Finding silence

Seeking refuge in silence

 

One of the most significant aspect I have noticed in Today’s lives, be it adults or kids is ,’The need to rush’. The need to hurry and accomplish only a million things a day! Because hey! Life doesn’t wait for anyone! Does it? And so we rush off our little champions with a hurried breakfast to school where they need to cram up facts and figures. Then, since they have to be the next sports star, we head them straight to soccer or basketball coaching and since the music industry can’t afford to miss a prodigy, we drag them straight to voice or instrument lessons. Wait! What about art? And all the new hobbies like roller skating, dramatics and robotics? After rushing to all the classes and living up to their parents, relatives, society and just about everyone’s expectations, our little champions are drained to say the least. Even if they have a moment here or there, the laptop or cell phone steps right in and speeds up their tiny brains, thereby tossing out their only chance to slow down.

 

The question I find myself pondering over quite often is, “How can creativity ever be nurtured in this mad rush?”” What is the point of turning our kids into little super intelligent robots?”” Has rushing ever done anyone any good?” This led me to think of ways to slow down my kids lives and to find silence. Silence to nurture their individuality. Silence to think about their dreams. Silence to listen to their innermost selves and Silence to allow their creativity to blossom. I always thought life skills like meditation and personal development skills to increase productivity and reduce stress were missed in mainstream education and was looking for ways to introduce the same into my kids lives when one fine day my younger son, who was then in Kindergarten brought home a note sent by his teacher. It had a link to a meditation site they were using in class every day and the teacher thought it might be a good idea to extend the practice of meditation at home too! Boy was I excited? I immediately looked it up and have both my sons practice it whenever possible. It has a timer and few sound options as well as a guided meditation option which is good so it doesn’t get monotonous. I started with only 2 mins! And try not to push it beyond 10-15 mins. It gives them a quick mental refresher ,slows their speeding mind and I’m crossing my fingers that it will also ultimately help  calm themselves during their tantrum outbursts! (Ambitious!?). Anyways, here is the link to the website.

https://www.calm.com/

If kids are taught to manage their minds through meditation from a young age, we could hopefully erase the most fashionable word of modern times,” Stress” from their vocabulary and inculcate much more tolerance and positivity in their lives, not to forget their creativity that will have more of a chance to blossom in the few minutes they spend to listen to their breath and relax.