What I Learned from my Granddaughter; Now that she is Two

I baby sit my granddaughter Jaya two days a week, but we live in the same household all the time.  Therefore, I have had some time to watch her and am quite impressed with her human skills.

Her favorite question right now is: why?  That’s very normal for a two year old.  She is very curious about many things.  As you notice her question is not: how but why.  That’s what impresses me because she has her own ways and means to get what she wants.  She has a very demanding way of saying: come, grandma, come. Or she puts up that mischievous smile which nobody can resist.

“A child is an exquisite attention-getting device, designed to sound an alarm at the first indication that he will be forgotten or relegated to a position where he does not count.  She needs the care and attention of strong, competent people to make it through, and nature obliges by endowing him with enough fear and aggression to stimulate to hold on fiercely to sources of viability.  His education in the ways of relationship sets him the primary task of understanding hierarchy, assessing where the power is, and learning what he must do to be accepted.  A child’s ability to control his position and the attention of others is critical, much more important than control is for the average adult on an average day.”

~ The Art of Possibility - Benjamin and Rosamund Zanders, Rule Number 6

Smirk or not, she likes to make friends with other kids when we go to the playground or to other public places.

Her favorite game right now is: hide and go seek.  She still has the notion that when she covers her eyes that I will not see her.  Because of that our hiding places are endless: in the garden, in the house, or in public places.

Her language skills are increasing daily.  She is like a parrot or a tape recorder, repeating many of the sentences we say.  Obviously, she does not get all the pronunciations right but it is cute to hear big people words in her high pitch voice.

She has an unlimited imagination and plays by herself with her doll, her puzzles, her little kitchen stove and other small objects like rocks and sticks by lining them up in a row or sort them by colors.

When she gets hurt or has something wrong with her foot or her things, she comes right away to express her dismay.  When we were trying to go out one day, and I discovered that we didn’t have her car seat, she was grunting and raving for the longest time: the car seat is lost, oh, no.

Jaya is a really hard worker.  She always wants to help. The other day I was moving some dirt in the garden with a spate.  Before I knew it, she brought her little play shovel from the sandbox and was carrying dirt with me.

Above all she is a great sheer leader and brings a lot of joy and laughter to our household.

I hope you have a two-year old around your house or close by for you to experience all the fun you can have with little kids.

My Birthday Day Present to My Mom

My mother just turned 89 and I was able to celebrate her birthday with her.  Since she doesn’t want any presents, I just made enough time to sit with her and keep her company.  I can’t visit her very often, since she lives in Germany, and I live in the U.S.A. 

She is getting very frail and can’t walk anymore without help.  She lives in a nursing home now and is taking care of her everyday needs.

Throughout my time with her I was looking for opportunities to share my faith with her and explain to her about eternal life.  It is her belief that when she dies that will be the end of her.  Unfortunately, every time I mentioned anything about spiritual life, she either changed the subject or tried to ignore me.

I was always looking for something to share that would uplift her and get her out of the mood of complaint and resign. 

One day, during my visit with her, she didn’t even get out of bed, because she didn’t feel well.  I moved my chair close to her bed.  We talked for a while.  I started looking around her room when my eyes fell upon a book which was nestled in between a few teddy bears in a basket on the floor.  I picked up the book and asked my mother if I could read the story to her.  The story in the book is one of my mother’s favorite since her grandmother used to tell it her when she was a child.

The name of the book is: “What Three Little Bears Experience in the Woods;” by Margarete Thiele.  As the story goes, three young boys named Hans, Rudi and Wolfgang were given each a small bear which they named Puhz, Jochen, and Wollbaeckchen (Wooly Cheeks).  When the family goes on an outing, the boys take their bears along and loose them in the woods.  The three bears go on an endearing adventure, meeting all kinds of animals in the forest, riding in a walnut shell on the river, taking to birds, and eating all kinds of critters.  After several days, their owners come looking for them, and they are reunited in at small café at the edge of the woods.

I enjoyed reading the story and learn myself about the unusual journey of the little bears which were so dear to my mother’s heart.  It took me all afternoon, resting my voice in between reading, and showing my mother the colorful picture of the voyage. 

By the time we were finished with the tale my mother thanked me over and over for reading the fairytale to her.  And every time I talk to her now, she still reminds me of how much she enjoyed the story.

