A Vegetable Garden Inside a Supermarket | The Visual Merchandising Blog

How cool is this!!?

A Vegetable Garden Inside a Supermarket | The Visual Merchandising Blog: 'via Blog this'

7 Tips: How Does Emotional Abuse Damage Children's Self-Esteem By Michael Lawrience

7 Tips: How Does Emotional Abuse Damage Children’s Self-Esteem? Part 1

Did you know the effects of childhood abuse can last a lifetime? Emotional abuse includes verbal violence and the lack of positive emotional support. Ab-users control, criticize, demean, ignore, make children less then, powerless, and victims. Abuse robs children of the ability to trust, healthy psychological development, and high self-esteem. These children enter adulthood with a sense of inadequacy never feeling good enough. They fall into patterns of victimhood and powerlessness. Did you know physical abuse almost always involves emotional abuse? So how does emotional abuse damage a child’s self-esteem?

                                                                                                  


1. Emotional Repres-sion
Feelings denied or unacceptable in a family and unexpressed by a child became repressed. Children resist feeling by tensing muscles, shallow breathing, and repeating internal critical self-talk. They in essence numb themselves which I did as a child, teenager, and adult. I ran constant records of self-talk like, I have nothing to say. I falsely believed myself to be the lowest man on the totem pole in terms of self-worth. Limiting the expression of our feelings and also the creation of false beliefs erodes our self-esteem, as it did mine. Tip: Learn to feel and express your feelings in healthy ways. Examine your critical self-talk and choose to change it. See Self-Esteem: A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining Your Self-Esteem by Patrick Fanning and Matthew McKay. 
http://ow.ly/8wI31                                                                              


2. Emotional Violence
This violence stated to be prevalent in most physical abuse stunts our psychological devel-opment as children. My parents verbal yelling and fighting with each other over my fathers constant drinking violated my family’s emotional well being. I knew unconsciously as a child that if I spoke up or stood up to my father he would physi-cally beat me. For survival I shut down the expression of my feelings, retreated inside my-self, and became the invisible lost child. As an adult I felt different and separate from any group I joined. As a result of my parents emotional violence, I attracted women who verbally belated and criticized me for my lack of emotional expression. They reinforced my feeling of inadequacy. Tips: Learn to parent and heal your own inner child. See Healing The Child Within: Discovery and Recovery for Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families by Charles Whitfield M.D. http://ow.ly/8wIcg               


3. Parents Use Children to Satisfy Their Own Needs
A healthy parent reflects back as a mirror a child’s behavior and feelings in a positive way. This builds and validates the child’s core of self-esteem. Some parents, however, use a child to validate their own narcissistic needs. This type of parent has little or no awareness of the child’s needs. They also have little ability to mirror back to the child. The child then gives up some or all of their needs for the parent. This parent never ac-knowledges when a child does something right or praises them. Children build their self-esteem through positive reinforcement from their parents. With my father physically absence when he drank and emotionally absence even when physically around, I unconsciously as the eldest, took on the male role for my mother. I give up my core being and become the codependent caretaker. Tips: Learn recovery methods for codependent behavior. See Emotional Health: The Secret for Freedom from Drama, Trauma, and Pain by Michael David La-wrience. http://ow.ly/8wIme 

Do you know someone who has suffered emotional abuse as a child? See 7 Tips: How Does Emotional Abuse Damage Children’s Self-Esteem? Part 2 for the other 4 Tips next week. Michael David Lawrience is giving away free 50-pages of his book, The Secret for Freedom from Drama, Trauma, & Pain. His complete book gives more ways to improve your emotional health, chronic pain management, emotional healing, stress release, and ways to heal emotional abuse. This article may be reproduced with a live link back to http://www.emotionalhealthtips.com/healing-emotional-abuse

Connect with Michael

Amazon Book http://ow.ly/80FCq 
Blog http://www.emotionalhealthtips.com
Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/unity3
Facebook http://ow.ly/586po
LinkedIn http://ow.ly/586qd

270,000 Organic Farmers Sue Monsanto | Grow Switch Blog

Go Farmers!

It's so important we reserve our right to grow healthy untainted organic food. This is an informative article. If you are unfamiliar with the war against the future of our food you need to see this.

