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Experiencing the Joy of Connecting With Our Children
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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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The Morning Cup Archives
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From the Archives
Tuesday July 20, 2004
           Today's Sip:  Your Child and Change
 
Many of us find ourselves in front of a cash register one or more times a day.  Perhaps it is while grocery shopping.  It may be when paying for a meal at a restaurant.  On those occasions when we use cash, a wonderful opportunity for mindful parenting presents itself.
 
While the exchange of money quickly becomes a largely automatic and mindless process, the faces of the presidents on coins and paper currency can serve as easy reminders of your child. 
 
Today, when you reach into your purse or pocket for change, or receive money from another person, before you hand it over in payment, or put it away, take a moment and look at it.  On it you see one of the president's faces -- maybe it is Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Jackson, or Grant.  Open awareness and imagine your child's face smiling at you.  Imagine what your child is doing right then, wherever he or she may be.
 
It only takes a split second to bring awareness to your child.  Your hands don't have to slow down.  No one need wait.  When you become mindful of your child and his or her presence in the cosmos, a greater spaciousness will fill the moment.
 
A few minutes later you may be back in your car, or on your way to another errand, business meeting, or to the office or home.  Wherever you are, by having opened awareness to your child, you have expanded your connection to your child, and through such connection, feelings of joy and bliss emerge.
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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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(c) 2003-2004 Zen Health.  All rights reserved.
The Mindful Parent is a servicemark of Zen Health.
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