Bradley Morris 6 years, 4 months ago-
Posts
-
Woohoo! Excited that you got your novel back on! Your clarity and communication is inspiring!
Look where your writing is taking you already! I’m glad you’re having important conversations – and you know I’m a huge fan of building the right habits! Keep writing 😀
Knowing more about how you got into martial arts now, I am excited about the bully articles you’re going to write this month. Those will be so potent for kids/teachers/parents/bullies. I hope you get published by some bigger digital channels that help get your transformational story out further.
@davidj – Hey David, great news about the novel. I like how you began your Nov. challenge entry (way up top of this thread) with a quick list of things you want to write. I’m not an outliner at all, but list-making is enormously helpful in keeping me on track, because I don’t worry about forgetting important things/good ideas I want to expand on and on the days when my brain refuses to behave, I can sneak up on what I need to do by looking at the list: “Oh, I don’t have to do something new, I’ll just pluck something at random from the list…”
btw, I used to practice martial arts (kenpo, mostly), tho not so much in recent years. I like the approach/application you’re using re: kids. My experience (with both kids and adults) is that the improved confidence that comes along with learning martial arts translates directly into much lower probability of being a victim (i.e., you don’t look like easy target–not because you walk like a “tough scary person” but because you just don’t move like a victim any more). Cool stuff 🙂
Laura, Mars, Bobbie Jo, Bradley, Judy, Jutta and Sara…
Gosh, I have such awesome support in my corner…
Today, I am writing to my soul… yup… asking us (my soul feels like a plural and totality of me and more)… lots of questions… in every domain… open to feedback and writing what comes from the deep and quiet and big place…
Here is how I started off by inviting my soul to speak…
Dear soul,
Please help me to listen to you so I can see and understand the vision that is meant for me, following my nature and destiny to emerge fully through my being in this lifetime.
Please give me hints, clues, feelings, images, or whatever you will to aid me in remembering why I am here and knowing more fully who I am and how I am meant to express my spirit fully.
I also ask for courage and compassion and patience with me as I am prone to feel fear, doubt, and get thrown off course. I need your help to live truly and to stay true to who I am.
I thank you ahead of time, as I know and trust that you are more than ready, happy, and capable of helping me to forge my destiny. THANK YOU, dear precious and powerful soul.
Please guide me about where am I now, what I need next – and whether certain existing choices align or not with where we are most called to go in this life:
YES!!! I love your soul writing!!! I’ve done something similar as a journaling Q & A free flow to see what comes through. It’s pretty remarkable! Deep wisdom.
@davidj – I just wanted to say AMAZING. That’s powerful stuff.
Only just discovered your Soul writing. This is so beautiful! @davidj
Woohoo! Soo pleased your book is back on – where there’s a will, there’s a way. And you have a great will!
I found your ‘writing to soul’ exercise so very moving, honest and beautiful @davidj what a lovely thing to do! I might have to give that a go myself. Did you feel it helped and empowered your heart by doing that? I truly hope so.
I just joined the 750 words site… And wrote like a demon… or rather “daemon” = of human and gods… : )
After the recommendation by @laurakoller and seeing @mars going all in with it AND then reading this medium article by the creator, I SO related and have been longing for another space and way to unleash wild creative fires and to connect with the deep landscape within… unfiltered and without concern for audience and sharing…
And the stats are neat :
http://750words.com/entries/share/7124153
Though not all accurate — like I did NOT write about RELIGION… but about soul, baby, yeah! Big huge massive difference!!!!
I am so stoked and awakened by doing my first free writing and found it hard to stop!
I suspect this will also increase my typing speed! : )
dammit, @davidj! You’re on fire. I’m going to side with the idea that this ‘executive director’ is what I call a ‘sacred friend’. I think maybe it’s how the Dalai Lama describes the Tibetan government who exiled him…’friends are easy to love, but sacred friends, ahhhh…not so easy.” Seems the sacred ones drive you to go DEEPER! Out of your easy chair. And… it looks like you’re mining all KINDS of gold from the energy…go, baby, GO!