270,000 Organic Farmers Sue Monsanto | Grow Switch Blog: 'via Blog this'

Energy Boundaries For Kids: Helping Them Be The "You" That They Are.

Energy Boundaries for Kids:

Helping Them Be The “You” That They Are

By Cyndi Dale

A while back, I received a call from my son’s school.

Now I’ve been called by the principal every so often for all sorts of concerns. There was the time Gabe “accidently” punched a kid in the stomach after the other kid “mistakenly” kicked him in the gut. There was the day nearly every boy’s mother was asked to restrict her son’s activities at school, after the boys collectively staged a mass jump into a huge mud puddle—the one near the recess teacher. There have been the flu calls and the “dog ate the homework” calls, the latter usually accurate, as we’ve tended to host dogs that eat just about everything, except the dog food, of course. This particular call, however, flipped my stomach.

“Your son threw his back out,” the school nurse informed me.

“How?” I asked, my stomach now officially sinking.

“Apparently he was simply sitting in his desk at 1:30 and said his back started throbbing. He’s having a hard time walking right now.”

I groaned—not only because I was concerned about Gabe’s well being, but also because I was the reason for his malady. You see at precisely 1:30 p.m. that day I was “releasing energy” from my lower back while sitting in an office with my therapist. My “old emotions” had transferred immediately from my body to Gabe’s, no stopping at “Go.”

I can’t count how many times I’ve been certain that Gabe’s issues were a result of absorbed energy rather than a particular germ or emotive problem. Sometimes he picks up my energy, other times, his father’s. Because he, like so many children, is such an open child, however, he’s fair game for attracting feelings, thoughts, illnesses, and frankly, even entities from friends, relatives, and more. As I work as an energy healer and intuitive consultant, he can even pick up my clients’ energies off of me through a process that is quite complex, and once in a while, even humorous.

For instance, I once hung up the phone after talking with a client who had a popcorn addiction. I emerged from my private office to Gabe’s clamor. “Mom, can we make popcorn? Please, please?”

We are open systems because we are energetic beings. Everything is made of energy, which is simply information that moves. Some energy—or information—moves slower than the speed of light. This is sensory or physical energy and is relatively recognizable by our five senses. We can hear, see, touch, smell, and taste sensory energy.

This energy is not only fairly constant but also easy to contain. We can’t hear what someone is thinking unless they share out loud. We can’t describe a photo unless it’s in front of our eyes. There’s an entirely different sort of energy, however, that operates faster than the speed of light and can permeate our skin, sneaking through to roost inside of us. This is subtle or psychic energy.

Subtle energy doesn’t stop at road signs. It’s not controllable by the Newtonian traffic cops of the universe.

Tapping With Kids By Brad Yates

Tapping with Kids 

Brad Yates
www.bradyates.net

It almost goes without saying that tapping is a great way to help kids feel better when they experience uncomfortable emotions such as fear, sadness and anger. Since so many of the issues that limit our health, wealth and/or happiness today can be linked back to experiences that occurred in our childhood, tapping can also have a profound positive impact on the quality of their lives overall, enhancing their long-term joy and success.

Getting Yourself Clear 

When deciding to tap with children, perhaps one of the best things you can do for them is to get clear yourself. If the intention is to “fix” the child, or clear something in them so that you can feel better, the effectiveness of the process may be limited. This is especially true if the child feels you are tapping with them because they are in trouble, and they may feel defensive.

Ask yourself, “Why do I want to tap with this child?” See if any of the answers lead to a possible tapping round for yourself, such as:

“Even though I want to fix him …”

“Even though I’m hurting for her …”

“Even though these kids are driving me crazy …”

Get as clear as you can so that your intention is truly for the child’s highest good.

Building Rapport 

For many children, interacting with an adult can be intimidating – especially if the child is already in a compromised emotional state. While tapping can help ease this, it also helps to build rapport with the child first so that they are more willing to engage – and engage more fully - in the process.

How to best build rapport will vary with different children, but some of the things you can do include:

THE FIRST NINE SOUNDS YOUR BABY RECOGNIZES

New moms and dads spend a lot of time trying to interpret their babies actions and determine what was a reaction based on sheer coincidence and what was a reaction because of something they said or did. You can always tell when a new parent believes that something happened based on what they did in the knowing head nod and accompanying smile saying “yes – that just happened because I said xyz… my baby knows what’s up!”

