Friday, July 19, 2013

Just Breathe

 Welcome to the Peaceful Parenting Challenge Blog Carnival: Week #2 Breathe.
This post was written for inclusion in the 10 Week Peaceful Parenting Challenge Blog Carnival hosted by Prenatal to Parenting. This week our participants have written about creating awareness. We hope you enjoy this week’s posts and consider joining us next week when we share about a week of Mindful Breathing.

This week's Peaceful Parenting challenge was pretty easy... to practice mindful breathing.  Ha!  Easier said than done, especially when you are travelling from one end of the country to the other.  I feel like this week was more of a week one where I was still recognizing times where I was being triggered and getting angry or frustrated.  Travelling with a very busy 9 month old can do that to a person!  My first baby was not nearly as busy as my second; my first was happy to just sit and chill out, taking in the sights from a distance where my second wants to see, taste and touch everything he can reach.  This has obviously threw me for a bit of a loop having had many years between babies to conveniently forget what babies are like but then add about 20X more energy to this baby.  It's exhausting!  As I spoke about in my last post, I had some expectations that he would be like my first baby and clearly all babies are different.  This expectation had to be re-evaluated in order for me to enjoy my time with my littlest man.

My week long trip with my boys was anything but relaxing when you take a baby out of his comfort zone and put him into places that aren't necessarily baby proofed.  I felt that I was constantly saying "No!", "Don't touch!" and "Danger!" the whole week.  This stressed me out because you want their curious little minds to develop from their curiosity by touching, feeling, exploring and sometimes tasting their environments.  If this can happen safely, then I just usually let him do it so I felt like I was hindering him from expanding his mind through exploration and discovery.  He was also not as happy as he usually is, most likely because he wasn't allowed to explore as much and because he probably missed his Daddy who didn't come with us.  After travelling back home on a 2-hour then 5-hour flight.  I had time to reflect and resolved to embrace his busy and curious little mind by allowing him to explore his surroundings, as long as it's safe and take him out as much as possible for walks, baby groups and anywhere he can play without interruptions.

So while I still work on recognizing triggers, I also added the mindful breathing technique.  We all breathe because we have to, its an unconscious necessity our body has to do to live.  But have you ever sat and actually breathed and paid attention to your breath?  Try it!  Our challenge this week was to sit comfortably at least three times a day for 2-3 minutes and breathe in and out, paying attention to the breath. saying "in" and "out" as you breathe.  The practice of mindful breathing can reduce stress and increase positive energy in your life.  I have to say, only having done it for a few days... I already feel like I am less stressed and more positive.  I am sure being home has helped too but the act of mindful breathing is definitely something I will add to my daily life to be able to enjoy my busy little baby and my day to day in a more positive light.

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
Teaching My Spirited Son About Deep Breathing – Sarah from Prenatal to Parenting shares some ways to teach kids about deep breathing.
Deep Breathing Challenge Ricky at Daddy Blogger has been practicing and will be putting his deep breathing to the test on his family trip.  
Just Breathe - Peaceful Parenting Challenge - Week 2 - Katrina from Kalem Photography goes up against her incessant need to be busy.
Remember to Breathe – Jennifer from The Children’s Directory discovers how breathing can work with parents-in-laws, friends, partners, co-workers and annoying neighbours as well as children.
Week 2 & Epic Fail -Amanda from Family and Baby Sign Language discovers how challenging it is to find a few minutes to herself.
Breathing On  – Verena from Memory Maker Events talks the difference mindful breathing made in her busy days.

Week #2 Peaceful Parenting Challenge - Michelle from My Peaceful Parenting models deep breathing for her sons.

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