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Despite so much important research, there still seem to be many conflicting and complicated theories about how to raise healthy, joyful children—kids who feel secure about themselves and their world.The truth is that it’s not complicated. Admittedly, the answers are simple but not simplistic. And for the most part, the kids know what they need; it’s we grown-ups who get in the way. 
This is of course my belief, but I’m not just relying on my opinion. If we actually need “proof” or data, we need not look much further than Harvard.

Here’s an excerpt from Dr. Megan Gunnar’s remarks in a video focusing on children and adversity from Harvard’s Center of the Developing Child. If we all just did this consistently, our children would naturally thrive.

“The most important ingredient in positive experiences for young children is the responsive adult or set of adults that are in the child’s life, who are helping to let that brain be excited about learning and supporting that brain’s development.”

Megan Gunnar, PhD, University of Minnesota

Video: In Brief: The Impact of Early Adversity on Children’s Development

http://Developingchild.Harvard.edu/

Center of the Developing Child, Harvard University

What an interesting Christmas break. We were all sick for two weeks. We stayed inside. We slept. We made it to church and celebrated Christmas and the New Year with gratitude and joy, but also with the modesty that comes from feeling so under the weather.We took this photo yesterday on New Year’s Day when we were finally all just well enough to spend several hours walking at Longwood. (Caroline missed the photo as she leapt out of sight.)

As we prepare for school to start again, I’m a little sad Christmas is over. It’s always a little rough jumping back into routine. But it’s time. I’m prepared to flow into the next season. I’m so grateful for all I have and for these amazing children. I intend for 2019 to be filled with joy and abundance.

It is only January 4, and I already know this is one of the most essential conversations we will hear in 2019 (even though it occurred in 2018). There is so much here, you might need to stop frequently and take notes, as I did. And oh, my gosh, the flood of ideas and proactive steps I want to take are almost overwhelming. Tim Ferris is charming and extremely thoughtful in this interview, and Gabor Mate is nothing less than brilliant.

In this interview, Dr. Kelly Brogan is brutally honest and open about psychiatric drugs, the state of mental health, and the true alternatives to medication. 

Perhaps the most important point here is that until we collectively understand that suffering and pain are portals, invitations to health, clarity of mind, and spiritual freedom, we will be emprisioned by band-aid tactics that prevent us from true authentic health. 

It is in the ability to sit with the pain, to ask it what it has come to teach us, that we discover true, transformative healing.

Luminosity evolves from a coalescence of physical and spiritual fitness. When we can live in form and formlessness at the same time, we are truly sovereign. We are truly free. We rest and act in and from our authentic power.

I believe more than ever that the next frontier of enlightenment and consciousness in parenting is the acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the child.

Unless and until society recognizes that children must have the right to not only express their emotions and feelings, but also state their preferences in the legal system, they will continue to be potential victims of-adults, who are acting in their own best interests.

If our society truly believes that early childhood experiences not only impact, but also shape, a child’s brain and sense of self, it will listen to children instead of catering to parents, who are often acting in their own best interests.

Day 3 at Evolve.

What mask are you wearing? What are your core needs and desires? What have you done and what relationships have you attracted to manage them? 

Are you ready to put down the mask and witness your true self?

What if our children’s resiliency, happiness, and ability to navigate their way into an autonomous adulthood depended less on our hovering over them and carefully curating their every experience, and more on attending to our own alignment and self-care?

Children need to feel loved and secure. At the same time, though, it is to their benefit to witness their parents growing, learning, and creating, as well as caring for their own bodies and spirits.

When our children observe us attending to our own self-care, they are more likely to understand that they, like we, are inherently worthy of self-love. That they are free to express themselves. That it is their divine right to explore and become who they are.

Our hearts are electromagnetically many times stronger than our brains. When we say, “I know in my heart…” we actually really do—even before our minds are able to comprehend what we are thinking and feeling.

In this video, Dr. Kim D’Eramo explains how to understand, harness, and focus the energy that resides in our hearts and in our energy fields.

Get clarity on this mood disorder.