by Wendy Silvers | Dec 25, 2012 | Compassionate Parenting, Conscious Parenting, Leadership & Empowerment, Universal Peace Principles, Wendy's Wisdom Notes
After the shooting occurred in Newtown, Ct., I felt moved to write this piece, which originally appeared on the Huffington Post. We may never know the why something like this happens. All we may have are strands of information and snippets of truth. We never know another souls’ journey really.
Blessings to all who were involved in this tragic event.
When tragic, almost unbelievable events like the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the shooting of 14-year old Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan and the shooting in Aurora, Colorado occur, a collective outpouring of grief and outrage unfolds.
Early Friday morning, after saying a final goodbye to two young African girls that my family had hosted for two nights, I called up a friend weeping at the probability that I may never see these precious girls again. In two short days, I had fallen in love with the girls, who were touring with the Assante choir. As I cried into the phone because I couldn’t imagine not ever seeing Divine and Arlene again, Adam Lanza was at the Newtown elementary school.
As a mother, my heart broke open for the parents and families whose loved ones died in the shooting in Newtown. I cannot imagine the inconsolable grief the parents of the young children must be feeling as well as the families of the teachers, principal, school psychologist, the gunman and his mother. As a spiritual therapist, parenting educator and the founder of the Million Mamas Movement, an organization dedicated to the thriving of women and children throughout the world, I have been speaking to concerned parents and lead several prayer circles since Friday’s shooting.
There are so many victims in this tragic event. Adam Lanza killed his mother with a gun she had in her home. What prompts a child to kill a parent? The whole community grieves and, as bystanders, we grieve with them. All parents entrust their school-age children to the school they attend believing that they will be safe while away from home. I received many calls from parents experiencing mounting anxiety as this past Monday morning rolled around. To provide support, I spoke a centering prayer.
While it is the human condition to point the finger at Adam Lanza for his violent spree and say it is because of lax gun controls, my mind has been entertaining other thoughts. The goals of the Million Mamas Movement include the teaching of peace principles and providing compassionate parenting programs to parents and educators. I feel moved to go to the root of what would cause a young man to shoot his mother and so many others. It occurs to me that we would find greater solace and solutions by integrating emotional/social intelligence into education and providing greater mental health options rather than displacing our grief and horror by focusing on gun control. This and other unfathomable acts of violence are a symptom of something deeper needing our care and attention.
In this high tech, fast moving global society, it can be easy to lose sight of how important it is to connect the old fashioned way.
Here are 7 tools I believe will help us heal as a society:
1. Cultivate a practice of having quiet time with your family, whether it is meditation, being in nature, talking about uplifting and inspiring things or just sitting together listening to music.
2. Turn OFF the news that has this and other horrible events on a loop.
3. Be conscious and selective about the media you watch and expose your children to, especially related to the content of video games, such as the popular Call of Duty.
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by Wendy Silvers | Feb 6, 2012 | Compassionate Parenting, Conscious Parenting, Leadership & Empowerment, Wendy's Wisdom Notes
My beloved girl
There’s something sweeping our world and it is the collective activation that we honor and care for the mamas and the children in a new and evolved way. I celebrate this evolution.
I am so grateful to see so many people and organizations devoted to the care of mothers, children and families. When I started leading workshops in 2004 on compassionate parenting practices, there were some others doing this work but very few.
What uplifts me is to see how far things have come – the CNN 2011 Hero of the Year, I call her a she-ro, is midwife Ibu Robin Lim, a beautiful, self-less, wise woman who answered the call to help women in Bali birth gently. Midwives are more widely recognized than ever in modern culture. Many organizations have been created to champion maternal health care and well-being. Among them supermodel and mom Christy Turlington founded an organization called Every Mother Counts.org. that addresses maternal well-being globally and ABC has been doing a promotion called, Million Moms Challenge. Mothering is on our minds and in our hearts.
I recently had a piece published in Huffington Post called “Every Mother Counts.” Please take a moment to read it and leave me your comments.
by Wendy Silvers | Jan 23, 2012 | Compassionate Parenting, Conscious Parenting, Leadership & Empowerment, Universal Peace Principles, Wendy's Wisdom Notes
A miracle worker is one who can experience people, places and things that seem displeasing and know it’s a call for deeper love and compassion and bring that.
Imagine if we all walked this walk – what would the world our children inherit be like?
