Patience

I am always told “Don’t pray for patience” because God will give you something to be patient for. I suppose that may be true. I do know that many times patience eludes me. That can be for many reasons. Those reasons can all be traced back to a fear base. Fear is simply a lack of faith. In order to be more patient, I believe that we need to strengthen our faith. Ever try to sit down and be “patient”? That doesn’t work for me. That’s kind of like telling some one to not think of a pink elephant. How is our faith strengthened? Here are a few suggestions. Spend time in prayer and meditation. Read the word of God. Fellowship with fellow believers. Ask for support. Grow in your understanding that all things happen in God’s time. Practice kindness and compassion. And finally, love others where they are at, not where you want them to be. These can all be challenging. To begin this process I always need to take a few deep breaths, relax, and clear my mind.

Are you having difficulty learning to relax and clear your mind? To help you and your child with this , I have just released a set of six relaxation CDs designed to help you and your child learn to relax Each CD focuses on a specific behavior that your child may find to be a challenge. So in addition to learning to relax, you and your child will learn a new skill to reduce a specific behavior. I am offering a FREE relaxation CD of your choice when you subscribe to either my free Love in Action Newsletter or free weekly Christian Parent Wisdom. Go to http://bit.ly/pBDTqY to take advantage of this offer.

Classroom Maintenance

The school year is underway. Hopefully, students and teachers have settled into their new environments. Unfortunately, this is not true for everyone. I know this from my on going consultations with schools and teachers. Unless a teacher is well versed in the stress model, it is easy for them to slide back into their old paradigm. Learning to use a new strategy takes time. Stress causes some of this regression. I try to keep the focus on keeping it simple. It is too easy for behavior to become the focus. Remember, negative behaviors are a symptom of dys-regulation. Children need adults to help them become regulated. Too many times a child is allowed to become dys-regulated too long and a melt down occurs. Then it takes a lot of time and energy for regulation to take place. Keeping it simple also includes being aware of symptoms of dys-regulation before it becomes out of control of the child. It’s no different that maintenance of a car. I don’t think any one of us would wait to change the oil when we start to hear metal grinding. I believe that maintenance in relationship with a child will reduce dys-regulation and meltdowns. The time invested up-front is always much less that the time it takes to pick up all the emotional pieces. Oxytocin is essential in the regulation process. Teachers can learn to generate oxytocin in their classroom. Find out the importance of oxytocin, go to http://www.fastcompany.com/1784836/paul-zak-guggenheim-lab . Deep breathing, relaxation, and meditation are natural ways to stimulate your oxytocin. Are you having difficulty learning to relax and clear your mind. To help you and your child with this , I have just released a set of six relaxation CDs designed to help you and your child learn to relax Each CD focuses on a specific behavior that your child may be a challenge. So in addition to learning to relax, you and your child will learn a new skill to reduce a specific behavior. I am offering a FREE relaxation CD of your choice when you subscribe to either my free Love in Action Newsletter or free weekly Christian Parent Wisdom. Go to http://bit.ly/pBDTqY to take advantage of this offer.

