Why we need kids....

This week has been intense. Kids on vacation, summer buzz is very active. But the upside of the busy-ness is that now that the kids are around more, we get to hear all the cool things they say. Now, I'd love to share them all here, the wise things my six year old is saying to me this week, but they're too personal. So I will try to explain this without details and share the beauty of having wise and awake children and why the star children are hoping to explain through me the importance of waking up the adults on the planet so more of these baby masters can be born.

Our children take everything in, even when we think they're too busy playing. This week my son repeated phrases back to me, paraphrased in his own language, with his own wise spin, and used language I have never heard him use. He spoke to me like a 15 year-old. He showed me that a)he listens to me even when I think he doesn't, b) that his ability to process and comprehend what I say and what is really happening even without explanation is above and beyond his real age, and c)his ability to express himself is very evolved for a six year old. This child could hold very involved conversations with adults. It makes me want to spend more time with him, because if he can do this with no effort on my part, meaning this is just who he is, it means that the more time he spends around people who are awake, the more he will start sharing these words of wisdom with us.

There's a lot to be said for letting children spend a lot of time with adults. Years ago when I researched home schooling, I found that most kids who are home schooled are calmer, more mature, better spoken and have greater emotional intelligence. I can see why this is the case after spending one week with my children after they got out of school. Our children need time around adults, being made part of our lives, not segregated into specific age groups. Kids do often learn best in mixed age groups, so they can teach things to younger children and so they can learn from older children. This often mimics what children receive when they are born into large families where the children stay at home more or are home schooled or in cultures where the women and children in general spend more time together. This leads to a greater sense of personal security, trust, confidence and emotional intelligence which is very beneficial for children.

The truth is that adults today need children to tell them what's happening. The children know the truth and they speak it, especially when the adults around them are receptive. The children have the answers to the problems we adults face and the problems which our ancestors have created and gifted to us, the problems we are still perpetuating in the world with our ignorance and unwillingness to awaken and change. The children want to be a part of our circle. The children want to show us how life is supposed to be. The children have the keys and solutions if only we would pay attention. Listen to your children carefully. They will likely help you figure out what you need to do next in your life.

In love,
Andria

The Sacred Art of Mothering

Why these words came as a post title, I do not know. I only know the topic of mothering is up for discussion as I continue writing about the new children, as the newborn baby is crying next door, as I hold crying women each day - mothers who are weeping to help their children and as I continue mothering my two sons and myself from day to day. Mothering is not exclusive to children, we do mother ourselves and others quite often. Mothering as in holding, nurturing, caring and loving, as a practice and a way of being. Mothers often have this way of being that never changes. It's kind of how once you've had a newborn and rocked it to sleep a million times, how you can find yourself for the rest of your life rocking back and forth for no apparent reason no matter where you are, no matter what you are doing, the motion just becomes so ingrained in your muscle memory. Mothering is this calling that women have, that some women listen to more than others. Mothering in the modern world is sort of a lost art for many women. Women have grown accustomed to birthing in hospitals, bottle feeding, and going back to work. Women have grown accustomed to making certain kinds of sacrifices, this is the nature of being a woman. And I know many modern mothers who are not in that space of welcoming motherhood, of sacrificing the material to raise their children, or who give their power away to others as they go through the many initiations of mothering.

As a woman, I can understand why this is the case. We have very few female role models who are great mothers to learn from. Since the Women's Lib movement, women became determined to become like men. Women chose to give up their art of mothering to learn how to live in a man's world rather than insisting that men adjust back to a woman's world. Today, we are seeing a re-balance and shift beginning. More and more women are wanting to stay home, birth at home, home school and return to more natural ways of living and being. While this represents a small minority of women in the westernized world, at least we see a popular culture move in this direction.

