“All the flowers of tomorrow are planted in the seeds of today.”

By Dr. Roxanne Daleo

Today, we need to plant some “seeds of change.” Change for the better! We all have the potential to use our inner vision to see a world we want to live into! Holding an intention of what we want” is empowering.

Ask, “what do I consciously want to create?” The choices we make will determine the quality of life on our planet. Now is the time to decide. Let’s create a new world rather than be diminished by fear.

Mindful seed planting builds self-esteem, creativity and generosity.

Furthermore, selecting seeds for growing herbs that calm you is an additional

measure of body/mind wisdom. For example, camomile and lemon balm make soothing teas,

perfect to drink in the late afternoon or right before bed.

Our minds are like gardens. We can grow either thorny weeds by thinking negative, fearful thoughts or we can grow beautiful, tender flowers.

Here’s a simple, tangible way to encourage yourself and your child to develop health integrity that encompasses all aspects of their being- mind, body, and spirit.

Find an empty egg carton for planting seeds of change. Fill the each egg cup with potting soil. Ask your child to label each row of two cups with a word describing their ideal world such as peaceful, healthy, happy. Water the seeds and place in the sunlight. Watch what happens when the magic of intention is energized!

Many cultures around the world believe the egg is the symbol of new beginnings, fertility, the genesis of gods, the earth and life itself. With the beauty of Spring finally upon us, I thought I might share with you a way to use the tradition of decorating eggs as a symbol of inner peace thus, tapping into and finding the calm within each of us. Here’s how.

Let’s remind our child that the shell is the protective outer covering for the yoke which is inside.

Now, let’s use guided imagery to imagine being in a place that is safe and secure. Tell your child to close his eyes and picture a clear, see through, luminous egg of protection all around him. And just as the yoke rests inside the shell, tell your child: “you have a place to rest that cannot be disturbed, always available to you when you remember your invisible luminous egg of protection all around you. This is your place to find the quiet you, the peaceful you. Breathe a long, deep breath in and out, sit, rest. All is well and so it is.”

Now when you decorate eggs, consider labeling them with the words: peace, calm, quiet me, the me I love! Have fun!

For more visit: www.drroxannedaleo.com

Free consultation on how to calm down and be happy and healthy.

And Why Gold Stars, Stickers & Bribes Do Not Work!
By Dr. Roxanne Daleo

Do you believe your child will become a leader because she makes straight A’s on her report card? Do you think a shopping spree at the Mall or date at the nail salon spa will improve her self-concept?

These and other questions came to my mind when I recently counseled parents whose 7th grade daughter compelled them to reward her for good grades. They told me each of them told their daughter how proud they were but also decided to award her ten dollars for each A; she earned five out of six subjects.

I ask you, do you think rewards will motivate your child toward such attributes as happiness, pride and self-confidence? How do we cultivate prosocial behavior helping our child develop virtues of kindness, generosity and excellence toward themselves and others? Behaviors that foster the idea: there is value in aiming for the greater good of all concerned as opposed to self-serving, ego-centric behavior? Currently the trend is more toward: “what’s in it for me?” mentality.

Do you notice the more you bribe your child, the more demanding, inflexible and intolerable she gets?

I believe only someone who has a strong sense of self can lead others. A leader knows the greater good of the whole. A leader has clarity and holds that clear vision in front of the group. A leader motivates others to work together as a “unit”, a team, a family. A leader has the ability to redirect the team when necessary in order to stay on course. A leader has qualities of self-confidence, full self-expression and competence. Most important, a leader is capable of balance between esteem and humility.

The reason gold stars, stickers and bribes do not work is because these are based on extrinsic measures to motivate a child rather than motivating intrinsically from an inner drive. Extrinsic rewards depend on outside forces. Parents and teachers rule and hold the standard of conduct rather than intrinsic reward which inspires conduct for its own sake. This gives the individual a feeling of pride because he feels good about himself.

Does your child feel good about herself? How do you know? How do you keep that feeling going as your child meets greater and greater challenges?

To answer these questions, let’s get back to our 7th grader who received ten dollars per “A” on her report card. Don’t you know, she was thrilled! Then the next day, realizing she had a test in French which she only rated a “B” average, she decided to cut class in dance, put in more study time in order to ace her French test.

Am I the only stickler here or can you also see there’s something wrong with this way of thinking? You trade off one bad habit for another when you bribe your child to get an “A” at all costs. In fact, you are creating loss somewhere else. In this case, it’s a lack of respect for the commitment to the dance class and poor time management because of distorted priorities,
judgement is off which leads to dysfunctional behaviors.

Am I being too harsh? I don’t think so, the most powerful learning mechanism is consequences. There is a cause and effect to everything in life. It’s one of the laws of the Universe, called karma. Karma acts like a boomerang. What you put out will come back, so watch your back!

