it is no secret that Jon Kabat-Zinn is one of our heroes! He was the real powerhouse behind getting mindfulness out of temples and into everyday homes and his program “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction” is helping thousands of people around the world.
Jon and his wife Myla teamed up to write ‘Everyday Blessings: Mindfulness for Parents’, an inspiring guidebook to mindful parenting. Guiding parents through the tough times and the stress of raising a child, Myla and Jon share their own experiences as parents to reveal how you can use mindfulness techniques to guide children of all ages through life.
A great read for any parents or soon-to-be parents.
Notable quotes:
“Discernment includes seeing that even as we attempt to see our children for who they are, we also cannot fully know who they are or where their lives will take them. We can only love them, and accept them, and honor the mystery of their being.”
“Like a relay race with a long overlap in which the baton is passed—lasting at least eighteen years and often longer—our job as parents is to position our children to run their solo laps effectively.”
“Mindful parenting is a continual process of deepening and refining our awareness and our ability to be present and act wisely. It is not an attempt to attain a fixed goal or outcome, however worthy. An important part of this process is seeing ourselves with some degree of kindness and compassion. This includes seeing and accepting our limitation, our blindnesses, our humanness and fallibility, and working with them mindfully as best we can.”