Imagine a Million Mamas March – mothers and others gathering together on Mother’s Day, May 13, 2012, in Washington, DC at the Washington Monument. This peace, information gathering celebration will honor the sacred path of mothering as we join together in unity and harmony to birth a global movement of peace, the Million Mamas Movement.
by Wendy Silvers | Jan 21, 2012 | Compassionate Parenting, Conscious Parenting, Leadership & Empowerment, Uncategorized, Wendy's Wisdom Notes
I could list my designations, my job titles, and experiences. I could talk to you about the things I’ve seen, accomplished and am working on and while that’s all well and good, nothing, absolutely nothing, comes close to the experience I treasure the most — MAMA.
From the second I discovered I was pregnant, jumping for joy in the bathroom as I looked at the line on the stick, there was an alchemical quickening within me. The mystery and miracle of life occurring within me. I knew that something very different was being birthed inside of me as this child grew within me – ME.
I set the intention to birth differently than my mother and all of the women that I knew had done — to birth at home, in a tub, with a midwife and doula. My intention was that my child be born as peacefully as possible. I’d watched the video of the women giving birth in the Black Sea and thought, oh, yes, that’s for me; I know that this baby wants to be born this way. There was no other choice for me. And so, the Universe, in its infinite wisdom, wrapped itself around my intention. At 5 months pregnant, I was hired, by another woman, at a company which provided me with the insurance to cover the midwives. To this day, I have great gratitude to Celeste Ray for having the heart to hire me knowing that I would most probably not return once I gave birth. Birthing my daughter, naturally, in our bedroom, taught me that I am stronger than I think.
Being a parent is a high and holy path — whether a child comes through you or to you — your life will be forever transformed. On a daily basis, I get to grow as I grow my child. I am her mentor, she is my spiritual teacher. I tell my daughter, “I’m so glad that I get to grow with you.” The love I feel for her is like a mighty river that continually flows without ceasing. I am deeply grateful for this experience. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Inspired by my experience as a mama, I began working privately with mamas while going through the Practitioner Training program at the Agape International Spiritual Center, founded by Michael Bernard Beckwith. I began studying with Michael Beckwith in 1999 and immersed myself in classes spiritual and psychological as well as studying parenting, and attending non-violent parenting and communication workshops. I was already a hypnotherapist utilizing that skill with my gifts as a soul reader to support women in manifesting their full creative expression.
I am passionate about empowering girls,women, mothers and million mamas movement, wendy silverswomen being given the support to birth babies naturally, if they choose, and growing children with compassion, peace, confidence and kindness so that they grow to be caring, confident and resilient people. I knew something had taken hold of me when my husband and I talked about my returning to work after my 6 week maternity leave — before I had given birth to our child — I burst into tears and was inconsolable about being separated from this being that I was bringing into the world. Internally, I’d already made a decision that I was going to work from home and be with our baby no matter what. And, that is what I did, making a choice to place growing my child above bringing in a 2nd salary. I lead my first parenting workshop at Agape in 2004 and have been working with families and facilitating workshops since then at Agape and around the country. I can’t seem to keep myself from sharing information with pregnant women and parents about the ways in which we can empower ourselves and our children through compassionate communication and practical tools.
The mama lioness that I am feels called to create a world that is more peaceful for our children. Not as a platitude but a real, tangible experience. It’s not okay with me that women die in childbirth or are unsafe when pregnant; that girls in other countries are married off as young as 10; that there’s human trafficking or genital mutilation. I have an 11-year old and I can tell you that she’s not ready to be married. I am fortunate because in the American culture, I don’t need to marry her off to survive. I can’t imagine that any parent truly wishes to give their child away in order to survive. I believe that a part of them shrivels and dies when they feel that this is their only option. That option needs to be amended.Everyone wants to feel loved, important, heard, seen, and accepted. That is our unalienable right.
I know that together we can create more peace and affect change. Notice what’s unfolding in our world. Old structures are dissolving, people are joining together around the world saying they want change, that feminine energy needs to be activated in people around the world, especially in leaders.
I invite you to join with me in the active creation of a just and kind world for ourselves, our children and the next 7 generations that is more peaceful and peace filled.
Will you stand with me? On Mother’s Day, May 13, 2012, join me with mothers and others for an information gathering and celebration at the Washington Monument called the Million Mamas March, which is the launch of the Million Mamas Movement.
Please contact me for more information: wendy@millionmamasmovement.org