However, it can be hard to judge when a baby responds to something because they were able to actually distinguish a certain noise or voice or if they responded simply because they saw something out of the corner of their eye or they just were hungry or fussy at the same moment as someone said or did something.

These days, when children are born in a traditional hospital setting, infants get their hearing tested before they even leave the hospital to ensure that everything is progressing the way it should be and diagnose any potential hearing problems early on. So what is it that babies really hear and recognize first?

1. Sounds around them before their born - The whole concept of pregnancy is a fascinating one – there is a tiny human growing inside of you and everything that is going on in and around you is impacting them in some way. Doctors have been able to determine that as early as 21 weeks into a pregnancy babies are beginning to hear sounds occurring outside the womb. Since each surrounding is different, the first sounds they hear are different too – whether it’s the voices of you and your husband or your other children running around playing loudly – these all are things your baby has begun to store into their sound knowledge.
2. Nearby noises - Any louder sounds that are happening close to your baby will cause them to react in the first month home. They may not respond to noises that are farther away from them, so there’s no need to be concerned if they don’t react right away.

Living In The Time Of Transparency And Transformation By Carol Lawrence

Living in the time Of Transparency And Transformation

We are living in a tumultuous time right now. There are many planetary changes along with humanitarian changes taking place simultaneously.

This is the time of change - transformation and transparency.

Look around you. How many people do you know that are not experiencing a deeper shift taking place from within? 

As Mother Earth shifts her energy so will we. We are connected. The more we realize our connection and pay attention the easier our transitions and changes will be. We must learn to listen again. To feel again. To smell the smells of mother nature - feel the changes taking place - listen for her messages and tune into the signals and references she provides us. 

As each person goes through the shifting taking place they may have their own inner volcanoes erupting. Old beliefs that are no longer working, hidden emotions and traumas, fears and fantasies will bubble their way to the surface to be acknowledged, light shined upon them and transformed.

Humanity and society as a whole is having its own eruption. Examples are all around us. Kingdoms around the world are falling and right here in the United States we have our very own "Occupy Wall Street." There's a battle to keep a nutritious consistent food supply in our grocery stores that is not tainted with GMO's - a dismal job market leading to mortgage loss - homelessness and hungry people in record numbers. Old lies and secrets are becoming exposed. 

Out of the ashes the phoenix will rise. Change is taking place at a rapid rate. There is no more hiding. As change transpires within each individual. change will appear in the outer world....our outer and inner worlds are interwoven and connected.

• New mind thought begins.
• Beliefs that will build wholesome sustainable worlds will emerge.
• Corporations and companies that truly care will succeed. Lies will not be tolerated or looked over by the mass consciousness any longer.
• The basics of life are provided so all may shift from survival to a place of thriving and creativity.
• Parenting comes from a place of value, connection, trust, respect and intuition.
• New entrepreneurs take the lead.

Where do you fit in during this time of transparency and transformation?

What kind of world are you visualizing?

What steps are you taking to make it happen?

Carol Lawrence is an energetic practitioner, blogger, artist, children's author, social media manager, author interviewer, book reviewer, virtual book tour planner and co-host of The Intentional Conscious Parenting Show. She has been happily married for twenty-five years, a mother of two Indigo sons, has several animals and loves nature, exploring the human mind, spirituality, reading, writing, mother earth, walking around in the forests of Montana and doing her part to make the world a better place.  


Together with Carol's writing partner and best friend Stacy, they are fulfilling a calling and a passion to write children's picture books. They provide nurturing tips and encouragement for parents walking an intentional spiritual conscious parenting path by supplying an inviting platform for their established parenting community. Visit Intentional Conscious Parenting for author interviews, book reviews, live author chats and conscious parenting articles. Carol and Stacy are assistant editors for the family and parenting category at All Things Healing. 

Contact:intunedparenting@gmail.com
Visit their website, Intentional Conscious Parenting: http://www.intentionalconsciousparenting.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/IntentionalConsciousParenting
Twitter: twitter.com/@intuneparenting
Visit Carol's site, Social Media Help 4 U: http://socialmediahelp4u.com

Live Chat Winners And Ebook Announcement

© Photographer: Barmina Iva | Agency: Dreamstime.com

Congratulations to Quincy and Vicki.
Thanks for joining our live chat with Loren Buckner Tuesday evening in our Blogfrog parenting community.