Double Standard

This is one of those life experiences that just jump out at me. It is so indicative of parenting, even Godly parenting. The parent, who I’ll call John, was wanting his grandson to apologize to his grandmother for lying. Of course the grandson refused and an hour and a half later finally apologized and he and his grandfather connected. You may ask, Why did it take that long? Why did the grandson have to completely melt down and then become emotionally vulnerable for the grandfather to connect with him. I’m sure there was some unconscious fear being triggered in the grandfather and he probably felt disrespected along with the disrespect toward his wife of being lied to. What he did is not in alignment with the stress model. That’s not what I’m writing about, even though I am challenging what John did from the stress model perspective. I have the utmost respect for John. John is truly a Godly man in every aspect of his life. That’s why I am challenging what he did from the spiritual perspective. John was talking during a Bible study. He expected his grandson to apologize, that is admit his sin immediately. Not only was John putting pressure on his grandson to admit his sin, he was expecting him to confess in front of an audience of two other grandchildren. How many of us admit our sin immediately and willingly? How many of us admit our sin when it’s demanded of us by another person? Of course when we do admit our sin, we gather an audience around so all can hear. I entered the Bible study discussion by saying that as adults we are no different than the grandson. I went on to say that the difference is that as adults we allow ours selves the time, place, and opportunity to admit our sin when we’re ready. Everyone nodded their head in agreement. However, I suspect that the point I was trying to make went right over most of their heads. I had planted one of many seeds regarding parenting in this Bible study. If we are using God as our model parent, we need to do what he does. God is a gentleman. He does not demand anything. We know the rules and when we break them we are convicted internally. God does not point his finger at us and say get the neighborhood together and confess. We throw our adult tantrums and hopefully sooner than later we fess up. You realize that adult tantrums are totally socially acceptable because as adults we can do that. Tantrums are not acceptable for our children. How dare they throw a tantrum and be disobedient children. If John would have started out where he ended up, there would have been 1 & ½ hours less of negative feedback reinforcement. How about going to your child in love and saying “When you lie it hurts my feelings and I get scared for you.”? What about saying “When you lie I don’t feel close to you and I don’t like it when lies interfere in our relationship.”? Let the child’s conscious work on him to help develop internal changes rather than force changes from the outside. Changes forced from the outside don’t have lasting affects on behavior because it happens under stress. God changes us from the inside out. Too many times we try to change others from the outside in. As humans, we get it backwards much of the time. Aren’t you glad God is God and keeps things in order? As parents we need to afford our chidlren the same mercy and grace that our Heavenly Father affords us. Get away from the double standard we have and live by God’s standard. You can read a similar article about the same grandfather by going to Ken’s Articles @ http://bit.ly/pBwc85 and reading Life Lessons. Having difficulty relaxing? Take advantage of my FREE relaxation CD offer @ http://bit.ly/pBDTqY

Oxytocin in The Fall Air

I took my grandson to the “Fall Classic” on Saturday. This has been an annual event at Arrowhead Stadium for the past ten years between Pitt State and Northwest Missouri State University. It starts out the Friday before with pep rallies, cook out, and of course tailgates the day of the game. The anticipation of the game generates a lot of excitement. I could “feel” it as I left the chiropractor’s office yesterday. The office is in an area where a lot of college students live. They were out in their yards, throwing the football and being college kids. Erik was looking forward to meeting up with first time friends he made last year to throw the football and be kids. When we arrived at the game we were greeted by fellow tail gaiters with smiles and brauts. What does all of the have to do with oxytocin? The activities, anticipation and positive interaction all stimulate oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone that increases in response to stress and is associated with good social skills such as empathy and enjoying the company of others. Read the research about this at ironbearfitness.wordpress.com/.../psychologists-discover-oxyt. There are many ways to stimulate your oxytocin. Obviously there isn’t a football classic available when you need an oxytocin boost. Deep breathing, relaxation, and meditation are natural ways to stimulate your oxytocin. Are you having difficulty learning to relax and clear your mind. To help you and your child with this , I have just released a set of six relaxation CDs designed to help you and your child learn to relax Each CD focuses on a specific behavior that your child may be a challenge. So in addition to learning to relax, you and your child will learn a new skill to reduce a specific behavior. I am offering a FREE relaxation CD of your choice when you subscribe to either my free Love in Action Newsletter or free weekly Christian Parent Wisdom. Go to http://bit.ly/pBDTqY to take advantage of this offer.

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Get Your Oxytocin Stimulated

Oxytocin has received a lot of attention lately. Research is finding out more and more about this human stress hormone. There are now products you can use to help stimulate your oxytocin. I’ve heard mixed reviews on these products. If you chose to use these, I would recommend you do some research and be an educated consumer. I do know that there are natural ways to stimulate your oxytocin. Breathing and relaxing are interventions to reduce anxiety and fear. They have been around a long time and are effective. If you need help in developing these skills, I have a solution for you. You can read more about oxytocin by visiting this link. http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-newark/oxytocin-the-love-hormone
I am offering a FREE relaxation CD of your choice when you subscribe to either my free Love in Action Newsletter or free weekly Christian Parent Wisdom. Go to http://bit.ly/pBDTqY to take advantage of this offer.

Be Quick to Forgive

Forgiveness was brought to may attention first thing this past Monday morning. A person I pray with every morning on a conference call prayer line experienced a drive by shooting this past week end. His van was hit by two bullets while at a cook out in a near by neighborhood. He was grateful that no one was hurt. As he was praying, he prayed about forgiving those who did the shooting. As I thought about this, I wasn’t sure I could get to that point as quickly as he did. He took action, knowing what he needed to do whether he waned to or not. Forgiveness takes action on our part. Read more in Love in Action, September, 2011 Newsletter. http://bit.ly/nNyPn6