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BIGLove In Action

A year or so ago I helped a friend* take the courageous step in which they asked for positive reflections from friends, family, and colleagues. This was a huge leap for him. We called it ‘BIGlove.’ The remarkable response left the rest of the group open-hearted and believing in the importance of communicating our love and care for one another.

I have carried on this practice, and it is what I officially call BIGlove: finding common love in uncommon places. I see hearts all over and then post photos online of them (incessantly). Many people have told me this is a delightful post in their feeds everyday.

I also send these hearts out into the world as an Intentional Healing HeART practice. It is a simple way to let people know I am thinking of them without needing anything in return.

I just finished writing a children’s book about this very same thing. In the book I teach kids how to focus their minds on BIGlove rather than fear. It has been a labor of love. I have let many talented editors have at it. And now, finally, the writing is complete (until new editors tell me otherwise). My next steps are finding another illustrator and then self-publishing. I will share it here soon as my next BRAVE & Bold step going forward.

The Hearty-Kid toys are also for sale. They are a comforting toy that can be used in many ways. Check them out at my Etsy shop and on myHeartyKid website. Many Hearty-Kid owners claim the toy has helped them navigate anxiety, fear and grow self love – hallelujah.

What are you working on that needs a Brave and Bold step forward? How can I support you? Please feel free to reach out if fear and anxiety is dampening your joy. I am happy to have a conversation to help in any way I can.

I will soon be hosting a webinar to help jump-start new ways of dealing with anxiety – I think it’s kicking many of us in the you-know-what.

Helping Kids Navigate Anxiety

ladybugmindjoyTry teaching your kids these tips to navigate anxiety….

  1. Acknowledge that they may be feeling BIG feelings. Help them witness their thoughts and feelings vs. getting all cozy with them. A great thing to say to them, “Don’t believe your feelings – believe your values.”  Feel your feelings but don’t always follow your feelings. Feelings are like weather patterns. They come and go. Trust that they will pass. Tell them to remind themselves of this over and over.
  2. Anxiety wants you to believe any given situation needs an answer. It doesn’t. It may feel like it, but know this too shall pass. Pretend you are in the bleachers of a basketball game. You do not have to decide which team to join. You are watching the game. Again, do not believe all the thoughts in your head.
  3. Help your kids get to know the way their mind works. Teach them to understand the difference between what MIND TRAP or CROOKED THINKING and MIND JOY. CROOKED THINKING is the place where your NO NO NO lives and MIND JOY is where your YES YES YES lives.
  4. Guide them in ways to remind themselves this – I WILL GET THROUGH THIS. I am landing back in my body. The tendency is to reassure them that they are okay. That may seem like your job as the parent, but it’s ultimately not always in their best interest.
  5. Reassure them that you are here to help them learn new ways of thinking.

The birth of myHeartyKid

I created myHeartyKid as a way of supporting a little girl I love, and to help her to feel courageous.

When Ella was in kindergarten, she felt afraid to raise her hand in class. She wanted to overcome her fear and I wanted to help her do this so she could know how it is to be BRAVE. I told Ella, “I don’t think feeling afraid is bad, though I am concerned with the discomfort that your fears cause you. I encouraged her to write down all the times she was courageous during the week, and for accomplishing that I would make her a surprise. By the end of the week, Ella had remembered lots of times she had acted bravely. She was eagerly awaiting her surprise!

This surprise I created had a BIG HEART for its head. It was very bright, colorful, and had a small pocket around the neck where she could put secret notes. On the pocket, it said “I AM BRAVE”! Poof! myHeartyKid was born.

myHeartyKid was so good at supporting Ella in her newfound courage that my own kids began asking for help from myHeartyKid to achieve what they wanted. Over the following weeks and months, myHeartyKid grew from a single toy into a powerful tool for developing kids’ awareness of their inner feelings and for manifesting positive self-love!
I felt inspired to share Ella’s newfound courage and love with other children. Her powerful transformation inspired me to make that available to other kids and their families by developing the myHeartyKid toy and creating this guidebook to support teachers, parents and anyone who has kids in their lives. It helps them in seeing who these kids truly are inside their HEARTS! I love teaching people how to talk to kids about what is REAL and AUTHENTIC about themselves.

I hope myHeartyKid helps kids grow a great love for themselves and one another.

“SHOE” – Teaching Kids About Intuition and Racism

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Illustration by: Rich Sigberman

“SHOE” – Teaching Kids About Intuition and Racism

Trying to explain to kids the difference between racism and tuning into their intuitive sense can be a very tricky task. We need to educate and guide children through understanding the difference between their intuitive sense versus something that may be tagged as racism.