If anyone missed our live chat with Loren you can read the chat transcripts here. 


Quincy you have won...


Vicki you have won....



Please email your address to Carol @ intunedparenting@gmail.com so we can mail you your prize.


Did you hear the news?
Would you like to be in our ICP Ebook?
Read full entry details here!


.

A Quote That Makes You Think!

"I shall shape my future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me. Or I can be lost in the maze. My choice. My responsibility. Win or lose; only I hold the key to my destiny." – Og Mandino

Interview With Author, Mother And Psychotherapist Loren Buckner

Interview with author, mother and psychotherapist Loren Buckner, LCSW

Interview by Stacy Toten and Carol Lawrence

Loren Buckner, LCSW grew up in White Plains, New York. She graduated from American University with a B.A. in the Administration of Justice and earned a Master of Social Work degree from Tulane University. Loren writes about the impact of parenting on parents. She has articles published in Tampa Bay Parenting, Family Magazine, and Healing Magazine. Her new book, ParentWise: The Emotional Challenges of Family Life And HowTo Deal With Them is available now for purchase.

1. Loren, when did the idea strike you to write a book?

 

I was invited to write a paper for a professional conference. About this same time, in my personal life, my son was a teenager and was going through a rough patch, so I was going through a rough patch too. Because of how difficult parenting had become for me, I decided to write the paper on the importance of helping parents understand their own emotions. The paper was very well received. After the conference, someone in the elevator who had been to my presentation said, "You should write a book about that." I remember thinking, why would anyone want to write a book? The idea percolated, though, and a several months later I started writing.

 

  

2. For those who have not read your book, can you tell us about your children?

 

A few days after my son got his driver’s license he borrowed the car, picked up some beer and a few friends, and drove to the beach to celebrate his new-found freedom. A police car eventually drove by to check out the party. A couple of hours later, the officer called and we had to go to the beach to retrieve the car and watch as the policeman drove my son and his friends to the detention center. It was shocking to me that my son could really do something like that, and it was the beginning of a very rough few years.

 

My daughter wasn’t as confrontational as my son, but she had a mind of her own and didn’t like to be told what to do. Even though parenting was way more difficult than I ever imagined, the principles I write about did, in the end, come through for us. Both my kids are doing quite well now, and I have a close relationship with both of them. My son does enjoy taking some credit for being the inspiration behind my writing!

 

3. How did you come up with your twenty intentions?

 

I wanted to write a book that spoke honestly about how it really feels to be a parent. The Intentions evolved naturally as part the writing process. They're a combination of my personal and professional insights into coping with the challenges of family life. They're meant to reflect on-going goals, not something that parents rate themselves on everyday. 

4. What gave you the idea to end each chapter with Food For Thought questions?

 

As parents, I think it's important not only to read about other parents, but to also look deeply inside ourselves. The Food for Thought questions are meant to encourage parents to explore their own inner worlds. I believe that the more comfortable we are within ourselves the better prepared we’ll be to take on the emotional challenges of raising children.

 

5. How many of the subjects focused on in your book have you experienced personally?

 

All of them.

6. Now that your children are grown, in hindsight would you have done anything differently?

 

I've wondered about that from time to time too. Sometimes, I think I should have been a bit stricter. I tended to let them off the hook – an apology with a big hug went a long way with me. Would they have acted out as much if I were a little more rules and consequences oriented? Or would they have rebelled even more? I don't know. In hindsight, I guess, alls well that ends well. They are responsible young adults with good hearts. So we certainly weren’t perfect. But, I guess, we were “good enough.”

7. Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

 

Speak publicly about your subject: If you want a mainstream publisher you need a strong platform. Persevere: Many, many query letters will go unanswered.

Accept rejection without personalizing it: This, by the way, is very very hard to do. Love what you're doing: When you get discouraged, commitment to your message will help you keep going.

8. Are you still available as a counselor and do you still make home visits?

 

I do have a private practice in Tampa. I don't make home visits, but I do phone sessions and skype sessions too.

