Abbie: Hello and welcome to the CosmoParenting Podcast brought to you by the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution. In this space, we invite you to see yourself as someone who is curious about and actively participating in creating your own meaning around parenting.
This is our ‘Animate’ episode, where we offer some strategies to integrate into parenting so you can bring to life the things we talk about here on the podcast. Let’s begin.
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Abbie: Today, I am joined by gifted educator Stephanie Higgs, to offer a best practice from a teacher’s perspective. Hi, Stephanie.
Stephanie: Hey, Abbie.
Abbie: So, Stephanie, we’ve spent this month discussing communities. What’s the practice that you’re offering us for this theme?
Stephanie: This month I am sharing one of my favorite resources that is super general and can be used in lots of different contexts. It’s as simple as the reflective practice of ‘Glows & Grows.’
So, when we think about ourselves as both giving and receiving within a community, I invite you to think about two aspects. First, where are you glowing? Brag about yourself! Where are you utilizing the many incredible resources that your community has to offer? From the local library to your neighborhood park, are you taking full advantage of the community resources available to you? Conversely, where would you say that you are glowing in pouring into your community? Each of us has so many unique, rare, and special gifts as individuals and our community needs us! Where are you glowing in regards to leveraging your time and other resources to give back?
I would also invite you to consider some goal-setting and thinking about where you could grow in terms of community involvement. This could be as simple as “you know what, six months out of the year, our downtown offers a first friday filled with local merchants, and entertainment, and goods and I’ve always wanted to go and I’ve never made it a priority. I want to be sure I’m taking advantage of this community resource that I have yet to check out.” Plus, you can invite others to participate with you and grow the community even more! We have so much to give and to receive from both the small and larger communities of which we are a part. It’s fun to reflect on where we are glowing and taking advantage of these resources, but also setting some tangible goals where we can continue to grow and give back or access additional offerings within our communities, both big and small.
Abbie: So well said, Stephanie. I really don’t feel like I have a lot to add to this. But what I will reiterate is that communities can form in many ways, and not all of your communities have to center around your children and connections you’ve made through parenting. Because for as big a job as parenting is in life, it is never the only role or relationship we have. So, although these strategies are a lot about parenting, nine months into this podcast, I want to take a moment to acknowledge that these strategies are even more widely applicable than just in parenting situations. For example, when you’re juggling a lot, taking care of yourself might not be something that you’re doing. So this glow and grow exercise can be really important in looking at your own self care. In what ways are you glowing or taking good care of yourself? And what are some concrete things you can do to take better care of yourself?
Well, Stephanie, thank you so much for joining me today. And thank you to everyone listening for joining us as well. You can connect with Stephanie on Instagram @littlemissgifted and you can check out our other CosmoActivities and additional resources at www.cosmoactivities.com. We are so grateful to be on this journey with all of you. And we will see you next week for the final episode of the month where we will talk communication on the theme of communities.
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