You did it! You have reached the last coaching post toward your goal to yell less.  Congratulations!

I want to end our 12 day series with an invitation.

It isn’t often that we allow ourselves to reflect on our parenting without it being to reprimand ourselves or deepen the gash of guilt we feel for our many mistakes.  It may not sound easy or simple, but strive to end your day with a simple, yet profound meditation.

“I’ve seen it make a profound difference, however, in some parents’ attitudes, and the emotional climate of their parenting.  It is a meditation, a mental exercise for the end of the day that will take just a minute or two.  Before falling into sleep, remember the ordinary moments of the day, the moments with your children that meant something to you.  This simple exercise is like a spiritual corrective lens.  In your vision of your kids, it helps restore the prominence of “who they are” over “what they need to do” or “what they need to work on.”  Review the images; revisit the funny yet strangely insightful thing your daughter said, the gesture your son made that surprised you…Relive those moments, and give them their due.  Let the images rise to the surface of your day.  Let them fill the emotional waters that will lull you, in waves of appreciation and wonder, into sleep.”

~Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne

You may not have incorporated meditation into your spiritual practice of parenting. It’s something that I aspire toward and strive to do myself.  It’s not easy building in that moment, even before sleep.  There’s a beautiful and powerful meditation CD that I encourage you to purchase called the Compassionate Response CD by Kim John Payne.  It specifically addresses the challenges we’ve been talking about in this 12-day series on yelling.  Kim provides us with a meditation that we can call upon as we’re climbing the stairs, our blood boiling because we hear the screams and squabbling, yet again, from our little ones and our buttons are pushed and we’re ready to pounce.  This meditation allows us to reset our button and to plug into a fresh intention to guide our children, rather than confront them.

Consider it your gift to yourself for coming this far in your pursuit to yell less, mama.