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Resources & Useful Links

Beneath A Rainbow Sea,
French Dye Silk, 40 x 50"

Please note that the resources listed here go beyond texts that are specifically about raising children.

I truly feel we are “spiritual beings having a human experience”. These suggested writings are about growing, looking at life from a different perspective, being more, and being better for ourselves and thus better for our children.

As parents we tend to be hard on ourselves. We need to step back and employ forgiveness. No matter how dedicated we are in being the best parent to our child, we are human, we will fall short, and that is okay.

Just like a million other behaviors in our life that we strive to improve, our children need to also see that we sometimes miss the mark. We will lose our patience, we will shout or be short. When we apologize to our children, they learn that we can be gracious, that we can fall from the ladder and pick ourselves up again, and we cope and get through it. We survive, we forgive, and we work at being better the next time.

Children need to know that we survived and that they will, too. That we are not the great, all-knowing beings that they sometimes think we are and that stumbling along the path is part of the process. We must face our fears, forgive ourselves, and realize that we have been given the opportunity to share some of what we have learned with this beautiful life unfolding before us. And what we share goes out before us and grows and becomes so much more than we could have ever imagined.

Hyacinth High,
French Dye on Silk, 44 x 32"

Some of these books will speak to parts of you that may have been broken in life’s process. For example, in Elizabeth Lesser’s Broken Open, she suggests it is the difficult times that can help us grow. Her insights enlighten us about the ways in which people weather change and transition. And she draws on the world’s great spiritual and psychological traditions to support us as we learn to break open and blossom into who we are meant to be. As families grow – or grow apart and change – we need to weather these changes in ways that can work for us and also work for our children. Her words are both entertaining and enlightening.

Richard Bach’s book Illusions is a once-a-year read for me, and I have given away countless copies. This book is a brilliant reminder to not get caught up in our own movie to the point that we really miss the moment and much, much more.

Along the same lines is the wisdom of the Tao spoken by Winnie the Pooh in The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff and the insights so eloquently conveyed in The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.

It is my pleasure to pass along with gratitude these writings from those that have so empowered and influenced my stories, philosophies, and my life. I hope you read and enjoy them all.

Books

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

Illusions by Richard Bach

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser

The Law of Attraction by Esther and Jerry Hicks

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle

Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life by Dr Wayne Dyer

There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem by Dr Wayne W. Dyer

Gifts From A Course in Miracles - edited by Frances Vaugban, PhD and Roger Walsh MD, Ph. D

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff