I love my life! I am married to my best friend and spiritual partner, Jami Lula. I am mom to a delightful son, William Shanti. I am a Spiritual Counselor and Pianist. I am blessed with wonderful close friends and family…. AND…
I became a mom 9 years ago. William is an extremely joyful, energetic and easy going boy. He has been that way since he was born. He was always an easy baby. And yet, ever since he was an infant, and especially when he was a toddler, I’d find myself impatient more than I’d like to admit. I’ve marveled at my mom friends who seem to have all of the patience that I seem to lack! I’ve had countless conversations with them all, grilling them trying to find out their secret. I’ve read countless parenting books telling me to “simply pause” before reacting to which I’d reply, “If I could pause before reacting, I wouldn’t be reading this book”. Everyone told me to pause, no one could tell me how to achieve it! I’ve teased that I am going to write a book called “In Search of the Parenting Pause”.
Cut to… I’ve decided to explore the relationship between simple kindness and patience… I’ll give you an example. Yesterday morning, I was taking my morning walk before seeing clients. I called Jami on my way home and he said he would shower before I got home so that when I got home, I could shower before my client arrived. As I opened the front door, I heard the shower just turning on. Rather than simply asking if I could shower first, I blurted out (in a pretty whiny voice, I might add) that he was supposed to have finished his shower by now (subtext: I was so put out and this was such a big problem for me!) …. so attractive…. Day 1 / Hour 3 of the Simple KINDNESS Challenge right out the window!
We have a “do over” practice in our family, so I did a “do over” with Jami. I literally started again and in a kind tone, I asked him if I could jump in the shower first. Then I started my “do over” with the Challenge. Any lack of KINDNESS and I’ve committed to begin again at Day 1…. Could be a long 30 days! Or not… We’ll see!