Cultivating a relationship

With our month theme, Connection: The lives you touch, coming to an end, I reflect on the relationship I have with my daughter.  Having a 12 year old daughter who has a great time being around her parents is such a blessing.  Having a daughter, who is also a sibling of special needs child, is also challenging.  For in that relationship, a look at her needs to “feel” special must be addressed.

Sometimes it can seem as if Autism encompasses everything, and she can take on a responsibility to always correct her 10-year-old brother’s behavior.  Relieving her of that duty is a constant conversation.  However, I know there will always be some sort of responsibility she will endure.

At the beginning of the year, my “conscious” effort was to cultivate a relationship in Consciousness with my daughter.  With our bedtime prayer & meditation we grow closer in Spirit.  Whenever I find a quote or image of connection or humor, I place them in a file created on our computer. She selects some to print and places in her school locker or in her binder.  She finds a sense of peace throughout the day with these prints.  For Valentine’s Day, the art piece from The Kelly Rae Roberts Collection was found in a mall gift store.  The words alone sparked a deeper conversation between us.  To delve deeper into our own thoughts, this wonderful mother-daughter journal.  Just between us: A no-stress, no-rules journal for girls and their moms by Meredith & Sophie Jacobs.  The whole section of starting the process is a great process, it’s all about collaboration.  And, as suggested, I created a “special” fancy pen to write in it.  With all this cultivation we’re getting ready for next month’s theme, SHINE!!

Cultivating relationships through journaling.