Parenting from a Spiritual Perspective

Spirituality was not a word that you would have found in my vocabulary for the first three decades of my life, but there came a point when I was ready and open to shifting my perspective. I was tired of living the way I was; merely existing, going through the motions. I had been lured into the trap that money, success or having a partner in life were the determinant factors to achieve this thing called happiness and felt as though there was something missing in my life.

Many of us are exploring this topic nowadays and our interest is being supported more and more by the mainstreaming of spirituality, especially in the media.

Ellen DeGeneres is a beautiful example. Millions tuned in as she was recently interviewed with her wife Portia De Rossi, on the Oprah Winfrey show and shared the essence of this spiritual connection… kindness, compassion, peace, living on purpose and being your authentic self, not to mention a quality that I absolutely love about her, humor!

Oprah commented, “When Ellen arrived at the photo shoot for our cover, I didn't have to ask her how she was doing: it showed on her face. She radiated the kind of peace and satisfaction that comes only when you're living at your highest potential.”

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer is another wonderful example and was one of my first and favorite spiritual teachers. He has written many books on spirituality, however the recent release of his movie starring Portia De Rossi and others called The Shift** is creating quite a buzz as it clearly exemplifies how every aspect of our lives can shift when we tap into this spiritual connection.

I had no way of knowing how connecting to this new and unfamiliar way of being would change my life, but looking at it now, I can’t imagine what my life would look like if I hadn’t…especially as a parent.

Early in my spiritual journey, I was like a sponge as I veraciously read as many self-growth/spiritual books that I could, sometimes reading into the wee small hours of the morning or getting up a few hours earlier than I had to before going to work so I could read some more!

This was quite odd, as I was not an avid reader. In fact, I had a reading comprehension issue when I was in grade school and later relied exclusively on Coles Notes to bring me up to speed on the books I was supposed to have read in highschool, especially Shakespeare!

During this period, I was sharing what I was learning with my young children, and one day, I showed my daughter a picture of a chakra chart that I had found in one of the books I was reading.

Although she was only nine years old at the time, I was so enthused by this new subject matter, that I rambled on and on, explaining the whole chart to her, pointing out the significance of the colors and symbols that were attributed to each energy center.

Much to my surprise, she very casually mentioned that she had seen this before! When I asked her where she had seen it, I was flabbergasted by the answer she gave me, “Whenever I close my eyes.” She non-chalantly told me that she would see the same colours and symbols that were in the picture.

We continued the conversation and talked more about energy. This nine year old shared how she would feel a warm tingly feeling around people she felt she could trust, friends and adults who had positive, loving energy and that this wonderful feeling would be absent when she was in the presence or hugged by those who weren’t as open.

I was riveted by what she knew, but I wondered why she hadn’t shared what she felt and saw with me before. When I asked, her response was, “I thought everybody did.”

This was a huge revelation and wake-up call for me as a parent…my kids knew more about this spiritual connection than I did!

Many of us were not brought up in spiritually open homes, so the spiritual connection that each one of us is born with becomes weaker and eventually forgotten as we get older if it isn’t supported and modelled for us.

I believe this explains why so many people into their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and beyond come to the place in their lives where they too are searching for more meaning and are being drawn to spirituality, just like I was.

If I hadn’t opened to a new way of thinking and believing, not only would I have missed this incredible moment with my daughter, I would have missed out on all the benefits of having this connection with both of my children from then on…and yes even now in the teenage years!

To use one of Oprah’s expressions, what I know for sure is that as more parents make the parenting shift and re-connect to the essence of their spiritual connection, the more we will be inspiring our kids, teens and young adults to keep their connection in tact and we’ll see less and less evidence of our lack of connection in their behaviors.

** http://www.hayhouse.com/details.php?id=4119