Silence!

In this hectic day and age, the norm is for kids to be shuttled all over from this club to that practice, a class here and a class there, only to be ushered back home when it is time to do their homework and go to sleep.  They barely have time to gulp down a meal and spend time with their family members between homework and extracurricular activities.  As parents, we are lead to believe that a happy and well-rounded child is a busy child.  Did you ever stop to wonder why?

We are over-scheduling our lives on a regular basis, with the assumption that more is better.  Do you feel better after a hectic, rushed day?  When we are hurried, our patience is reduced and our communication suffers which, means so do connections to the most important people in our lives.  When we are over-scheduled, our relationships and creativity suffer.

If our children aren't at home with us, who is raising them?  Food for thought.
 
A child who spends a significant amount of time at home with his or her parents and siblings is developing a keen sense of belonging, confidence and security, but this is only the tip of the iceberg.   The more time a child spends with his or her family, the more the child is learning from his or her greatest teacher(s).  Character development is above all, the most important experience of our lives. There are no lessons more important.  With great character, comes great decisions.  When this begins in early childhood and is encouraged to develop through adolescence, we are ensuring our children success in this high demand world.  And what do we truly want for our children?  Happiness.  If they are confident and secure, isn't this where happiness starts?

Our foundational spirituality is cultivated at home.  When parents tap into their intuition and they showcase the value of inner guidance along side their children, they are setting them up for success.  Children learn from what they witness in their day to day lives.  Who is their role model?  Is it the child's parent(s) or is it Johnny on the baseball team and Timmy in karate and Joey in soccer?  And who are their role models, do you even know?  The sheer time a child spends with an individual is going to have a significant impact on their long-term values and morals.  The imprint of their childhood remains with them forever.  The valuable connections being made at this precious age are vital to his belief system, his instincts - his subconscious response to circumstances later in life.

What are we doing to show our children how to live respectable lives?  Is it enough to share hasty dinners with them five days a week?  What values do we represent when we suggest that our career is more important than our family life?  Actions speak louder than words.

So why do we do it, why do we fall prey to this National norm?  We are lead to believe that if we don't start our children in the best schools by getting on a waiting list before the age of three and if they don't know how to play every sport in grade school, that they will be failures.  They won't compare to the Jones'.  

Where should we find the answers to our big questions then?

In the silence.

The one thing a hectic life doesn't offer is silence.  A time for reflection.  A time for creativity.  For children, creativity is born from boredom.  A child can spend his youth jumping from one activity to another and may even be highly successful in one for many years, but without silence and reflection, he isn't going to find the space to sit with his thoughts and answer questions like, "What do I want to do with my life?" and "Where do I see my life going?".  How will they gain the introspection to trust their inner voice?

What's in the silence you ask (besides long awaited peace and quiet)?  If you haven't sat in the silence with your soul at the helm, you should start now!  You are missing out on an indispensable adviser...your own higher self.


In the stillness of silence, we open our heart and mind to receiving.  In the stillness, we find our
resolve.  In the stillness, we are exposed to the truth.  The downloads we receive in this stillness rival the fanciest computers any day.  The information is telling, sometimes bright and cheery, sometimes dreary and challenging, regardless, the information we receive in the stillness guides us in the direction of our soul purpose on this planet.  It enables growth and personal development.  If we choose not to listen, we may silence the very voices we should be depending on for our life lessons.

In the end, it's all about balance.  We can't all be home with our children EVERY day, but we can make every minute count.  Instead of filling your child's empty hours with every sport and activity known to man kind, think about how quickly he or she will be grown up and on their own.  These are precious years, make them the best they can be.  Make memories, have fun, laugh, and enjoy the silence together!