open the door to compassion

Next weekend I'm teaching a mother's day yoga workshop (on Saturday). The inspiration for the workshop is from a 'mommy mantra' I read in a book I have of the same name. The mantra is open the door to compassion.

From Myla Kabat-Zinn, in Everyday Blessings:
When a child, no matter how old, feels our acceptance, when he feels our love, not just for his easy-to-live-with, loveable, attractive self, but also for his difficult, repulsive, exasperating self, it feeds him and frees him to become more balanced and whole. That is compassion in action. (But she’s not saying we put up with unacceptable behaviour.) We just might need to be mindful of what might be going on from our child’s point of view, and factor compassion into our response, rather than react automatically and unthinkingly.

Here's a thought on showing compassion towards ourselves as mothers, from Buddhism for Mothers, by Australian author Sarah Napthali:

In practicing compassion we speak kindly to ourselves and notice whether our inner voices are supportive and friendly or judgmental and demanding. We are patient when we falter, for parenting makes amateurs of us all as we confront its never-ending new stages. It helps to cultivate self-awareness, not guilt.

This whole compassion mantra is starting to play more of a role for me now that Mirelle is acting more assertive and entering tantrum land. (Or at least what I think are tantrums...)


screaming/crying as she tries to get to her pacifier, which lives in the crib...

Oh, and one more thing about mother's day: visit this site to donate money in your mother's name to help war victims. (The founder of Mother's Day, Julia Ward Howe, created the holiday with the intention of women uniting for peace.)