I was not able to talk to my mom about God or eternal life, but I could renew a long lost childhood memory.  After all, I am satisfied with my gift for her Birthday.  I love you, Mutti.

 

Marriage as Spiritual Discipline

On July 1, 1982, my husband Paul and I were married, together with 2074 other couples.  Throughout the years we have encountered many challenges and many blessings.  Since we didn’t have an individual wedding ceremony we often celebrated our anniversary with other local members of our blessing ceremony.  One year we participated in a boat trip, other times we just went out to dinner to a special restaurant.

This year we made plans just for ourselves to have some personal and romantic time together.  That gave me the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of marriage in general.

Just recently I came across a book by Gary Thomas, called “Sacred Marriage.”   Mr. Thomas is a pastor and a counselor, even though this book is not to give marriage advise.  Rather, it looks at marriage as a path of spiritual discipline for two people together to get to know God better, to trust him more fully, and love him more deeply.  He looks at marriage as a sacred covenant between husband and wife.

 

“But what if God's primary intent for your marriage isn't to make you happy. . . but holy? And what if your relationship isn't as much about you and your spouse as it is about you and God?”

~ Gary Thomas
 

The reason these words resonated with me was that they reminded me so much of the advice and guidance Rev. Sun Myung Moon gave us before our blessing ceremony. He said, that if were really committed to each other, God could help us to make any relationship work.  I believe that there are three aspects of marriage which are unique in the relationship between a man and a woman.

 

1)    Marriage grows our Character.

Before I got married I had often thought about life in a monastery/convent.  It wasn’t because I sought the religious life; it was rather that I couldn’t figure out human relationships.  I also didn’t have much hope for future generations, and therefore, didn’t want children.

When I met the Unification Church and heard their teachings on human relationship and how men and women are created equal in value but with different purpose, I could find a new understanding in growing myself.

 As Gary Thomas writes: Because whether it is delightful or difficult, your marriage can become a doorway to a closer walk with God, and to a spiritual integrity that, like salt, seasons the world around you with the savor of Christ.

While marriage may not be the only tool that can help people draw closer to God, it is a powerful one. It reveals our character--who we really are--and trains us to become who we want to be. The marital relationship offers a context for lasting and significant spiritual growth; it provides fertile ground for cultivating humility, perseverance, charity, forgiveness, confession, prayer, non-judgmentalism, and more. Sacred Marriage is not about marriage-transformation, or spouse-transformation, but about self-transformation. It is not about loving one's mate better, although that will be an inevitable outcome. Rather, this book is written to help the reader love God more and reflect the character of his Son at an ever-deepening level--not because any marriage is ever perfect, but because it helps husbands and wives discover and revel in their relationship with God.

I like the aspect of sacred marriage being for self-transformation.  In order to learn to love the other we have to also learn to love ourselves.  That takes an enormous leap of emotional cleansing and letting go of our old self.  But with the love and support of a spouse this process is not impossible.

2)    Marriage brings out the best and the worst in relationship.

In marriage we become each other’s mirrors.  We often wish to change the other person while what we don’t like in the other, is what we have to change ourselves.

Practicing the spiritual discipline of marriage means that I put my relationship with God first.  Our marriage can be a testimony to the rest of society.

Marriage is the only place where we can face our own immorality such as selfishness, anger, control-mongering, impatience and even hatred because it takes an intimate relationship to face up to these challenges.

 
He (Jesus) answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,  and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
~ Matthew 19:4-6

 

3)    Marriage’s intimacy creates the best environment to raise children.

Man and woman complement each other, not only in the physical aspects, but also on the spiritual, mental and emotional levels.  The differences in our make-ups create a dynamic which is found nowhere else.  These challenges also give us the greatest opportunity for growth and to resemble the Almighty who is both male and female.  It has been proven that the quality of marriage affects our country’s economy, moral development, benefits of health, and our overall happiness.  

 

“Why then do we get married? Very simply, we marry in order to resemble God. God exists as a being of dual characteristics. In God, the dual characteristics are completely harmonized as One. When God's dual characteristics manifest in our world, they do so as man and woman. Accordingly, at the proper time, a man and a woman are like a seed. They unite to become one. Thus, husband and wife return to God. Together, we are a reflection of His original nature.”

~ Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon – wife of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon (from Blessed Marriage and Eternal Life -4/-16-1996
 

As I mentioned before, this year, my husband and I went on a romantic trip for our anniversary.  I found this special couple getaway in the mountains of South-Eastern Ohio called Big Rock Cabins.  We spend two unique days there, surrounded by nature and complete quietness.  Having our meals out on the deck, watching the birds; soaking in the hot tub and just sharing some deep thoughts and feelings brought us closer together.  It also reminded me that our lives together are not just "til death do us part,” but rather for eternity.  That’s something we have to work on continuously.

 

 

How can a Thousand-year-old City Re-invent Herself?

I was born in Nordhausen, a city in the state of Thueringen (Thuringia) in Germany. When I lived there we always would refer to the Harz-Mountains which are north of the city.  I lived there when Nordhausen was part of the DDR or East-Germany.  My dad owned a Jewelry store which he had built based on his training as a watchmaker and his drive to be a business owner.  When in 1961, he was notified, that he would have to surrender his ownership to the state, he decided to close the doors himself, and leave his business as well as all other personal property, except for a few suitcases, behind.  With four children in tow he and my mother managed to bring us all safely through Berlin into the Western sector where we registered as refugees. 

 

For many years I had dreams, roaming around my hometown.  We had left quite suddenly, not telling anyone, leaving our friends and neighbors without a clue.  At the time I didn’t understand why we had to leave. Then on August 13, 1961, a wall was built in Berlin, which created a more permanent separation between the two countries. I could only be grateful to my parents to have the foresight to bring us to freedom and give us a better future.

 

In the meantime, I have gone back to Nordhausen several times.  First, I just wanted to see all familiar places, like the house we lived in, walk the well-known streets, and see the locations where we played.  I even could share some cherries from the garden my parents cultivated with my children.

 

Nordhausen is in many ways a significant city.  It was first mentioned in a document on May 13, 927.  A distinctive landmark is a Roland statue, which represents a middle-age knight and symbolizes freedom, power, and jurisdiction.  He is holding a sword in one hand and the coat of arms with a crowned black eagle in the other.  Since the statue was one of the few remaining landmarks surviving WWII, we celebrated in the 1950s each year the Roland with a parade. 

 

Nordhausen was over many hundred years an important economic region of the South-Harz Mountain.  The city experienced many devastating catastrophes including fires, famines, and the difficult years of the plague. None of them were as bad as the damage of the bombing at the end of WWII.  With the destruction of 85% of the city the whole city image was changed.  Not until the re-unification of Germany in 1989 came the city to new life.  In 2004 Nordhausen became the center of the “2^nd Thüringer Landesgartenschau.”  Through this event Nordhausen was transformed into its new glory with flowers, landscaping and restoring many of the old ruins into beautiful works of art.
 

 

Nordhausen was once known for its tobacco industry, especially chewing tobacco. It is still famous for the distilled spirit “Nordhäuser Doppelkorn” which is made from fermented rye, containing more than 37% alcohol. 

 

Nordhausen has one other secret: during WWII it became the center of the V-2 rocket production.  In the nearby underground tunnels of the Kohnstein the Nazis used slave laborers and prisoners to build their defense.  Statistics mention that during the last years of the war 60,000 prisoners from over 21 nations were working day and night underground of Mittelbau-Dora in the tunnels never seeing daylight.  About one third of these captives were either killed or died of malnutrition and the work circumstances.  Some of these laborers came from other concentration camps to speed up the production and to replace the dying.  Today, the former crematorium is the center of the museum for the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp.

 

I believe that the city had to pay a high price for the atrocities happening before their very eyes (maybe hidden in the underground of the Kohnstein Hills).  To restore this, the city faced not only the bombings of WWII but also 40 years (from 1949-1989) under the East-German regime. 

 

When I met my class mates at the class reunion on May 4, 2013, I became very inspired that I saw people who were not only survivors but even at their advanced age believed in their city.  They were people who still had spunk and were proud to have lived through it all by reinventing themselves many times, by adjusting to new work environments, different ownerships, and even retraining in a different branch of occupation.  They didn’t take anything for granted but rather were willing to work hard and to roll up their sleeves many times, just like their parents did after their city was destroyed.

