What is Conscious Parenting?
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
-Viktor Frankl
In a nutshell, for me conscious parenting has been about:
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Becoming aware of what is underneath the ways we behave in moments of stress - adults and children alike.
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Learning to approach those moments with curiosity and wonder, instead of blame, shame, anger and unconscious reactions.
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Learning a new language of feelings, needs and beliefs and applying it to our family's everyday interactions.
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Letting go of needing to know what to do as a parent and instead surrendering and trusting that the 'right thing' will emerge just in connecting and being in relationship with each other.
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But most of all, what it's given me is a choice to respond in the moment with love, empathy and compassion, where before there was only a reaction - no choice.
I've found that space that Viktor Frankl was talking about.