“Meditation practice isn’t about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.”― Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape: How to Love Yourself and Your World
I’m currently leading a mindfulness course for mothers of daughters.
Ten ideas I hope they take from the course:
- You’re a good enough mom.
- All those mistakes, no big deal-and more are to come. No big deal.
- Let go a little, have a little happiness. Let go a lot, have a lot of happiness. Let go completely, have complete happiness.
- It isn’t personal.
- Let yourself not know. Be curious.
- Care about your own life. Yes, you have a life.
- Her prefrontal cortex (executive decision maker) isn’t fully developed until the age of 24, so between the ages of 12 and 24, she will make many poor decisions driven by her emotions.
- The only thing in your control is how you relate to everything out of your control.
- Your daughter doesn’t hate you (see #4).
- Everything is always changing.
As Pema says, mindfulness and meditation are ways of relating to ourselves kindly. You learn to meet yourself where you are, and grow from there.
See you tomorrow,
Jasmine