A good way to teach your child this principle is to take your child outdoors to your backyard, throw the boomerang at him and let him see it circle back to the thrower. Now give him a turn. Amazing thing, really. I had a friend who’d go into schools with his “Boomerang Program” to illustrate this very principle; his programs were quite popular.

Doing something for its own sake can be the reward when fostered early in childhood. I remember the story my husband told me about his boyhood family vacation. His father decided to drive cross-country to visit the National Parks of America. Six kids and two adults piled into “Woody,” their station wagon; thrilled to travel for five summer weeks! He described the scene to me: My father would pull into a camp grounds and park the car. Dad never gave orders, he didn’t say a word. My brothers and I appointed ourselves in charge of pitching the tent while my sisters brought out the food, pots and pans and sleeping bags. Everyone seemed clear how they were to contribute to the task at hand and we just did-happily-what had to be done!

Recently I had lunch with a prep school classmate. She described her situation with her son. She and her husband decided to enroll Tyler (not his real name) in private school for fourth grade because he was not being academically challenged in the public school. When they made the switch, Tyler rebelled. One night during the first week of being in his new school, his mother said she heard him sobbing from his bedroom. This distressed her deeply. So she decided to allow him to go back to his old school for a day to visit his buddies and check out for himself what he was missing. To her surprise, Tyler could feel the difference being with his old friends and it wasn’t the same as the year before. He said to his folks, he realized the new school was better for him and more challenging. Basically, Tyler had an inner instinct that helped him figure out for himself that private school was a good place for him. He made the adjustment and thrived there.

Both of these stories illustrate a young person’s intrinsic motivation.

Whatever your religious tradition may be, invoking a spiritual dimension (expressed as “God,” the “divine,” or simply “love” or “caring” or “goodness”) can be a powerful way of helping a child find a deeper appreciation of himself and others. For me, having been raised in the Catholic tradition, this was put in terms of “God” and the divine — but you can adapt this to whatever your own beliefs or traditions are. 

“We all have the extraordinary encoded within us waiting to be released,” says Jean Houston one of the most influential thought leaders of our times.
In some form and in your own way, remind your child that all the energy, all the power, all the wisdom of the Universe is inside you right now, you are made in the likeness of the Creator. Claim your spiritual ID.

I remember being told God is like the ocean, you are a spoonful of that “God-ness” that “goodness.”

The first key to embracing ourselves as divine is through giving. St. Frances said “It is in giving that we receive.” To give: attention, a love note, a smile, a beautiful flower is a gesture of just connecting to the other person to be kind and caring. This is a lesson many kindergarten children learn through the model set by a parent or teacher.

Self-esteem is the awareness of our innate goodness. It is present when a youngster feels good about himself. I foster self-esteem by helping children to see the impact of their kindness or of sharing by bringing their attention to the face of the other child to whom they gave.
I would say, “Johnny, that was very thoughtful of you to give a cookie to Mary. Look at her face, is she smiling? “
Johnny says, Yes!” 
I say, “And how do you think that made her feel? 
Johnny says, “Happy!” 
I say, “And how does it make you feel to know you shared your cookies with her? 
Johnny says, “Good.”
I say, “Yes, you are a caring person.”

SUMMARY OF KEYS TO BUILDING SELF-ESTEEM
1.Catch your child in the act of being caring and sharing and you will get more of that behavior. Slow down the action by deliberately bringing attention of the one who gave, to the expression of joy on the face of the other. This is an emotionally intelligent way of building your child’s self-esteem. Self-concept grows out of the positive and negative experiences in your child’s life; so be on the look out for the positive ones and amplify the influence these experiences have by making sure your child “sees and feels” good about himself in the process.

2 The second key to building self-esteem is found when we model how to take our attention off our own problems and worries and focus, instead, on what we can do for someone else. The simple shift in thinking about “the other” – our brother, our sister, allows the child to lose track of  circumstance and create an act of kindness and caring for its own sake. An act of caring done without any expectation of getting something in return.

3.Prompt your child by having a short conversation about ideas that would help the other member of the family or would offer an expression of joy and love for them. When you take the time to do this, you help your child truly know their own identity and significance.

4.Tell your child about the day or night they were born. Children love to hear about the excitement of their birth. Use storybooks like: “Knots On A Counting Rope” by Bill Martin, Jr. and
“On the Night You Were Born” by Nancy Tillman.

5. Tell you child how you named him and why. This kind of personal information gives your child awareness of his identity and significance. Read this bedtime story: “The Incredible You” written by Wayne Dyer.

You are here
and not yet there.
You are Now
and wonder how?

I tell you truly
The reason easy
You are Love
as the old world’s undone
You are the Love
Needed to make a new one.

You are here
And not yet there
Not knowing can bring fear
In the threshold
there is stillness, where you’ll get clear
In the threshold
Patience and courage will appear

Know your gifts
Now, your chance to use them
Make a world of difference
It’s your time to be bold.
Go through the threshold
As the new world unfolds.

