Hello there!
My name is Andrea and I am a mother to 2 wonderful girls, a conscious and mindful parent, and wife to a supportive husband. Time spent outdoors, reading books (I love a good story), painting, meditating, writing, and being present with my family are my relaxing, easy going favorite things to do. I dedicate each day to growing and learning something new whether it's the definition of a new word or a developmental milestone for my daughters and learning the best way to navigate those hard moments. I don't believe life is hard, I do believe we have hard moments and learning and knowing how to handle those moments are the ways we truly learn and grow. Life is a journey with a never-ending destination so the journey better not wear us down.
My Story
When my first daughter was born, I knew I wanted to be a loving, caring, conscious mother. And that's what I became, until I let life overwhelm me. I said I would never yell, never scream, never physically discipline my daughter. In fact, I cried, I yelled, I disciplined. I became so tired, so impatient with my daughter, my family that I hated the person I was becoming. I took parenting classes, started meditating again and I read so many parenting books. I would have taken therapy but that was not financially possible at the time. I researched everything I could so I could learn to control my outbursts and not take my frustration out on my family. Having knowledge helped. Understanding why my daughter would do certain things and why her behavior was a certain way. It helped with my patience, a little, but it wasn't enough, not for me at least.
It wasn't until 4 years later, after having my second daughter that I tried mindfulness. I knew about the practice, but never tried it. I remember I was texting a friend in the evening and she did not respond until morning. I learned that when she's home with her family, she stays off of her phone and focuses on her family. So I tried that. I would get home from work, turn my phone off (deleting social media helped a lot too) and just focused on my family. The difference within the first 4 days was astounding! I was no longer irritated by my children whining or crying. They were no longer trying to grab my attention constantly and responded better to tasks I asked of them. In fact, I noticed that they were happier when I wasn't on my phone or watching tv. They were getting my attention. And I began to notice small significant things about my girls. Such as my first born always starts to get loud whenever my second born starts to get fussy. I initially believed it was a match to see who could out yell each other. But after observing, my firstborn was actually trying to soothe my second born by singing and distracting. Bedtime became easier. Power struggles happened less and less. It started to become easy and everyone was happier. The stress that settles in the muscles on my neck, disappeared. Hakuna Matata. It means no worries. And that's how I decided to live from then on out.
It's not always sunshine and sunflowers. Irritation still happens, but the energy in my home, just from me initiating the practice of mindfulness, has been such a powerful and positive experience. Time is the most valuable thing you have. Everyone wants it. Your job, social media, tv networks, your family. Decide who gets it. After all, once you give it, you can't get your time back.