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Mindful Parenting is a contemplative practice through which we become more mindful of our children and, in doing so, experience a more joyful life.
The Mindful Parent is an organization devoted to sharing with parents and other child caregivers ways in which to enhance the many joys of parenting.  By mindfully attending to our children, both when we are physically present with them and when we are physically separated from them, we can enhance our sense of connection to them and, in turn, our connection to the cosmos.  This makes us a better parent, a happier person, and a more vital human being.
 
To facilitate a more mindful approach to parenting, The Mindful Parent publishes on its website, and in its bi-weekly newsletter, mindful parenting verses and commentaries.  The Mindful Parent website also serves as a community forum that encourages and supports a mindful parenting dialogue and the sharing of mindful parenting experiences.
 
In the spirit of developing a mindful parenting community, we encourage you to submit a mindful parenting experience through verse, commentary, and imagery to share with others.  We believe that through our collective experience, we can help each other develop a deeper and more meaningful mindful parenting practice. Click here to learn more about making a submssion.  We thank everyone who has contributed or is considering making this very compassionate contribution.

Click here to learn what recent events are taking place and of changes to The Mindful Parent website.  Please contact us with your questions about mindful parenting or to share a mindful parenting experience.  We are devoted to working with you to enhance your ability to "be" with your children, and to experience the bliss that awaits you.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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(c) 2003-2004 Zen Health.  All rights reserved.
The Mindful Parent is a servicemark of Zen Health.
From the Archives
Tuesday July 13, 2004
Today's Sip:  Leaving the Nest, Part II
 
Today's tip will expand on yesterday's column.  You can click here to read yesterday's column or click on "The Morning Cup Archives" button on the left side of this page.
 
Yesterday's tip was to open mindful awareness upon hearing the sound of, or seeing, a bird.  A short verse, involving a bird's nest building, was provided, to bring awareness to the time you prepared for the arrival of your child.  The column reminded that:
 
"Every moment of your life as a parent, you prepare for the arrival of your child."
 
Today, whether your child is an infant, lives at home, or has "left the nest," allow yourself to sense your child as if he or she were a bird.  Whatever stage of development your child is in, open awareness to their neediness, their struggle for freedom, and the beauty of their presently, or one day, flying with grace and ease through the sky.
 
          Beautiful child --
          You are like a bird
          Just hatched, ready to fly
 
If your child is an infant, visualize your tiny baby surrounded by twigs, nestled on down feathers.  If your child is older and beginning to grasp the world, visualize in their actions the stretching and awkward flapping of young wings.  If your child is an adult, visualize him or her in the air, striving for or achieving independence.  
 
When we make such associations with the "natural" world (of which we are very much a part, not "apart"), we more deeply appreciate our relationship to the cosmos, our vulnerability, and in doing so, expand our capacity to feel alive and present on this Earth.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Please share your comments on today's column.  If you would like to receive a courtesy copy of The Morning Cup column e-mailed to you each morning, click here.
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