “what mommy does”.  In the end we’re all happy and as a bonus, we’ve got a sweet treat to eat.

I say bonus because the reason we bake most of the time is for the entertainment value of the process, not necessarily for the finished product.  I think that is one of the secrets of keeping a child happy– be in the moment with them, enjoy the doing,  and take pleasure in the process.  If we adults could do that more often, our souls would probably be happier too.

Stay tuned… recipes will be revealed when I can find the time to post them.

Your Sensible Girlfriend

Most parents don’t take play seriously enough.  I know that seems like an oxymoron, but as I have watched my child play freely I’ve witnessed invaluable creativity, discovery and problem solving going on.  (I compare it to the times when my best creative ideas come to my mind– when I’m in the shower or when I am doing some routine task that is not working my analytical mind.)  Many parents are so eager to get their kids on the academic track of reading and/or analytical brain type thinking… and there is a time a little later in childhood for that… but what these parent don’t realize is that if a child’s mind is forced to focus on developing the thinking part of the brain at an early age, that child is not developing everything else as fully.  A mind that is engaged in serious thinking doesn’t have as much free energy to develop the senses (smell, touch, taste, sight & sound) and physical mastery of the body.  According to teachings by Rudolf Steiner, healthy development of the senses and the physical body equate to a healthy sense of self and relationship to the world.  These are important ingredients for a well-adjusted child.

So now I’ve found even more to back up these theories.  The journal Scientific American just came out with an article that sources many studies finding “free, imaginative play” to be crucial for “normal social, emotional and cognitive development”.  The article points out that it makes us “better adjusted, smarter and less stressed”.  Not only that, it may even prevent your child from becoming a future felon!  So take note, parents who are trying to create mini Einsteins: step back and let your kids play as they may.

Below is a link to the Scientific American article:

The Serious Need for Play: Scientific American

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