 

Even though I didn’t live there for the past 52 years, I feel like I have taken away the same willing spirit in me.  We sure can never forget where we came from. 

 

 

The Family is the basic unit for the Kingdom of Heaven

The family is the most important entity of our society.  Because it plays such a providential role, it should be protected by all involved.  The world over, parents and children can grow the best and the most healthy in the traditional unit of a father, a mother and the children.

 

“The family and God's Kingdom are the same in form. There are parents, husband and wife, children, and brothers and sisters in a family. The family can be united through love. On this foundation, unification can be established, life can be connected, and the ideal can be realized in a family. Therefore, you become qualified to enter God's Kingdom when you can respect conjugal and parental love.”

~ Sun Myung Moon

 

The family unit is not a man-made institution but rather a sacred element of God’s plan to build his Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.  The family was instituted by God, for the sake of marriage and parenthood.  In a good family husband and wife were to rely on each other completely.  This kind of environment creates the most favorable atmosphere for human development.  Children can grow best with both a father and a mother present.  It is also a principle factor for the development of wealth for the family, the surest way to prosperity, order, and peace.

 

The family as the School of Love

It is within the family that we experience all kinds of love relationships.  As husband and wife we experience conjugal love; as children we learn from our parents unconditional, parental love; as brother/sister we practice siblings love.  The child is trained in filial piety to their parents; as such it becomes a supportive member of society and a patriot to the nation.

 

"Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father.”

~ Matthew 16:25

 

The Importance of the Lineage

All through the bible we find endless mention of family trees and accounts of genealogy.  In the 1^st chapter of Matthew we find an account of the lineage of Jesus.  Even though verse 16 mentions that Joseph was the father of Jesus, in the following verses it is revealed that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (verse 18).  In any case, God had prepared a family to receive Jesus.  God wanted to plant his lineage here on earth through Jesus, the bridegroom.  In fact, from the beginning of time, it was God’s will to expand the family.  Unfortunately, the Fall of Man happened and man never reached maturity and Adam and Eve gave birth to Satan’s children (John 8:44 - You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.)

Jesus took on the role of the second Adam or last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45 - Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being;”  the last Adam became a life-giving spirit).  Since Jesus is considered the last Adam, one can conclude that there should be also a last (or second) Eve.  Even though there is no mention in the bible, there are now speculations that Jesus should have gotten married.  A bridegroom needs a bride (not the church) to start a family.

That’s why I truly appreciate Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s teaching.  He explains in detail, based on his meeting Jesus since he was only 16 years old on a mountainside in Korea, about the tragedy that Jesus could not fulfill his mission because he was crucified.  Many Christians believe that Jesus came to die.  If we really understand God’s will for the purpose of the family than we can feel his pain that he lost his lineage with Adam and Eve,  and has been working through restoration to send a second Adam.  Since God never gave up his dream to create an ideal world, he has continued until now to reveal the new providence and to finally recreate the family of God.

 

The Purpose of Human History

When we look at human history only as a history of conflict, struggle over property and land, to gain power and dominion, we can never understand its true purpose.  When we can gain insight in the progression of the development from the family level to the levels of tribes, societies, nations and today a world where basically two opposing ideologies are confronting a belief in God or the denial thereof.  History is God’s story to restore the first family, to recreate Adam and Eve.  Religion played the role of reconnecting people back to God, while Atheism and Liberalism are pulling people in the opposite direction.  Neither side has a clear picture what an ideal, peaceful world would look like since struggle cannot bring peace. 

 

Only the Principle of Creation gives a clear view of how man can grow to maturity, build a harmonious family and take ownership over the environment by fulfilling the three Great Blessings.

 

We are living in a wonderful and fearful time of history.  “The Last Days” bring a lot of changes and turmoil.  Our experience can be wonderful and full of many blessing when we believe and follow God’s will; or fearful and tragic if we turn away and deny God.  The choice is ours.

 

 

 

Jesus taught us to pray:    

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
 And forgive us our debts
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
 And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from the evil one.^”
~ Matthew 6:9-13

 

We have another chance now to build the Kingdom of Heaven.

What is the Purpose of Time?

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to tear down, and a time to build up.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search, and a time to give up as lost;

A time to keep, and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together;

A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;

A time for war, and a time for peace.”

