Raising humans

So excited to go grocery shopping!
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I have been so on fire about work lately and just got back from teaching a yoga retreat that we are super low on food. Glad the kids are excited because it’s going to be a long market run.
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Here is one of my FAVORITE parenting quotes: ...
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable. #khalilgibran

Loving who you are while you are improving!

I have heard so many times either someone say they are not into personal development and have no interest changing themselves because they like who they are.
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I have heard people make assumptions that I don’t like who I am because I am into personal transformation.
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If you love where you are in life that is awesome!
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That is something I hand worked on a lot the past 10 years. Now mor...e days then not I really do love the person I am!.
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That said. I never want to stop growing! I never want to stop learning! Learning how to Love move and without needing anything back in return. I never want to stop learning to more patient, kind, less judgmental...
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So yes. I am all about self love! Self worth! Self acceptance! Body positive!
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I love where I am in the moment, in the messy reality of my life and potty training😂 (most of the time) however I am also loving the journey of transformation, by showing up consistently in little ways everyday so I can be the best human I can be. Hopefully by continuing to grow my soul, and uncover my true essence I can help make the world a better place.
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That’s something my dad as always taught me “how are you going to make the world a better place Kim?” one of my answers is👉 by doing my own healing, I can help others heal and in healing I can show up kinder and more useful. .

Your MIND

Our mind is a beautiful and a mysterious tool!
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We can choose to learn how to use this tool to make our experience of life more enjoyable.
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Try this. Tell yourself “today is going to be a bad day” notice what happens, maybe you notice it’s cold, you remember how much work you have, you remember someone you have a resentment toward...
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Now try this. Tell yourself “today is going to be awesome!” Notice what happens. You see something pretty, you breath into your body and feel alive and vibrant, you think of something fun you are looking forward to today!
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How are you going to use your mind to shape a better reality for yourself and others today?
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“The mind is it’s own place and in itself, can make a heaven out of hell or a hell out of heaven” John Milton

Your SOUL

I love this teaching of going inside to connect to your beautiful soul!
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For so many years I thought if I could get my outsides just right it would change how I felt on the inside. Wronggg!
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It’s by turning into the insides ➡️Seeing the false beliefs and the limiting-self-defeating view points. Doing the work to clean the mirror of my heart so I could better see the beauty and love always radiating out of my soul! ...
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This is our job as humans. To clear our heart. To see, feel and give love more freely!
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There is a very precious teaching in yoga called The Three Malas. In this case mala being a "cloak" or a "veil" rather than mala like the bead.
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These veils are like coverings which conceal our true nature, like a floor which collects dust bunnies, the malas collect on our consciousness. Yet, underneath it the floor can be "swiffered", the covering of the dust bunnies can be removed.
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Yoga is the swiffer for your heart.
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Dust bunnies are going to accumulate just by the nature of you being alive. Every time we forget how miraculous we actually are, more dust bunnies arrive. Life is just that way, we forget. And shit happens. We get hurt.
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It is normal to forget!And each time you remember, you grow, you expand, you become even more of yourself.
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There are three malas: one that cultivates low self esteem, one that cultivates a feeling of helplessness and one that cultivates worry
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If you are interested swiffering I am leading a online three week course “Uncover your true self”. 

No more SHAME

Is shame something you focus on in yourself or in your parenting? I would love to hear from you about your personal relationship with shame.
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The topic of shame is something I am very passionate about after realizing how much my own shame talk contributed to my low self esteem and feelings of self worth.
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Now I do not use shame on myself or others! Shame talk is not allowed in our house! I try my best to keep my kids from feeling shame. Guilt yes!! But shame no!! I never ...want them to doubt there goodness or self worth!
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Do you know the difference between shame and guilt. Although they may seem similar, shame is highly correlated with addiction, depression, and aggression. Where guilt is connected to empathy and understanding and motivation.
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Shame= you make a mistake + “I am bad” = “I am a mistake”
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Gulit= you make a mistake + “I did something bad” = “I made a mistake”
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Shame erodes our courage and fuels disengagement. Guilt motivates us to take positive action to align with our values.
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I encourage you to look for shame and guilt. Do you ever drop something and say or think “I am
Stupid, I can’t believe I didn’t that!” That’s shame! When I started noticing this I was amazing how much shame talk I saw in my head and all around me.
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For example. Someone saw Violet (my 1.5 year old daughter) pick her nose and said “nobody wants to see that”. To me that sounded like shame. Instead of saying maybe there is a more appropriate place to do that. Or do you need a tissue? Or remember she is 1!
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Another example. When I started paying attention to this I noticed I shamed my husband when we would argue. I made him feel like he wasn’t worthy. When what I should have been doing was maybe laying on a little guilt. But never ever shame! I never want to shame others or be shamed!
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We are all innately, unique, awesome, and WORTHY! yes. We make mistakes. But we are not those mistakes. Can we use those mistakes to help us improve in the future. To motivate us to take positive action. Instead of shame ourself and live in fear that we are unworthy and disempower us!
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“I am worthy” “I am good” are some of my favorite affirmations.
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Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati Mantras

Navaratri, an Indian celebration of “nine nights” honoring the Devi, the great Goddess and the Divine Mother begins on the first new moon in early autumn. During Navaratri you invoke the qualities of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Below is a quick summary of each Goddess and a mantra for her. I suggest picking one Goddess whos qualities feel lacking within yourself. Do a practice of 108 rounds of mantra for 40 days. Let me know how it goes. I particularly love Durga!

Durga: overcome our fear and false ideas of ourselves giving us the ability to perceive our true nature and step up confidently again and again. Calling in courage and perseverance to defeat any obstacle.

