I had a fantastic conversation with Diana Mizer, a local woman who started her work in midwifery studies and doula care, and found she was called to be more expansive. She created and teaches a curriculum for conscious parenting and from there has also begun a wholistic coaching practice.
In our conversation we spoke about non-violent communication at its foundation – the intention to connect! We also spoke about the importance of recognizing our needs, our own personal responsibility towards meeting those needs, and understanding that people can get needs met without others losing something. She brings the lessons of conscious parenting into the conversation as NVC sometimes falls a bit short with children.
Diana also stressed the importance of self-care, as she puts it “being well-resourced”. Bad communication and unhealthy interactions often occur when we do not have basic needs met. In these moments we should HALT and ask ourselves if we are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. We talked about what self-care looks like, while acknowledging that parents of children with special needs have a much harder time carving out that space. Hopefully we offer some helpful suggestions.
This episode is meant to be an introduction to what I think are valuable resources for our day-to-day experiences. I bring in a few of my own personal experiences for exploration which many in the world of special needs will understand, but this conversation is really for anyone.
DianaMizer.wordpress.com