Poems From A Spiritual Heart: Legacy of Love: From Denny: ... Mentoring others is important no matter what stage you are living in your life. You can be young or old. You can teach the young, those older, those your same age. Teach what you know and share your life experiences. You never know who you will inspire. And, as you teach, you learn from them too. Never feel what you know is not important enough to share. Never be too proud to receive knowledge from others eager to share what they have just learned or figured out. For today's shared knowledge just might answer tomorrow's problems - for them and for you. Mentoring: it's a fair exchange, don't you think? :)
From Denny: This delightful photo of a child trying to keep her balance as she carefully steps onto a precarious path visually gives power to this quote. Parenting is a hit or miss activity some days as you feel your way through a sitation. Parenting is a new discovery every day as your child grows.
An interesting thought is that your child is also feeling their way through a situation, often wondering what to decide next on their path. Life is full of the uncertain and the unknown, requiring a lot of careful stepping and deep thought. Sometimes, Life comes at us so fast and furious there is no time to consider but rather we must react immediately. That's when you trust your instincts - your spirit - to act. The minute you start to wonder about whether you should trust yourself, invariably you end up taking the wrong path. Who hasn't been there at least once in their life - especially as a young child?
The way to parent your child successfully for these sudden difficult situations is something so simple if you keep a present and open mind to regularly practice it. You won't lastingly build their self-confidence by an excessive praise culture of everything they do or say is perfect. Often that results in emotional laziness or arrogance later in life. While this technique may be well intended and works well for children under the age of two or three years old, it can lead to cynicism as the child grows older. By the age of seven they think their parents are hopelessly lame and clueless, resulting in disrespect toward you.
But rather, the most successful technique is to praise them to others when they are nearby to hear but not in the room. They get to overhear you talking to a neighbor or a friend about how that day they did something remarkable. Sometimes, it's far more effective to witness praising than it is to experience a direct interaction. It's just human nature that our egos so enjoy hearing someone talked good about us. How many times have adult children happened upon a moment like this to discover to their astonishment just how much their parents truly did love and appreciate them - and actually admire their abilities? Try the indirect technique for your kids to learn how much you respect them. Then they will return the favor and respect you.
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* If you want your children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others. - Haim Ginott
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*** Never feel what you know is not important enough to share: mentor!
From Denny: This week a famous American teacher passed out of this life and into a new adventure. His name was Jaime Escalante and it was his life story told in the movie "Stand and Deliver." He was well educated and worked at NASA. Yet when he read of the failing schools in Los Angeles he quit his high-paying job and went to teach advanced math at one of those failing schools, Garfield High School. He fought the public school system's failing mindset cemented into the old ways of doing things, believing low income kids were not smart enough or motivated enough to learn advanced math. Escalante proved them all wrong: the educators who ran the schools, the parents and the students.
Escalante brought faith in his students and passion to the job of more than teaching: He was a mentor of gigantic proportions. Today, many of his students are successes, working at NASA or teaching the same calculus to their students that he taught them. Most of all he taught a group of people to believe in themselves. He taught the educators to never give up their faith and reach higher so their students can succeed in life.
Cosmic consciousness by h.koppdelaney @ flickr
Mentoring others is important no matter what stage you are living in your life. You can be young or old. You can teach the young, those older, those your same age. Teach what you know and share your life experiences. You never know who you will inspire. And, as you teach, you learn from them too. Never feel what you know is not important enough to share. Never be too proud to receive knowledge from others eager to share what they have just learned or figured out. For today's shared knowledge just might answer tomorrow's problems - for them and for you. Mentoring: it's a fair exchange, don't you think? :)
Legacy of Love
Have you ever thought about… All the knowledge in the Universe? Have you ever thought about… Your place in millions of information bits? Have you ever thought about… Why your experiences were important?
Did you know that on the other end of that information Lived someone waiting for you to tell them about it? Did you know that in the world every day there is A person sharing what they know with someone else Who yearned for the solutions to their problems but Did not know where to find that knowledge – until you?
The old speak of their long lives while the young listen. The young shout their enthusiasm while the old smile. When tough times strike we all stretch out helping hands. When Life is sweet we lift up our hearts in shared Joy. Kindness and sharing creates more kindness and sharing, Giving comfort and ease to many hearts, lightening the load.
When at first we meet as strangers we become friends. Sharing our experiences we relax into deep friendships. Family we become when we give Love and receive Love. Have you ever seen all the thoughts floating in the Universe Wondering of their origins and how long they were seeking? Sharing what you know is your legacy of Love.
Denny Lyon Copyright 4 April 2010 All Rights Reserved
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