For a woman, there is something sacred about the simplicity of motherhood. When I look at natural pregnancy and childbirth practices, breastfeeding, and raising my own children, I forget all the uninterrupted minutes of every day I spent with my young children. Those first few years go by so quickly, it's so cliche and so true. There is nothing better than knowing I was at home with my boys those first few years uninterrupted no matter how hard it was. As a woman, I would never sacrifice that time for anything or anyone else. I would never give my power away and choose to leave mothering in the early years of my child's life. I say this because it is a choice all women make. And many of us might say that we don't have a choice, but is that really true? Don't we all have a choice all the time? I know myself, and I know I would sacrifice anything to spend this time with my children. This isn't me saying do what I do. This is me saying it's not easy and yet I am determined no matter what, that it is what I want and therefore what will be. And for all women, I want to see them understand this truth. That if it is willed, desired and intended, that it can be, therefore make a decision for yourself and stick to it. Don't let anyone else convince you of what you do not want. Do not let anyone guilt you into making choices you will regret. The future generations depend on our choices. What we choose will affect many generations to come. As women and as mothers, our choices will affect the entire planet. There is no avoiding this truth. So my call to women is that before you choose to become a mother, consider all of this. Consider that who you choose to mate with, how you choose to be pregnant, birth and go through those first few years will greatly impact your life, your child's life, and all of humanity. The ripple effect has no end. To choose mothering above all is the beginning of the return of a sane and balanced planet. Then life becomes sacred again and others know how to respond when a woman makes her choices based on the knowledge and understanding that what she chooses will affect all those that know her. She can inspire or disappoint. She can choose the easy path or the difficult path. Without judgment, without right or wrong, she can simply choose what her heart tells her to do, without fear. When women follow their hearts, humanity will heal.
When women choose to honor their sacred contracts as mothers, humanity will heal. When family is once again sacred and honored, humanity will heal. This was our original commitment to ourselves as women. When we dis-honor that commitment to our families, we dis-honor ourselves, and only pain can follow. Women must continuously evaluate and examine their commitment to themselves, mothering and to their families. This is our sacred contract with God and Self.

In love,

Service versus Lip Service

In the world of the New Age, Metaphysics and Lightworkers, there are two types of people: Those who serve and those who do lip service. I'm laughing out loud as I type this. You know which category you fall into. If you do the latter, it might be a good time to jump into the first category of servants...you know, into the pool of Mother Theresas and Amma-jis who shut up and serve. We just shut up and serve...and we stop talking about love and light. We stop talking about ourselves and we just get to work. We really didn't come here to obsess over ourselves and our traumas and dramas did we? Nope. Sorry friends, truth requires this of me right now. We have to get to the grit work now...there's a lot to do on the planet. The call has been made. Active duty awaits. No time to talk, just time to act. We can sit at home and pretend like that is enough. We can meditate in our cozy groups and act like that is enough. We can work one on one and pretend like that is enough. But it's not. There are too many people suffering, too many children suffering, to sit at home and pretend like we have it bad. If you are a lightworker and you are still complaining, please stop and start doing what you came here to do. You're not a victim and you're not helpless. You have skills and gifts that are designed to serve large quantities of people. Share your love with the world and get out there.

Love,

Schools, Un-Schools....?

Your perception of your child may be negative or fearful. This is because your perception of your true self is negative and fearful. This is because your parents perception of you as your true self as a child and as an adult is negative and fear-based. There is little appreciation for who we really are. There are only attempts to change who we are, to control our behavior and this is made manifest in schools, in the workplace, in our social systems, etc. In schools today for example, children are allowed very little freedom of expression. This says to me that even at home, children are allowed very little freedom of expression, otherwise there is no way their parents would allow their children to attend schools where their spirits and creativity are destroyed and dismembered by federal and state standards which are based on funding. It’s like saying to your child, “I’m sorry honey, but even though I know this is wrong, I’m going to send you to this school, because I have to work and make money, so you’re going to have to waste your childhood sitting at a desk being forced to learn things that you neither need or want to learn, and things which even I know are not going to truly benefit you in the long run. I’m sorry, I had to do it too, so I’m going to make you do it, because I can’t figure out another way. And besides, I go to work and if I had to admit that I was wrong, I would have to change many things about our lives and I don’t know how I could do that. That really freaks me out.” Isn’t this the truth of what most Americans are doing? Isn’t this how most people are living today?