Soul Path Parenting

As the entire planet adjusts to stay-at-home and prepares for what our "new normal" might look like, we're all dealing with change.  It's sort of a cliche that "change is hard," but there's more to it than just the fear of loss or fear of the unknown.  Transformational change is actually a process, one that doesn't happen overnight.

In this episode, Bob Tipton, Principal Change Architect at Team Tipton, breaks down the  dynamics around how change so that we can understand where we and our loved ones are in the process and chart a path forward.  We talk about:

• The “9 Stages of Transformational Change” curve: (1) Status Quo, (2) Denial, (3) Righteous Resistance, (4) Pleading, (5) Despair, (6) Tolerance, (7) Acceptance, (8) Agreement, and (9) Advocacy.  (You can view the visual on the Team Tipton blog.)
• How to identify where you are, get un-stuck and move forward through the phases
• What we can learn from our kids about dealing with change
• What disappointment really is...and how to shift out of it
• The opportunities available to us as a result of the challenges we are facing

Links:
Website: Team Tipton
Blog: "'Instant Life Dislocations' - and Why Transformation Feels So Hard"

Would you like fewer power struggles and more connection in your communication with your family and others?  Listen on!  In this episode, Micah Salaberrios teaches us Nonviolent Communication (NVC), a way of communicating that is especially useful during conflicts.  It focuses on finding win-win solutions to problems while building connection and allowing us to be totally authentic. 

Micah is the host of the podcast The Art of NVC and the author of the book Art of Nonviolent Communication: Turning Conflict into Connection.  NVC was originally developed by Marshall Rosenberg, PhD in clinical psychology, based on his experiences in the 1960s peacefully resolving differences in the civil rights movement.  Micah discovered NVC in 2015 and since then has been sharing this much needed knowledge wherever he goes.

In this episode, Micah shares:

• How to move through each of the 4 steps of NVC: (1) Fact, (2) Feeling, (3) Why, (4) Specific Request
• A "magical and powerful" tool that you can use to diffuse the situation any time you or someone else is triggered
• The breakthroughs the NVC have brought to his life
• Examples of how to apply NVC in scenarios with our spouses and kids

For more on NVC, including further training by Micah, check out these links:

• Website: Art of NVC
• Book: Art of Nonviolent Communication: Turning Conflict into Connection
• Workshops: Art of NVC Workshops

If we believe that every experience is here for us rather than happening to us, then we might ask ourselves, what is the opportunity of this stay-at-home experience we're all having?  This week I had the opportunity to explore this and other inspiring questions with Rev. Scott Schell, co-minister at Unity Columbine Spiritual Center.  I just love their mission: We Inspire Personal Transformation! and their commitment to the spiritual journey.  In this episode, we talk about:

• How to distinguish the "judge" part of our ego and free ourselves from its voice so we can be who we're really meant to be
• Scott's personal journey of finding his voice, his community and his self-expression
• How COVID 19 is putting pressure on the individual self, the ego structure, and how these challenges offer us an opportunity to grow
• A lens on Easter as a metaphor for personal transformation that, for the first time in my life, offers real meaning for how we can celebrate this holiday as a family
• And Scott's beautiful words of support: "No matter what’s going on in our lives, we are the expression of something much greater and all things are working for good, even though in the world around us, it’s hard sometimes to imagine that that could be the truth.  And so as we just breathe into it and and say, 'what is mine to do today?'"

As we look for ways to raise spiritually connected children, inspiration abounds!  Today's guest, Rabbi Caryn Aviv, beautifully shares practices and lessons from Jewish spirituality that we can all learn from.  Did you know that Jewish practice doesn't require belief?  Frankly, having been raised in a Christian context, I thought prescribed beliefs were at the core of all religions.  Caryn will share more on this as well as:

• An inspiring description of "Jewish time" as circular rather than linear
• How the weekly practice of coming back to center, Shabbat, includes rest (menucha), connecting to what's important and sacred (kiddusha), and experiencing joy (oneg) with such pleasures as yummy food and intimacy
• How Judaism sees God as both masculine and feminine, with feminine being the indwelling sacred presence within all of us (so beautiful!)
• The meaning behind Passover and the Jewish coming of age celebration, which they call "Be Mitzvah" at Judaism Your Way

Caryn is a Rabbi and the Education Director at Judaism Your Way, an independent organization that offers innovative opportunities to connect Jewishly for all Jews and loved ones.  Caryn holds a PhD in sociology and anthropology, taught Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado and the University of Denver, and is the author of three books: Queer Jews, New Jews: The End of the Jewish Diaspora, and American Queer: Now and Then.

Spring is here!  While we're at home with our kids, what a great opportunity to make starting the garden a family project.  Truth be told, I've always taken the shortcut of buying plants in containers.  But this year...seeds!  Our guest, Lilly Steirer, shares with us the ins & outs of growing seedlings along with a lot of other gardening wisdom.  

Lilly is a passionate chef & gardener who teaches the kids' Cooking From the Garden program at Slow Food Denver.  She's also the co-host of Sustainable Colorado, where she and her husband share their family's adventures in minimizing waste during their Zero Waste Year.

