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You know what I just realized?

It's not that I dislike animals...I just don't like PETS!

Suuuuure, they start out all cute and fluffy and make the kids soooooo happy...

And then, 6 months later, they're nothing more than eating,pooping, stinky vet bills with feet! That MOM has to take care of.

Yeah, I just realized I don't like PETS!

What if everything that shows up in your life is by your own choosing? What would you choose? What is your wise heart within asking you to choose that you have been ignoring and that if you did choose it would give you more ease, joy, and glory?

For me it's choosing my own truth and acknowledging the contributions and gifts that I be to myself and others; and choosing awareness so I can break the limitations I have been locking in place which cause me to choose to block myself from receiving from others.

This morning I was thinking about this class I want to take and I kept asking, "What would it take for the money to show up so I can take this class?" The thought of asking my parents kept coming up, and I kept resisting it. "Well, the couple of times I insinuated I could use their support with something that involved money, I received a gentle 'I wish we could help you with that, but we're not really in a place we could do it.'" To which in my head I would respond, "I'm not asking you anyway." So I decided there's no way I'm asking now for them to invest in me so I can take this class.

Then I went into resentment of them; how they put my brother and sister through college, but not me. How they kicked me out their house because I chose my boyfriend instead of what they wanted for me. How they prefer my brother and sister because I'm my father's daughter with another woman. I had so many points of view locked in place.

The wise heart within kept nudging me to go deeper and keep asking where I have been locking these judgments in place and why I perceive I can't ask them for anything.

Then I got hit in the head with a ton of bricks! Holy crap! When I left their house, I determined that I would never ask them for anything even if I were starving and didn't have a place to go. I determined that I was going to make it on my own without their support and that I didn't need them anyway, and that if I ever asked them for anything I would be putting myself under their control once again. It's no wonder I haven't been able to receive anything from them even when they want to gift me! I have a wall with a huge neon sign that says, "No Gifts Accepted from You!"

That's crazy, right? But that's how many of us are choosing to live - from some point of view that we have locked in place and that we have completely shut off from our awareness making it unable for us to choose a different reality.

As a mother, I’m always asking myself, “How can I raise my daughters to be in more consciousness? What tools can I offer them that would leave them empowered to choose for themselves and choose their own truth?” The question also goes in my asking of what I can choose for myself so they can see what choosing looks like. It’s an interesting place to be in as I as a parent because I know that it’s a lot more about how I choose to be versus what I say to them.

So what would it take for you to start asking the questions that would unlock your points of view that keep you from receiving from you and others?

So now that I just had this aha about my own points-of-view I created about my parents, I can choose to receive from them freely, and that’s what I want to emulate to my kids, that receiving is a choice that is ever present for them.

So, mom and dad, what would it take for you to gift me everything that you have been trying to gift me that I have been refusing to receive? I now receive your gifts with the utmost gratitude! Thank you!

My 20th Reality of 2012 came to me as I was responding to a post on "Should we discipline our children". One of the contributors has a very firm platform from which she speaks on parenting. Although I do not always agree with her...I honestly respect her conviction and dedication to bring peace to our world through parenting.

The following post was in response to several comments that boiled down to: There is NEVER a time to discipline or punish a child...and rules are just another tactic parents use to force their authority over children.

That being said, here is what I realized for ME as a parent:

Being the ever "grey" area...I feel I must say that there are exceptions to almost any scenario in life. I believe the part that has me concerned is the part about not allowing "rules".

First I must level the field by saying that I do believe there is a difference between Discipline and Punishment. I do believe that Discipline is a natural process of modeling to teach and guide. And I do believe that punishment is punitive action meant to change a behavior.

However, I do not believe that punishment is strictly physical, I do not believe that all punishment is harmful and I do not believe that there is NEVER a time when punishment is necessary...

let me explain...

One of the definitions of punishment is to cause pain (which I do not condone) the other is to cause discomfort. Discomfort is not universally "pain" induced.

I can cause my child discomfort by telling them to leave the room if they are being disrespectful to my adult friends. I can cause my baby discomfort by removing him from the breast while nursing should he bite me.

In these cases, my idea of "discomfort" can also be called "natural consequences"...and are in deed, by definition, punishment.

So yes, I do believe that their are times when rules, boundaries or principles that we have set are challenged, broken or tested and that we as "Mentors" and parents, must use punishment (i.e.: cause discomfort) to discipline (i.e.: guide/teach) our children in the course of their journey into adulthood.