~ Ecclesiastes 3:1–8

I chose the words from the Bible to start my blog for today.  In today’s world we cannot imagine to live without clocks, calendars, time zones, daylight savings time, time management, etc.  Some say time is another dimension others suggest that we can time travel.  We know that we live in a world of three dimensions.  As scientists have recently proven and religious people have known for ages we are not just living in this physical world but rather there is a spiritual world, unseen world all around us.  We cannot perceive it with our physical senses; that’s why it has been hidden, or at least for some of us who don’t believe in a sixth sense or intuition. 

In literature we talk about time in two ways, chronos and kairos.  One deals with the chronology of time, a continuation which moves forward and is quantitative while kairos means holy or God-given time, which has a more qualitative nature.  As we read in Ecclesiastes God’s time table has a deeper meaning and can signal a time of crisis and meaning.  

Here is another view from another blog I found:

No Time At All

In a world without time I will count experiences not minutes.
In a world without time a clock is a tool to coordinate with others.
In a world without time the moments with the Rompot will be enough.
In a world without time actions will take as long as they need to.
In a world without time I will never feel rushed or bored.
In a world without time a clock won't control me.

The Divine Principle

I like to introduce here another insight which I learned at a recent Original Substance of the Divine Principle seminar.  Our local presenter Wayne shared an interesting point on the purpose of time which inspired me to write this article. 

He was teaching on the meaning of growth and the time it takes for all creation to develop. All creatures and plants have to grow through the three ordered stages of formation, growth, and completion stage.  When created beings are in the growing period, God has regard only for the fruits of their growth which is based on the Principle (man needs to fulfill his portion of responsibility).  We call this growing period the realm of God's indirect dominion or the realm of dominion based on the accomplishments through the Principle. 

All things reach perfection after passing through the growing period by virtue of the autonomy and governance given by God's Principle.

Human beings, however, pass through the growing period and reach perfection by fulfilling their own portion of responsibility, in addition to the guidance provided by the Principle. Man’s physical body grows automatically, given that it has food, water, sunlight and life elements.  Since man is the only created being who lives in both worlds: the physical and the spiritual world, God gave man freedom and responsibility to grow by his own efforts toward maturity.  That time period here on earth gives us our true value as human beings where by our own choices we can take as long as it takes to reach oneness with God. This value gives us divine, unique and cosmic value. Therefore, man is an eternal being, and becomes a co-creator. It takes time for man to reach his true value.

http://www.unification.net/dp96/dp96-1-1.html 5.2.1 The Three Ordered Stages of the Growing Period

To me that was a real eye-opener in regards to the purpose of time.  For our physical life we need measured time as a tool, but for our spiritual life which will continue on for eternity once we transition after death, it is more important to measure events, experiences, adventure, true joy and purpose.  It is our experience in relationship with others, especially in the family that helps us grow, and mature our hearts to integrate all kinds of people and personalities. In the family we learn all different stages of relationships (child, brother & sister, husband & wife and parents) in order to create long term intimacy, security and connection.

Here are few other options on the purpose of time

“More powerful than all the armies of the world, is an idea whose time has come.”

~ Victor Hugo

“Time makes us uniquely human.”

~ Michio Kaku

“Time is a factor which will bring perfection.”

~ page 229 – Outwitting the Devil  by Napoleon Hill

"From the Buddhist perspective, time is the experience of being present right now, in this very moment. We in the West, however, like to measure things. In this way, clock time gives us a sense of coherence and stability. But in terms of our inner lives, no time exists except for what is happening in the present moment."

~ Deepak Chopra

“I’m trying to understand how time works. And that’s a huge question that has lots of different aspects to it. A lot of them go back to Einstein and space-time and how we measure time using clocks. But the particular aspect of time that I’m interested in is the arrow of time: the fact that the past is different from the future. We remember the past but we don’t remember the future. There are irreversible processes. There are things that happen, like you turn an egg into an omelet, but you can’t turn an omelet into an egg.”

~ Sean Carroll

 “Time drives every second of our lives in ways we can scarcely imagine. But what is time? This is the quest to understand time and our place within it. It’s a journey that starts with cutting-edge discoveries into what makes us tick and ends with the mind-boggling implications of cosmological time. It’s a journey that reveals something extraordinary: The more we understand time, the more we find that it is time that makes us uniquely human.”

