June 2021 - Love Note “We Love Our Grads!”
“When we remind (our children) of all the things we love and admire about them, we give them a dose of confidence and we boost their sense of self. They desperately need this from their loved ones this summer!”
Celebrate Grads! - Protecting and Nurturing our Children
Dear Friend,
I hope you have enjoyed this month’s Love Letter and Love Notes and that they helped you to cultivate more joy, love, and peacefulness in your day-to-day life! As we bring June to a close this week, remember that the Divine Father energy is supporting you at all times (not just in June!).
This week we will explore a positive and fun way to protect and nurture our children. In this Love Note you will find:
A joyful exercise to support the children in your life
A link to a beautiful story about children of an African tribe
Susan’s Favorite! A poem and a song
I hope you enjoy this week's Love Note!
A Child's Song
In a certain African tribe, an expecting mother learns the song of her unborn child. She shares the song with her community. When the child is born the community sings the song to the child. Then again at monumental points in the child’s life, like birthdays and rites of passage, the community sings the song to him/her. This is the song of the person’s Soul. Another very important time when the song is sung to the person is if they have erred. Rather than pushing them to the side, they bring the person to the center of the circle and sing their song to them to help them remember who they are as a Soul. (To read a deeper description of this, click here.)
Congratulations Graduates!
Congratulations to all children of all ages for navigating pandemic school years with grace and flexibility! Here at the end of June, many young people have graduated from high school and college. Many even celebrate graduation from kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school! Let’s take a moment to wish all children well on their journey to what comes next in their life.
This time of year, I hear many parents feeling frustrated with their recent high school graduates. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed with young adults as they are expressing themselves more, desiring more independence, and carving their path. However, at this time, they need our nurture and protection more than ever before! They just need it in a different way, a more hands-off way, on their terms.
This is an emotional time for recent high school grads as they leave the comfort of childhood and turn towards the adult world. A number of teenagers have expressed to me that they do not want to become adults. They want to stay in their childhood. This may be due to all of the turmoil in the world that they are well aware of — political, social, economic. Clearly, they are navigating a lot of mixed feelings this summer.
More than ever they need to feel the nurture of Divine Mother and the protection of Divine Father. They need us to remind them who they are at their Soul level. They need for us to sing them their song! This week’s practice will help you to provide this nurture and protection.
Suggestion:
How can you sing your child’s song to them? While we do not have the tradition of listening for our child’s song, we have an equally important way to remind them who they are. And that is to focus on their qualities and traits that we admire! When we remind them of all the things we love and admire about them, we give them a dose of confidence and we boost their sense of self. They desperately need this from their community this summer!
Try This:
Sing Them Their Song!
1. At the beginning of the month, I encouraged you to think about a child in your life (or your own inner child). I suggested that you jot down your top 3 favorite traits about this child! If you did, pull out that list. If not, create a list now. These are to be qualities or traits that you love and admire in this child. It can be things like:
How attentive she is to her pets/siblings/friends.
The way that he smiles at me when he walks in the door.
How polite he/she is to others (even if not to me).
That he/she will fight for what they feel is right.
2. Then, start commenting on this to this child. When you see it, stop what you are doing and point it out. Say it verbally. Or send it in a text message. Or write a post-it note and leave it on their bathroom mirror.
3. Next, start to look for these traits/actions happening. They are there and they can be noticed. Look beyond the piles of laundry, the dirty dishes left out, the snarky comments. Look beyond all that frustrates you and see the beautiful traits. I call this ‘mining for gold’.
This will not damage the child! It will not inflate their ego. It will, however, remind them of who they are. It will help them to get centered and grounded. And it will enhance their sense of connection to you. This will nurture their sense of self and provide them with the sense of safety and protection that are so critical for children to have, especially for new graduates who will be leaving home in the fall. This is like giving them a booster shot before they head off into the world. Most of all, enjoy this! Find the pleasure in celebrating who this child is as a person, as a soul! And watch how this exercise transforms your own life, too!
Susan’s Favorites!
You get a triple bundle of favorites this week! One of my favorite poems written by one of my favorite writers sung by one of my favorite acapella groups:
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself… 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…” for the full poem click here. "On Children” by Lebanese writer Kahlil Gibran is a beautiful expression of what we can aim for in our relationship with our children.
Give a listen to Sweet Honey in the Rock singing this poem acapella style click here . Enjoy!
You are Loved!
In closing, I want to remind you how deeply loved you are by the Divine Father just simply because you are part of creation. You have the power within yourself to make positive, joyful change in your life. Thank you for joining me on this journey to love, heal, and grow!
I look forward to talking to you next month about Freedom.
Always remember that you are loved beyond measure!
Lovingly,
Susan
Love ~ Heal ~ Grow!
Buy Sweet Honey in the Rock “Breaths” album
Buy a lovely print of “On Children” poem made by a NC artist
(This was published as an email on June 29th, 2021)
