Drop the Worry Ball

Thank you for your kind feedback regarding the Take a Breath program.  We are hoping for a wonderful 2017, and helping many more kids, and teens, parents, families, and educators.  In my travels with the program I was introduced to the book, "Drop the Worry Ball" by Alex Russell.  It was given to me by a Principal of a Grade School, who has two daughters of his own.  I have been perusing parenting books for a while now to get a feel for how motivated parents are being informed.  I always glean something from each, and yet this one is very different.  It reminds me of The Untethered Soul, in terms of not giving technique, but rather an empowered philosophy.  In this case, no big changes, but rather a position of 'holding a pose' of awareness.  Hmmm, sounds familiar.

There are lots of dog eared pages from the book.  One that might summarize the tone of the book follows;

"It all comes down to maintaining perspective.  All the dos and don'ts in the world aren't going to help you as a parent if you lose sight of your own powerful feelings.  Perspective means being aware of your own anxiety and how it can blind you to the actual risks your child faces, how it can fire you up to act and react when it may not be in your child's best interests, and how acting on your worries ultimately makes things more stressful for your child.  And it means being aware of your over-identification with your child's efforts, and being aware when that begins happening."

And...

"If nothing else, our neurotic parenting culture has turned us in to a group of over reactors.  We are quicker than ever to get upset, to freak out, to lecture, and to get serious with our kids when things go wrong in the programs we've put them in and paid for, no refunds!   But when the parents fail to respond in a manner that supports their child's ability to manage painful failures in the world, they don't give kids the all-important message of resilience.  This is the real inadvertent negative consequence of our parental hovering: we unwittingly tell our kids that the knocks of the world ARE quite terrible, that they should be avoided at all costs and that, when they do happen, there must be someone else to blame.  And that's why anxiety (either a devotion to avoiding it or suffering under its unreasonable weight) is a growing problem among our children."

Wow.  I get it.  I SEE it.  I can see it a bit in our own girls.  And I definitely see it in the schools and kids (and parents) in the community.  This reinforces the commitment to Take a Breath.  And informs the why and the how.  Watch for Take a Breath in this coming year.  It needs your support or involvement.  There will be a local training next month, and more information regarding how to get involved personally or professionally.

In service, Harshad

p.s.  Watch a bit of this, or the whole thing.  A brief talk by the author.  A great thought experiment.