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Patience. Patience means cultivating an is unfolding, seeing and accepting it as it is,
understanding that things unfold in their moment by moment, and acting out of clarity
own time, everyone’s timelines are different, of vision instead of an impulse.
and adjusting our expectations accordingly.
By allowing the nature to take its’ course, we Acceptance. Acceptance does not imply a
gain an ability to enjoy the natural unfolding passive attitude and unconditional satisfaction
of our children even if it does not comply to with the situation. If our children are sick or
our expectations. struggle in school, we need to find the best
resolution while being willing to see the nature
Beginner’s Mind. We often think we already of an illness or educational adversity with
know how certain events will turn out, and clarity. This attitude helps to find the most
automatically set expectations that sometimes appropriate action for a situation on hand.
turn into self-fulfilling prophecies. Beginner’s
“fresh” mind is connected to viewing the Letting go. When we pay attention to our inner
experiences just for what they are, without experiences, we discover that we are holding on
associating them with the past and over- to the certain attitudes and feelings from the past.
identifying with expected outcomes. We can In many cases the events of our own past cloud
practice cultivating the “beginners mind” by our view of our children’s’ nature and our ability
looking at our children and their development to truly relate to them. Letting go does not mean
with fresh eyes, and try to see them for who forgetting lessons of the previous experiences,
they really are for instead of our expectations but simply non-dwelling on the past, and letting
for who we want them to be. our children and our relationships with children
unfold at present from moment - to moment and
Trust. An integral part of mindful relating is be open to new experiences.
trusting our intuition and feelings. If we feel
that something is not going right with our Irina Jacobson
children, it’s best not to ignore these feelings,
but try to understand what is really going References:
on. The more we cultivate trust in ourselves,
the easier it would be to develop trust in Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). Full Catastrophe Living. The
our children and to develop meaningful Random House Publishing Group, New York, NY
connection with them. Mindfulness Manual
Kabat-Zinn, J & Kabat-Zinn, M. (2014). Everyday
Non-striving. In many instances our attitude Blessings. The inner work of mindful parenting.
of pushing our agenda with expectations Hachette Books, New York, NY
of the certain outcome can drive a wedge
into our relationship with children, or even Irina Jacobson, MA, MBA, is a practicing
damage their self of self and ability to make Licensed Professional counselor. She is a
own decisions. Non-striving does not mean certified yoga teacher, astrologer, and a
not thinking how to improve the situation or devoted student of mindful approach to life.
not acting. It means reacting to the situation An appointment with Irina can be made at
thoughtfully by paying attention to how it Renewing Hope @ 713-365-0700
myindigosun.com 21