~ Joan Halifax Roshi

Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time (the kairos)?”
~ Luke 12:54, 56

We can conclude that time is necessary to create value, for man to mature and become wise and most of all to learn to love.  As Sean Caroll suggested, time only goes forward.  We cannot change yesterday we can on learn the lessons and create a better tomorrow.  Why do we value time?  Is time money?  Yes – in this physical world we get compensated for our work and sell our talents and time for a paycheck.  On the level of experiences time is priceless.

“Time is free, but it’s priceless. 

You can’t own it, but you can use it. 

You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. 

Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.”

~ HarveyMcKay

To learn more about the Unification Church teachings, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwCgIo7OU68&feature=related

http://vimeo.com/31006375 3 kind of human value

http://vimeo.com/11177645 Becoming a Divine Spirit

http://vimeo.com/10490974 The 2 realms: Growing and Perfection

http://vimeo.com/10763294 The Physical and Spiritual Self (Nourishment)

What I am learning from my Grand-daughter Jaya

Our second grand-daughter, Jaya, was born May 26, 2012.  Two hours later we were at the hospital and marveled at the beautiful little girl with dark hair and blue (?) eyes. 

She developed quickly and was very strong, maybe because she was born one week later than her due date.  As the days went on she learned to latch on to her mother’s breasts and was nursing very well.  Sometimes, the parents had to supplement some formula, either because there was not enough breast milk or just to give mom a break.

I can say that Jaya is a very different baby than the two I had nursed and raised.  She is what one would call a “high maintenance baby.”  She cries a lot, either because of tummy aches, or being hungry very quickly again (less than 2 hours after a feeding), or just to be held.  Since we live in the same house as the young couple, I am always ready to give a hand or arms to hold the precious little girl or “our little princess” as my husband calls her.

Over the last couple of months we learned a lot from this little baby and also how to cope better with her needs.  She is by now 2 months old and has already her own personality.  In order to deal with her crying spells we learned from searching the internet about Priscilla Dunston and her ways in which one can understand baby’s cries.  Ms. Dunston discovered that there are 5 universal cries:

DunstonBaby Language

“Neh” Hungry

“Owh” Sleepy

“Heh” discomfort

“Eair” Lower gas (may put up legs)

“Eh” needs burping to let out air

Here is the link to an interview of Priscilla with Oprah about the language of babies:

Understanding these cries helped a lot for this colicky baby.  We also learned that most babies outgrow these crying spells by about 3-4 months.  Most babies cry about 30 minutes per day.  If your baby cries longer, you may have a colicky baby and want to investigate into gripe water which has been traditionally made by mothers at home; or a product which helped our little one called ColicCalm.

What else has our little Jaya been teaching us in her young life?

·         This baby is all feelings and not at all afraid to express them.  I believe that is why we are naturally drawn to babies; they are totally themselves, helpless and open.

·         This baby breathes deeply into her abdomen; I watch her belly go up and down, especially when she sleeps.

·         This baby moves all the time, even in her sleep. 

·         This baby trusts us completely and is totally depending on our care.

·         This baby engages us with her smiles and funny faces.  Watch her eyes getting bigger when she sees or hears something interesting; or when something exciting or unexpected happens like blowing in her face; or you put her in front of a flower or even a mirror.

·         This baby likes to be touched and held a lot.  It is the easiest way to put her to sleep by walking around with her and/or rocking her to sleep.

·         This baby likes to be swaddled and/or held tight when preparing her for sleeping.

Now, you probably say, she is just a normal baby.  Maybe I am just a little prejudiced; I am making these comments for those who think: oh, it’s just a baby what can I learn from her? - I have to teach her everything. 

That’s my wisdom as a grandmother; you can’t spoil a baby.  If we attend this little one with all of our love and full attention, she will be the best daughter for her parents, the greatest older sister, the most excellent mother’s helper, and the finest future wife and companion to any husband in the future. 

Here are some websites I visited to get some of the feedback:

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4199/4-Things-We-Can-All-Learn-From-Babies.html

http://purposepowercoaching.com/site/2009/01/22/4-lessons-babies-can-teach-us-about-productivity/

http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/01/19/when-babies-cry-and-what-we-can-all-learn-from-the-high-needs-baby-and-child/