What is actually helpful to humans when we are behaving poorly?

I’ve listed below some actions that can be extremely helpful to our children when they are thinking, saying or doing things that, deep down, they really don’t want to be doing.

In other words, when they show up in life in ways that do not serve them well.

Here’s the thing though. The actions below, need to come from the right person. For a child, the right person should be their trusted caregivers–not their peers, siblings, pets or unsafe adults.

Do you know how to ensure that all of the feelings, good and bad, that come up for yourself and for your child during through life’s changes, will be held in a way that strengthens their sense of self and trust in the relationship with you? In a way that prepares them to turn towards themselves with care, and opens their heart to receiving support from others when life gets hard in the future? In other words, do you know how to move through transitions with them in a way that teaches them how to be truly open, flexible and resilient people?

Listening with understanding means we listen in a way that finds the other person’s words or behavior entirely understandable, regardless of how much we actually understand it in our heads. Here’s how to do it.

What if the problem was just as much about the culture of healing that was lacking in our childhood homes, as it was about the actual wounding that we experienced there?

It’s not always so easy to do

So many of us had to go it alone

heartbreakingly brilliant