9. What's next for Loren Buckner? Thinking about writing a second book?

 

I think about another book but haven't started one yet. With my full-time practice along with working on getting the ParentWise message out, I'm pretty busy right now.

 

10. Are you available for speaking engagements and is there any particular topics you would like to cover during our live chat on January 10th?

 

Yes, I do speaking engagements with both large and small groups. Anything that you've read that you're interested in pursuing is fine with me.

 

11. How were you raised? With intentional conscious parents or ?

 

My parents were good to me but they weren't really emotionally involved or psychologically minded. That's partly why I've become I therapist – so other people wouldn't have to be so alone or confused by their emotions.

 

12. What would you say was the highlight of raising your kids? and the not so highlights?

 

It's very painful when your kids hate you, even if you know it's a phase. So when they hated me or when I was furious with them (and even hated them sometimes too) those were our worst times.  I should mention here, though, that even during these times, there was a line that was never crossed. Hurtful words have long echoes. Mutual respect no matter how angry we got was a rule I adamantly held to.

 

The highlights are when we have fun together and when they confide in me. I loved heart to heart talks when they were little kids, and I still love them.

 

13. Would you say you learned more about counseling in a book or hands on talking to clients and learning from them?

 

Actually, there are three important components – book knowledge, experience working with people, and exploring my own inner world. I was in therapy myself for many years. 

14. What kind of help would you suggest for a depressed or suicidal person?

 

Of course, this is a complicated question. But, in my opinion, serious problems like depression or suicidal thinking require professional help. Forcing ourselves to be different is typically a short-term solution. There are underlying reasons why people feel depressed or anxious. Most times, friends and family want to help but they just don't know how. Once the relationship with a therapist is secure, people are able to talk about their thoughts, feelings and memories in ways that they don't normally speak about in their day to day lives.  Therapy provides a safe place for people to gain a deeper understanding of themselves. It's an opportunity to work on problems from the inside out

For a complete list of Loren Buckner's services visit her website Loren Buckner, LCSW

Loren Buckner, LCSW

(813) 915-0076

Tampa, Florida 33618

info@lorenbuckner.com

Join Carol and Stacy for a live interactive online chat with Loren Buckner on Tuesday January 10th ~ 9 PM Eastern, 7 Mountain, 6 Pacific.

Fun ~ Prizes ~ Great Conversations ~ New Connections

Just in case you missed this Abraham quote.

Daily Law of Attraction Quotation
Most people don't think that new-born children could be the Creator of their own reality because they are not even talking yet. But the Universe is not responding to your language, anyway. The Universe is responding to your vibration—and your vibration is about the way you feel.
--- Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Seattle, WA on Saturday, June 20th, 1998 #288

abraham-hicks.com

Introducing Loren Buckner, LCSW

Introducing Loren Buckner, LCSW

Loren began her career as a substance abuse counselor in Waitsfield, Vermont. In 1980, she and her husband moved to Barcelona, Spain, where they taught English for two years. From Spain, they moved to Tampa, Florida, where Loren worked in community mental health for many years. She is currently in private practice as a psychotherapist. Loren has spoken to parents locally, nationally, and internationally about the emotional challenges of raising children. Her book ParentWise offers parents professional counsel in the privacy of their own homes and is a valuable resource for parents to return to again and again.

Join Carol & Stacy for a live chat with Loren Buckner January 10th in their BlogFrog Parenting Community.

9 PM Eastern ~ 8 Central ~ 7 Mountain ~ 6 Pacific

~ Prizes ~

Did you miss Loren's guest articles on ICP? No problem, here they are.

Struggling with Motherhood

Childhood isn't something we get over.

Here's more praise for ParentWise: The Emotional Challenges Of Family Life And How To Deal With Them

Debra Blackburn, Step-parent. "Even if you're not a parent, you'll appreciate all you discover between the pages of this book. If you want to better understand yourself and your relationships with others, read this book!"

Cara MacMillan, Ecologist and Expectant Mother. "I love it already! I think that it is important for me to read this book, as I identify with the "conscientious parent" to-be, who also avoids some negative feelings."

Jeannie Cucher, Ph.D. Student and Mother. "It gave me hope, confirmed some of my beliefs, made me wonder about some others. I felt myself breathing in her definition of unconditional love, and wanting to retain her formulation in my mind."