I think of myself as open-minded, as well as someone who is willing to look at my own potential blind spots. As both a mother and therapist, I love to show kids how to recognize their own blind spots.

The recent shootings of people of color by police officers have me considering the best way to talk to kids about racism and how to look at their own implicit biases..

In my book, myHeartyKid’s Guidebook for Parents, I teach a playful and powerful concept about intuition. I call it “Shoe”: This effective expression was created to signal a feeling of discomfort or fear. “Does your shoe hurt?” Eliana asks. My daughter is speaking in code, one we created together so that we could easily share our fear and/or apprehension in code, while in public. My children and I use this code so that they can learn how to, as best as they can, feel safe in an unpredictable and/or uncomfortable situation.

Here’s how it works:  When my children and I are out and anyone of us feels uncomfortable for any reason, that person simply says, “My shoe hurts.” That lets us know that something scary or uncomfortable is going on. It alerts me that I need everyone present in our family to gather close by so we can find safety and then explore those feelings.

Our code word came to us when my oldest daughter was in preschool. One day, we were in a cafe where I had just ordered a cup of coffee. When, what seemed like out of the blue, a woman started to chase after me, holding her shoe and shaking it at me. My immediate concern was for the safety of my daughter. Once we left the coffee shop and the troubled woman, I knew we had to talk about what had just occurred. Although my daughter was only 5, she understood things beyond her age. She immediately called her the ‘shoe’ lady, and, thus, our code was created and set in place.

From then on, my children and I use the word ‘shoe’ if we are feeling uncomfortable for any reason. I realized I was teaching my kids about intuition – or as we began to refer to it: “shoe” or “in-shoe-ition.”

As my children have gotten older, we have used this conversation to explore racism alongside intuition. I often remind them to always trust their gut. A decision made from their gut is a true response, even if appearance, race, culture, sexuality, poverty, etc. does, in fact, play a role.

This process has a powerful intention: helping children feel safe should they feel out of sorts for any reason. Its bonus purpose is to open conversation about complicated topics:  our own biases, fears and racism. It is vital to teach children to listen to their intuition and trust it. In addition, we want to explore the why behind our bias.

What ‘shoe’ can do is open the “why” behind our discomfort. It serves as a safe place to explore what the child is experiencing. Recently, after one of my daughters had called out ‘shoe’, we took some time as a family to explore what was “shoe” about the situation we had just encountered.

“That man kept looking at me,” my daughter explained. She had enough sense to use our shoe code word, rather than wonder aloud why he was looking in her direction or if she was being unfair. At that point I asked her to explore her discomfort. He was heavily tattooed, with art going up his neck, and had a ton of piercings. She said, “He looked scary and kept looking at me.  I felt afraid.” Her fear may not have been irrational. It’s powerful to explain that just because we may be experiencing thoughts tied to implicit racism doesn’t necessarily mean that we are wrong about our safety. This is an important distinction for all of us to make. “Shoe” allows a parent the opportunity to further explore what may be underlying the child’s discomfort.

When necessary, we discuss, if and how race plays a part in their calling ‘shoe.’ This process can provide a way to safely explore a complex topic.

As a parent, what we can best do is look at our own biases, not hide them, but rather explore their origins. It is powerful to ask oneself if we have inherited ancestral pain and racist ideas from others. This process provides an opportunity  to begin the conversation so that our own unexplored racism comes to the forefront and is better understood.  The child’s’ intuitive gut reaction is also honored and has room to grow alongside our own fear of it being racism.  In keeping the conversation alive, we are teaching the importance of inquiry and exploration.  No matter what, it is vitally important to create a sense of safety for children to address topics that are difficult and uncomfortable and ‘shoe’ is one approach.

In closing, take this call to action!  Choose a word like shoe.  Make it your family codeword for identifying an uncomfortable reaction to an unsettling circumstance. Teach your child to use this family word to tell you that something is bothering them and that it is okay to explain nothing more to you because the causes will be discussed later, in a safer venue. In particular, be alert to the potential causes of this discomfort as this may assist you later in developing your child’s ability to focus, pinpoint and discuss their discomfort. As this relates to racism, the most important task is to be aware of your own racism and habitual reactions.  When you courageously examine your own thinking, you are guiding your child to a clearer understanding of potential prejudices or cultural fears they may have already learned or absorbed.