Chant to invoke Durga: Om Dum Durgayei Namaha  

Lakshmi: abundance, both spiritual and material, to create beauty and recognize the abundance and beauty that exists within us and the world around us. Lakshmi war born from the turning of the ocean for ten thousand years by both demons and Gods. Can we turn into our practice, into our self, welcome the good and the precieved bad and through our practice let the beauty of our soul rise.

Invoking Lakshmi: Om Shreem Mahalakshmiyei Namaha

Saraswati: embodies wisdom, creativity and artistic expression. She cultivates eloquent, truthful speech and is an inspiration for creating. She is born from Bhrama and through her wisdom creates order from chaos.  

Invoking Saraswati: Om Aim Hrim Kleem Maha

What I've Been Reading... Booklist + Summary

August Books Read 

Now that my daughter is 18 months I have declared she can no longer be an excuse of me not having time to read. 

The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting: Raising Children with Courage, Compassion, & Connection by Brene brown 

This is an audiobook from a lecture. My favorite take aways from this book was on Shame and guilt. Shame is when we do something bad and we feel bad about who we are verses guilt we only feel bad about the behavior. We teach our children this self talk by how we talk to them. Now I am really aware of identifying the behavior in my kids or my husband I am not okay with while emphasizing I still love who they are. So many good points. I will be listening to this many times. 

No Mud No Lotus by Thich Nat Han 

This book is about suffering and happiness and how one does not exsit without the other. That is like thinking we can have a right side without a left. He talks a lot about mindfulness to be present to realize how much of our suffering is happening in the past or future. By being mindful we can notice if suffering is happening in the moment, how to turn into it and care for it like we would care for a crying child while also noticing the many blessings and reasons to be happy in every moment. I love the many meditations he gives at the end including mantra, pranayama and walking meditations. 

White Hot Truth: Clarity for Keeping It Real on Your Spiritual Path ? from One Seeker to Another

Book by Danielle LaPorte

I have a crush on Danielle. The book was like one long conversation with a good friend that was honest, vulnerable with no bull shit and lots of laughs and crys. I love how she shares her personal experience of a women on the path of transformation, spirituality and service. I love how she shares about all the forms of spirituality and healing she has practiced without being preachy. I love how she shares her personal transformation, struggles and vulnerabilities.  She points out how spirituality and self help can become self criticism which I think is a very important thing to remember as someone who wants to keep improving myself while remembering I am enough and I am good. "You think you need an architect, but you are already a temple." I also love the quotes she uses throughout the book. I plan to read everything this women writes. She also has a terrific blog. Short sweet and deeply wise. I recommend this book. Visit www.daniellelaporte.com

Light Is the New Black: A Guide to Answering Your Soul’s Callings and Working Your Light by Rebecca Campbell

I didn't like this as much as I thought I would. It had a lot of really good reminders in it encouraging readers to shine their light. I love the sourcing meditation she talks about frequently. Most of the stuff in this book I felt I already knew however it's always nice to be reminded and to focus on the light over the black. One of my favorite teachings from this book was that our individual obstacles didn't happen to us, but for us. "Believe that your tragedies, your losses, your sorrows, your hurt happened for you, not to you. And I bless the thing that broke you down and cracked you open because the world needs you open"

The Fifth Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz

This book has been in my pile of books to read for so long. I love this author and the way he sums up such complex concepts in simple principles rooted in ancient earth wisdom. I love what he teaches about the track of fear and the track of love. I definitely feel myself getting pulled into the fear thinking of what ifs and not wanting to let people down. He also talked about partnership and how we need to love our partner for who they are without expectations and love ourself in the same way. I learned so many good things and have applied them to my marriage. Like only being responsible for my half of the relationship and not trying to manage my husbands side. 

Shakti Meditations by Sally Kempton

I have been a student of sally Kempton for many years and devour her writings and soak them into my soul. I loved all of the  meditations, visualizations, mantras, teachings, and beautifully told stories about each goddess. I could see them so clearly in my minds eye and feel them so powerfully alive in my body.  I have stored many away into my tool box to call upon when varies challenges come up in my life. 

Here are some brief notes on each goddess:

Durga (Hard-to-Conquor), the warrior, cosmic protector, and empowering Mother. Durga and Kali have been the main goddess

I invoke regularly. 

Kali: (the Black One)—the mysterious terrifying, fiercely loving goddess who brings radical change into your life, and ultimately dissolves all forms into the Void. Among her forms are Tara and Bhairavi.

Laksmi (Auspicious)—the goddess of good fortune, wealth, and inner and outer abundance. 

Saraswati—goddess of creative intuition, music, eloquence, and speech. 

Lalita Tripura Sundari—Goddess of sacred sexuality as well as the highest form of mystical experience, whose blessing unites the energy of the body with the energy of spirit. 

Dhumavati—the crone goddess, who teaches us how to turn disappointment into spiritual growth. This goddess was the most fascinating to me!!! 

Sita—The faithful wife, guardian of the womb, goddess of the earth and its mysteries. 

Radha—the goddess of erotic devotional love, who carries the gift of divine longing and mystical surrender

Bhuveshwari—Goddess of sacred space, who dissolves all limitations into herself, and then creates new forms out of the infinite space.

Parvati—Goddess of the sacred marriage, the divine yogini, who embodies the power of creative will. “By practicing the Five Agreements, what you are really doing is respecting everything in creation. You are respecting your dream; you are respecting everybody else’s dream. If you use these tools, your effort is really for everyone, because your joy, your happiness, your peace, and your heaven are contagious. When you are happy, the people around you are happy too, and it inspires them to change their own world.”