Your Body is your Vehicle in Life. Is yours in need of a tune up?

By Brittiney George, BS, CRS, CEIM

As winter approaches we are often reminded to tune up our cars.  Fill the washer fluids, check the air in the tires, and test our brakes, all in preparation for the upcoming weather shifts that occur with seasonal changes. 

Your body is your vehicle in this life.  It has been with you since birth.  The make and model may change over the years, but it was, is, and will remain all yours.  Trade-ins are not an option.  You are the driver and your memories, beliefs, spirit, and life events are your passengers.  It’s likely you’ve even picked up a few hitchhikers over the years; the shoulds and shouldn’ts and beliefs that belong to someone else. 

So how is your car running?  Have you checked in lately to see what it needs? The best way to keep the cost of repairs down is to listen to your body and lighten the load.  Drop those hitchhikers off at their own destination, they were never yours.  Pay attention to the flashing lights and listen for the warning signs your body gives you that are saying to stop, turn here, change directions or maybe even take a rest because your engine has been revved up or in idle for too long.  Listen to your body and LIVE your life instead of spending your time and money fixing it. 

There are many wonderful ways to learn to listen to your body.  Meditation, movement, breath, and touch are just some of the ways you can tune in to your needs.  Another powerful pathway to awareness is Rubenfeld Synergy.  Rubenfeld Synergy uses talk and gentle touch to help you access the body’s wisdom and utilize the awareness that develops to generate new options for how to move through life.  Connect to your inner wisdom with a FREE 50 min. Rubenfeld Synergy session (for all new clients) by contacting Brittiney George @ 610-389-7866 or movebackintolife@gmail.com.

Brittiney George, BS, CRS, CEIM is a Certified Rubenfeld Synergist and Infant Massage Educator offering Rubenfeld sessions, movement classes, body-mind integration workshops, and infant massage education at the Resiliency Center.  As a corporate trainer/manager for 11 years & movement practitioner for over 15 years, Brittiney believes in the resiliency of the human spirit and the body’s unique ability to heal.  For more information or to schedule a session please contact Brittiney George at 610-389-7866 or via e-mail at movebackintolife@gmail.com

Awareness

By Katie May

We all experience feelings, both positive and negative. Being mindfully aware means having the ability to acknowledge these feelings without judging them or trying to change them. Helping children feel understood and validating their feelings is the first step in decreasing tantrums and acting out behaviors.

As a parent, you are the mirror for your child's emotions. From birth, your child has learned about his or her feelings in terms of how you have responded to them. Teaching children how to recognize and identify their feelings is the building block for emotional regulation. The most helpful way to do this is to verbally reflect what you think they are feeling at any given moment. The first step in achieving this harmony is to tune in to how your child is feeling.

When your child was an infant, you may have learned to decipher different cries or sounds that let you know your child was hungry, wet or tired. By tuning in, you can continue to use your parental instincts to decode your child or teen's feelings. Look at your child's face for clues to her feelings. Is she pouting? Smiling? Rolling her eyes? Take note of any noises your child may make that will let you know what emotion he is experiencing. Do you hear a grunt of frustration? A gasp of surprise? Certain words or phrases can clue you in to your child's feelings as well. "I hate you" can mean "I'm angry at you and I don't know how to express that."

Finally, a child's actions will most times speak louder than his or her words. Tantrums are an outward expression of a child's pain, rejection, frustration or anger. Isolating, cutting and risk-taking behaviors are a teen's way of letting you know that he or she does not feel balanced emotionally.  For the next week, take note of your child's feelings. Just the simple act of tuning in to the way he or she feels will begin to change your interactions for the better. 

The Resiliency Center has a variety of services to help you learn more about how to listen to and respond to your child in a way that makes him or her feel safe and understood, including Family Therapy and Parent Coaching.  If your child is struggling with how to recognize, identify and manage intense emotions, individual therapy can benefit your child.  It will help you find ways to connect with him or her while developing ways for you and your child to feel happier. 

Katie K. May is a Nationally Certified, Licensed Professional Counselor who specializes in working with children and adolescents.  She uses play therapy and expressive arts activities to help clients communicate difficult emotions and decrease problem behaviors.  Katie offers individual therapy for children ages 3 through 19, as well as a Teen Group Therapy Circle, a Creative Kids Yoga Story Time and a Mindfulness-Based Expressive Arts for Stress Reduction program for Teens.  Contact:  Katie@creativehealingphilly.com or610-813-2575.  Seewww.creativehealingphilly.com for more details on services and programs offered by Katie K. May.

The Miracle of the Actual by Dean Solon

he is more interested in science.  perhaps.  i am more interested in people.  perhaps.
we are the same.
he dropped acid hundreds of times.  i did lsd once.
we can see for miles and miles and miles.  we are the same.

when i started to write, it was with an intention to write space fiction.  inner space fiction.
and i write space fiction, with a poetry, with words of peace and love and mercy.
he writes space fiction, of a different sort, in a different way.
each of us in a fever dream.
we are the same. 

nothing is the same as it was forty years ago.
nothing is the same as it was a moment ago.
words passing like clouds across the big sky.
each of the seven billion of us, breathing in and breathing out, with craziness inside.
a touch of craziness.
a touch of wisdom.
a touch of possibility
riding on the wind, everchangingly
the same
as it was a moment ago.

we believe we need the Word to awaken
when we need nothing but this moment
to awaken.

the miracle of the actual.
it always surprises.