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Am I Gaining The Freshman Fifteen?
If you have ever found yourself pondering this question, you are not alone. Millions of freshmen across the nation struggle with weight gain each year as they adjust to college life, and quite often this weight gain comes as an unpleasant surprise...
Oppositional Defiant Disorder Treatment
About a year ago I wrote an article on Oppositional Defiant Disorder discussing the condition, symptoms and treatment options. This article is an update describing what is new.
-Introduction
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a...
Personal tracking devices in cell phones?
Cell phones have come a long way – regardless of whether you’re a business person or stay-at-home mom, having a cell phone with you is no longer a privilege – it’s a NECESSITY. In this modern technology age, the cell phone has progressed from...
The Pain When You Gain: Dealing with Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
Nothing is more frustrating than the pain and discomfort that occurs in the days that follow a workout. The common muscle soreness and stiffness experienced one to two days after a workout may be so uncomfortable, particularly to the new...
Treating PMS Naturally
Using a combination of herbal treatments and nutritional supplements along wtih lifestyle changes to treat PMS naturally.
In this day and age of science and technology, one would think that a disorder that affects somewhere between 30 and 70...
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An examined life
Like far too many people I lived in and was raised by a family who believed the bottle and co-dependency was better then dealing with the "real world", real problems and real children.
So, I learned to be: The Chameleon Girl, ready to change to conform to anyone's mood, to leap to conclusions at a single bound, to become fearful faster then a rational
thought. I yearned to be something..anything special. I searched for the meaning of me..who am I..what do I believe. I did not know..could not know...was never given the freedom to learn how to explore the world, my opinions, my desires. To do that would be terrifying to my mother, father; it would have been seen as a denial of them, abandonment of them.
It was through me that my mother lived her life, and through me that my father found his comfort. I was confused and fearful. The only place I felt loved and cared for was at school and during Mass. It was there that I longed to become what I loved: A priest. I was crush when I could not become a priest, a woman preist. I felt lost.
In search of myself, my need to service God's people, I went to college to become a Social Worker. I married my college sweetheart, we created four wonderful children: two boys and twin girls.
During my early years of marriage, and being a mother, I worked part time dealing with Family in Crisis. It was demanding exhausting work with little reward. I discovered that many of the troubles that were present were from how the families saw themselves and each other: It was the atmosphere that was created.
My own experiences as a child, my work as a social worker, and my disenchantment with STEP as a parenting technique; I came to learn how important it was for me to be fully human and more positive, and "proactive", not just letting fate decide how I was to act about any situation, or let fear lead me as a parent.
Why the disenchantment with STEP? I believe that STEP, while having
many marvelous things going for it, stops short when trying to help families come out of their destructive patterns. The emphasis is on the child, not the parent. Parenting is one of the most profound and intense interrelationships we will have in our life times. Far more intense than our relationships with people with whom we chose. These relationships are “born” from us. Many of us see our children as extensions of ourselves and that often gets us into relationship and parenting difficulties. Women who believe that their issues are dealt with find that parenting brings hidden issues to the fore.
What is a proactive parent? A proactive parent understands that that parenting is a relational activity, which the rules that govern relationships with others work here as well; just with the added twist that the parent is in charge. A proactive parent understands that children are like sponges and will react as the parents react. A proactive parent understands that to truly be the best parent she can be is to understand herself as completely as possible.
I became convinced during my working years and as a parent that many problems have a more spiritual aspect: A feeling of worthlessness. Mothers, women often feel as if spirituality belongs to men; or their own experiences as children has left them feeling as if they are unworthy to be anything other than, "a loser." Because of my own personality, experience and understanding of myself, I went into formation for Spiritual Direction and created a ministry for mothers.
I have come back to writing late. When I was younger I wrote often, then stopped for many reasons. Now I am slowly coming back to journaling.
I learned that life truly is what YOU make it and there are rules to this game of life, and I have become a student of life to live it at my best.
About the Author
Sonny Perkowksi is a woman who has spent most of her adult life explore and examining her life.
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