In our conversation, Lilly shares:

• Techniques for growing seedlings that may be surprising if the last time you learned to plant seeds was pre-school - and which plants make the best candidates for seedlings
• How to grow a salad in a pot
• The most "traumatic" and important part of gardening that most people skip
• How most of us garden the way conventional farming is done, and better approaches for biodiversity and thriving crops

Links:
Sustainable Colorado Podcast
Instagram: @sustainablecolorado

In light of the uncertainty in the world today, we're delighted to have Becca Armstrong back on the show.  Becca is a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist who brings wonderful perspective on how we can thrive in the face of uncertainty and transform anxiety.  Becca's work goes beyond the conscious into the subconscious, which controls 95% of what we think, feel and do.  Her insights into what's really happening in your subconscious will surprise you and give you new access to how struggles like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, ADD and ADHD can be transformed.  We talk about:

• A simple self-care shift we can all make tonight to feel better and be healthier
• The “what if” game…and how to shift out of “catastrophizing” and into the "now"
• A powerful 3-minute exercise that transforms your energy and brings you into coherence - a state that can positively impact not just those around you, but radiate out to up to 750,000 people.
• A new lens on depression that shows how it works like a "circuit breaker," protecting you from being overwhelmed by unprocessed anger or sadness...and how to resolve it
• How anxiety is like a "solicitor" that will keep knocking on your door until you get the message...and how to recognize and release the feeling beneath the anxiety

Links:
Becca Armstrong

In this episode, we talk with Rabbi Amy Grossblatt Pessah about her new book, Parenting on a Prayer: Ancient Jewish Secrets for Raising Modern Children.  Amy shares the wisdom she gained as a mother of three children and a long-time Jewish educator.  Whether or not you are Jewish, the themes and lessons here are universal.  We talk about:

• Finding parenting inspiration in values and prayers shared in the Jewish prayer book
• The important role of intuition in parenting - and how to tap into it
• Powerful lessons our kids can teach us about presence
• The insight that “If you have no art, your soul has no voice” and how we can support our children to find their artistic expression
• How by listening more, we love more — and how the love languages can help us love our kids the way they want to be loved
• And, Amy shares an inspiring story that captures the power of unconditional love

Links:
Learn more and connect with Amy at A Soulful Journey
Find Parenting on a Prayer at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Ben Yehuda Press

Creativity!  What could be more important as we set our kids up to live their best lives?  I believe creative is at the very heart of who we are as human beings.  It's why we're here -- and it's the key to expressing our truest selves.

In this episode, we talk with Elsie Ritzenhein, an expert in creativity and author of Awakening Your Creative Voice: Women in a World of Possibility.  Elsie shares with us from her more than 50 years of experience as an educator and leadership consultant.  We talk about:

• How the arts - music, dance, and visual arts - are proven to help kids more effectively integrate what they learn in their academic studies
• Four key concepts and practices for building your creative muscle - intuition, both/and, mindfulness, and improvisation - and how to cultivate them with kids
• The importance of play and risk-taking

Links:
Elsie Ritzenhein Website
Awakening Your Creative Voice: Women in a World of Possibility (Amazon link)
Elsie's creativity model is available on the episode page at soulpathparenting.com

Did you know that our subconscious mind is "programmed" by the age of seven?  Did you know that 95% of our thoughts, feelings, and actions are controlled by our subconscious?  And, did you know there are modalities that can "reprogram" the subconscious mind in as little as 15 to 20 minutes so that we can remove limiting beliefs, heal trauma, and create a life filled with joy and empowerment?  Well, listen on!

In this episode, we talk with Becca Armstrong, a psychotherapist also trained and certified Hypnotherapy, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) tapping, and Psychological Kinesiology.

In this episode, Becca shares with us:

• How our subconscious works 
• How therapeutic modalities like Hypnotherapy, EMDR, and Cooperative Integration work at the subconscious level to quickly clear interferences and rewrite the subconscious 
• How healing and aging can be dramatically shifted at a cellular level with changes in the subconscious
• And, how to coach kids to handle fears and anxiety by changing they way they relate to the situation.  (Did you know kids are only born with two hardwired fears?  Everything else is learned.  Fascinating!)

Links:
Becca Armstrong
Becca's Heal & Achieve Podcast

Have you ever considered that the cause of your child’s physical or emotional pain might not be something in the 5-sensory world, but rather energetic?  In this episode, we explore the dynamics of energy with Ashley Lee, a leader in the field of Pediatric Advanced Energy Healing.  In addition to being an energy healer, a medical intuitive, and psychic, Ashley also has over 30 years of experience as a Pediatric & Newborn Cardiovascular Critical Care Nurse.  She combines energy work with a deep understanding of human physiology.  In her practice, Ashley works with kids who are psychic, highly conscious, and highly sensitive and their families so that they can understand their gifts and thrive.  Ashley is also the founder of the Center for Conscious Kids, a listing service for families to connect to consciously aware practitioners and service providers. 

In our interview, Ashley shares insights that the parents of any child will find helpful around how to help our kids understand and deal with energy. We talk about:

• What energy is and how we perceive it 
• The psychic ability we are all born with
• Beyond RECEIVING intuition and energy, awareness of how and what we what we GIVE
• What it means to be “highly sensitive” and how to help highly sensitive kids
• Going beyond raising kids to be independent and cultivating interdependence
• How to help kids sort for what energy is theirs, what isn’t, and what to do about it
• The energetic causes of allergies

Links:
Ashley Lee Healing
Center for Conscious Kids
Viral video of dad holding space during his toddler's tantrum