by Sarah Rudell Beach | Aug 4, 2014
I don’t know who you are, because you wrote your post anonymously. But I still think you are brave. In our culture of ideal and perfect motherhood, where “confessions” are things like “I went three days without giving my child a bath,” you wrote that you don’t like...
by Sarah Rudell Beach | Jul 28, 2014
I get nervous when I hear about parenting approaches that are “child-centered.” Perhaps it’s because I’m a teacher and I don’t like the phrase “student-centered.” It’s not that I don’t care about my students or...
by Sarah Rudell Beach | Jun 5, 2014
Don’t you love it when they’re asleep? Don’t they look so sweet and innocent? For me, checking on my sleeping children at night is a treasured ritual. Stepping into their dark, quiet bedrooms becomes a moving meditation. The whining, sassing,...
by Sarah Rudell Beach | May 5, 2014
One of my most helpful mindfulness strategies is to use mantras — phrases that I can repeat silently as I take a deep breath. Mantras are especially helpful for the times when we need to calm ourselves, in order to make space for a skillful response instead of...
by Sarah Rudell Beach | Mar 17, 2014
As my daughter gets older, she starts to ask more complicated questions. A few weeks ago, she asked me, “Mommy, how did the first people get borned? Because people can’t just come from nowhere! Did the Buddha make them? Did God make them?” And while...
by Sarah Rudell Beach | Mar 13, 2014
A few weeks ago, I attended a book reading by Anna Quindlen. When it was time for questions, someone asked what her favorite book that she had written was. Quindlen responded, “If the book you just wrote isn’t your favorite, you’re in trouble!” It’s kind of like...