By standing up for our beliefs, rules, agreements and principles, we teach our children integrity, accountability and respect...for others as well as themselves.

I also believe that one of the biggest contributors to bullying is that we have abandoned the concept of modeling and upholding boundaries. When we teach our children that there are no consequences for disrespecting a person's boundaries (be those rules, limits, opinions, beliefs or personal space) we teach them apathy and arrogance and at the same time embed in them the belief that they have no right to create their own boundaries.

Furthermore, by allowing children to believe that they are "untouchable" and I mean that in a metaphorical way, not in a physical way, we make them fearless...and without fear of consequences, we are left without conscience or emotional intelligence.

Free will means "free to choose", not "free to abandon all rational behavior". If there are no "poor choices" than we are left with the concepts of either perfection or chaos...both of which are too absolute to be healthy and both of which will eventually cause total breakdown.

Children, as all human beings, need to be aware that they are in total control of their actions and in some cases, their "actions" or "choices" may violate another person's rules or boundaries and that person probably will not have the connection and relationship to discuss or debate with them.

In Stop Raising Einstein, Discover the Unique Brilliance in Your Child...and You! I wrote:

"A child is responsible for how she or he reacts and thereby the results that she or he creates."

Not all of those results will be ideal. Some of them will be met with discomfort. It's all part of the reality of our life and the process of learning and growing through experience and lessons

Friday was report card day. I know my boys are smart and I know they do their homework (because I hover over them like a vulture on a dying rabbit) so I wasn't the list bit worried as I opened the envelopes.

So, I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when my oldest (and most responsible) son brought home an F (hold on...I just threw up a little) in Spanish.

When I saw it, I was kind of in denial. I had to go back to the little grading chart like 3 times to make sure I wasn't mistaken...and I wasn't. Suddenly, the whole paper went black and all the other grades (a's and b's I might add) just disappeared and I could see was one ugly mark among the 9 on the paper.

Now, I don't want anyone to misunderstand...I was NOT an honor roll student by any stretch of the imagination...but I do expect more from my kids because, well, they're not ME! And more importantly, my husband is a brilliant man and wonderful teacher (as well as VERY educated in Spanish) so I would have thought my sons would know intuitively to come to him or me for help if they needed it.

My husband sent an email to the teacher to try to understand what happened and until we received a reply this morning, we focused on helping our son to understand what he must do to bring up his grade...including taking him to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and making him use his Spanish the whole time (lol...oh don't judge me!)

My husband and I had several discussions about "what we are doing wrong" that would lead to our son getting a failing grade in ANY of his courses...and I will admit, I felt a great deal of guilt, blame and shame around the whole thing, which made me rather defensive and angry. We came up with a plan that we thought would help our children become better students and increase their grades and we spent alot of time trying to figure out what we need to change as Mom and Dad to inspire our kids to do better in school...

And then, we got this reply from Max's Spanish teacher:

Thank you for e-mailing me. Max and I had talked about his grade a couple a weeks ago. In our discussion, Max admitted to me that he felt like he was struggling and asked me if he could have a tutor. I was very proud of him, because a lot of students don't like to admit they need extra help. I did find him a very strong 8th grade Spanish student to help him. He and Max have been working together for the past week and a half and I can see Max feeling more confident, which is wonderful. Right now, Max has an 86 for the 3rd quarter.

I think part of the problem was, he wasn't sure how to study properly for Spanish and he wasn't asking for help when he didn't understand. ... (Deleted some fluffy stuff here)

...Max is such a great kid and he participates all the time in class, even when he gets something wrong he still is not afraid of trying. This is wonderful to see because usually students have a hard time when they get something wrong and are afraid to try again.


And then I cried a little...

Mostly because I realized that all that time and energy we spent this weekend arguing over what we had done wrong or what Max had done wrong, was a big fat waste! Our time would have been better served to ASK what we could do to help and WAIT for the answer...because what we found out is that our kid is really good at (better than us apparently) asking for what he needs and then accepting the help.

So my Mom Reality Bytes #21 is that when it all boils down, we are left with the fact that we may not be raising a child who's awesome in Spanish...but we are raising a young man who is awesome at communicating his needs and honoring the gifts in others. And that is probably the most important language we can possess.