By Dr. Roxanne Daleo

During this holiday season, let’s focus on simple ways to give of ourselves rather than worry about buying something to give. Try crafting homemade ornaments, baking cookies and best of all helping your child recognize this truth: you are the gift.

Here are some suggestions to share with your child the ways we can express caring. Show them how to give the gift of a smile.

A smile is a gift of love that brings cheer to ourselves and to those who receive it. So give a smile: it’s a feeling good about yourself feeling–you can see it, you can feel.

1. Give Yourself A Smile

Ask your child to smile in the mirror at her/him self. You do it, too. What happens?Your beautiful face seems to brighten up. It gives you a good feeling, doesn’t it?

2. Smile At Someone

Give the smile away by smiling at someone. Notice the look on that person’s face when you give him or her a smile. It makes them smile back at you and makes them feel happy too! The impact factor of a smile is not bound by language or culture.

3. Smile At Nature

Next time to see a beautiful flower or a mighty oak tree hug it and send a smile. Cultivate a shift in awareness by acknowledging our connection with all living things

4.. Send Someone A Smile

Draw a happy face and send it to someone you might not see for the holiday or take a photograph of your child saying “YES!” smiling, write a note and send! Try it using your mind’s eye.

There is a beautiful teaching from A Course in Miracles which says:

When you meet anyone, remember it is a Holy Encounter. As you see him you see yourself. As you think of him, you will think of yourself. Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself.

Remind your child to look for the good in others and look for the good within and you will see how a simple smile can light up the world with kindness and goodness.

How did you use your smile as a gift today? Send me a comment at

http://drroxannedaleo.com/roxie/contact/:

By Dr. Roxanne Daleo

www.drroxannedaleo.com

If you find your children overwhelmed by their outer world or lose their capacity for creative play then take a space trip!

Enter the imaginal space of your imagination to find your resources again and again where you make magic happen.

Play is your child’s natural medium for self-expression. Play is your child’s work— it is their language. And in this imaginal space of play, your children can evolve which helps them use imagination more effectively and efficiently to cope with stress.

Helping children help themselves create “space” (inner space, emotional space) where the imagination can go to work for them is a powerful life skill. This is easily achieved using Dr. Roxie’s guided imagery relaxation journeys. These guided journeys are high octane storytelling because metaphors in the teaching tale set to music is a sound healing event that transports the listener by changing the frequency they are tuning into and shifts the inner dialogue to a mood changing, higher vibration.

Dr. Roxie’s narrations are elegantly crafted to do the “play” of inner transformation. Her voice gently guides the child away from over stimulation of the senses from the outside world in order to acquaint them with the inner world of peace where they can attain greater concentration and inner wisdom.

Your children will learn how to see a world they want to live into.

Click here to request your free sample: https://drroxannedaleo.com/roxie/contact/

Your Assignment:

We all have talents, gifts, strengths and weaknesses. If you could imagine yourself as a country you would have wealth and health based on your natural resources and your geography such as your location in the world. You would be found on a point on the Earth’s surface. How would people reach you by car, plane or boat? How do you see your country- is it rich or poor? 

If everyone was “in their element” would your country’s people be happy, healthy and gainfully employed? Your choice! How big can you dream?

Materials Needed:

colored pencils or pens
a paper for body outline or map of the self

Procedure:

1. On a large piece of paper, draw a body outline. This will be your country.
2. Map out using topography areas such as mountains. rivers, streams. What do these represent to you, a mountain or “high point” perhaps a noise? Rivers, perhaps veins or arteries?
3. What about a desert, dry land or beaches? Do you have any?
4. Do you have a “tourist attraction” or a buried treasure?
5. What are your imports and exports?
6. What are your natural resources?

By Dr. Roxanne Daleo

While in the orchard, I did hear
A small, still voice calling me near-

“Listen, listen quiet be!”
(the apple tree said to me)
“I am alive and you are too
Brothers and sisters in all we do
Sharing earth, sun and sky
Living, breathing- this is why
When you ‘Pick Your Own,’ be my friend.”

“Listen, listen gentle be!”
(the apple tree said to me)
“Take my apples— ready-ones come easily
Otherwise you’re hurting me!
If you pull hard or give me a tweak,
My apple won’t be as sweet.
When you ‘Pick Your Own,’ be my friend.”

“Listen, listen thankful be!”
(the apple tree said to me)
“Sit here, be still and you’ll come to know
Love makes my apples grow and grow.
Be thankful Love works magic ‘round us all
Touching every living thing great and small.”

When in the orchard where apples be
I’m kind and careful as can be
Because the Love that makes us grow
Is Love I’m given, now I know
We are connected, tree, sky, sun and me
In quiet, gentle, living beauty.

September 2020 New England

Visit www.drroxannedaleo.com for your free children’s meditation or dr.roxanne@gmail.com