Oh I love this thread and all of the responses. Keep the soul writings coming!! 😀
Did day #2 of the 750 word challenge…
AND, got the clarity to write this draft of article/video for parents…
__________Your child is “different”. It’s apparent in how they learn, how they look and/or in how they act.That might not be a problem except that this difference is not understood. It’s not accepted.They are being are excluded. They feel like they don’t belong.They struggle in school and feel dumb.They actually cannot do some things and from this their confidence collapses.Fear has become their best friend.Bullies are magnetically drawn to them.Unable to just shake off another defeat. Overwhelmed and all alone. They are more sensitive emotionally and more vulnerable socially than other kids their age.And your heart is breaking. You are understandably in knots worrying about them.You feel for them and — yet — there is a chasm between you. How do you talk to them to reach them when they also shut you out, pretending to be ok with it all?How can you protect them from the pain they go through everyday?How do you show them you truly care?Being a parent myself.of a wonderful and super sensitive child… Working as Child and Family Therapist for over 10 years… hearing all your stories… And especially having been that child who was alone with it all. Getting sick with anxiety and shame. Being bullied.I can tell you what helped me.As an adult now, I am still different. Still sensitive.To get here, this is what I needed back then:Caring adults who understood the pain of being an ugly duckling, an outsider and what I was going through.One friend who I could just be myself with and who had my back. This was a life saver.And after being tyrannized and bullied for so long… eventually it was martial arts that I needed to help me feel less helpless and powerless. To help me stand up for myself and for others. To have the courage and confidence to see my sensitivity as a strength rather than a weakness or a defect.Now here is what you can do as a parent and caring adult…1. Accept your child as they are.They will never be able to change their spots or fit in to what is normal. But the truth is that in our society, diversity is a strength. Your child’s unique quirks and qualities are their signature and the gift they have to give to others. Honouring that is only way they will be able to contribute to the world and thrive as they grow.2. Validate how they feel.How fearful, ashamed, defective, misunderstood, weird or alone they might feel. I know this a painful to do. But it is your act of love to feel this with them and the ONLY way you can earn their trust to let you in.And yes, there are more strategies and resources out there. But I can tell you from experience that these two strategies above are the most effective and within the zone where you have most control and influence.If you want to understand your child more deeply and how to help them here at the Integra wing of CDI in Toronto, we created a therapeutic martial arts program called YOUNG WARRIORS for kids who are different (LD’s) and struggle with anxiety and MH, helping them and their parents to learn skills to master intense emotions, become more resilient and thrive together.Even though we’re also expanding into douzens of schools in Ontario and Quebec… and may one day come to your neighboorhood, we recognize that the need is greater than our capacity to reach everyone.That is why we wrote a book.It’s NOT a parenting book. Plenty of those out there. Many offer good tips, but I find parents like you are smart, have read the books and often feel confused about how to apply these good ideas to really complex and challenging situations.Instead we wrote a novel for PARENTS and KIDS to read, based the real life stories of countless families I have seen over the years.KIDS have told us they love it cause its a page turning adventure… with zombies, samurai and ninjas. But especially that they’ve felt like it was about a kid like them going through real challenges they face themselves. “This is so much like my life!”PARENTS are saying that it helps them more deeply understand their son or daughter. It puts you in their shoes. AND it is something to share and talk about together.In the story, our reluctant hero relies on his parents, grandparent, teacher, a friend and his Aikido Sensei to help him face a bully who is most devious and charming and nearly impossible to defeat.Now, because you’re watching this video now, it means you can get the first two chapters in your hands instantly, when you sign up below.Doing so, will also give you access to more of the novel as we release it and many more ways to engage your child in ways that bring you closer together and help them feel less alone.To give your child who is different and struggling the experience of being seen and heard and really understood is one of the most impactful and lasting gifts you can give them as a parent.@davidj this has brought tears to my eyes. Incredibly moving, beautiful and massively helpful to so many. Our society today is so much more of a difficult one to grow up in I think. I completely understand, first hand, how hard it was for us being bullied at school, but now…now it is a whole different level and the suicide rates among children reflect that. I worry about the children of today and often wonder what I can do to help. I have many ideas in my head that I want to explore in order to do that. So to see someone like you, with your sensitivity, caring and loving qualities and enormous talent, putting something out there like this…well, it makes my heart sing! I just want to give you a great big hug. Super proud of you!
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.