Living Arts Weekly: Snuggling

February 3, 2019

There is such a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so that they can’t get away.  –Dave Attell

As I write this, we are in the middle of a cold snap in the Midwest. Well, that might be a bit of an understatement. It’s way beyond the usual frigid and has been called a polar vortex, which sounds like a ride at an amusement park but does capture the intensity quite accurately. The wind chill this morning is fifty degrees below zero. What started as a blizzard has turned to an icy cold blast that has closed schools and businesses all week long.

Parents began the week relishing the thought of cuddling their kids for a day or two at home, with no expectations of going anywhere.  By day three, four or five, the rosy glow may have worn off a bit. When I found the quote at the top of this post, I had to laugh. It might just describe how one or two parents in the Midwest feel right about now.

I know it sounds cliché, but these moments when the world seems to stop spinning long enough to snuggle with your children are golden, and looking back on it in twenty years or so, you’ll be glad you made the most of them. Even if sometimes you wish you could just go to the bathroom by yourself.

 

 

 

Blessings on your week,

Mary O’Connell, Your Living Arts Weekly blog editor

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Social Awareness

Are you facing a discipline dilemma?  Join us for Cynthia’s very popular course, Discipline with Loving Awareness. This online course begins this Wednesday, on February 6th, and you will love it!

Thank you so much for your time and care to present us with this wonderful course!!! I look forward to these because it’s so much more than just reading from some boring book and having robot-like responses. The videos feel like I’m personally being talked to, the articles have helpful information and activities! Definitely something that’s going to stick with me rather than in one ear and out the other. – Samantha

Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. Thank you so much for keeping this open to all of us to come back to at any time. This is such rich, deep, and valuable information that I will definitely re-visit again and again. Love is really present in each of these lessons and while this was nothing at all like what I had expected, it was so, SO, much more. Thank you for this opportunity.  – Melissa

Click here for more details!

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Nurturing Care

Do you ever feel that nurturing your children means your own needs have to go unmet?  The students in our online course The Living Arts- Cornerstones of Care recently enjoyed reading this article by Esther Leisher.  She writes, “What do you do for yourself? How often I was asked that when I had four
children at home. I was obviously pouring myself into what I considered my
profession (family life), and it must have looked like I was making great
sacrifices. I wasn’t. I was pretty much doing what I wanted to do. You are a
creative artist working with the substance of everyday life. You learn to be true
to the heart of the music but play it in your own style.”  Are you intrigued about how to become a creative artist working with the substance of everyday life?  Read on…

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Creative Exploration

Thinking Creatively

In Esther’s article above, she writes, “Here’s another answer to ‘What did you do for yourself?’
When the youngest child was about 2 years old, and I was feeling that
parenthood was taking a very long time, I decided to fit some spiritual
exercises into my day (I was so tired at night). I chose the development of
focused thinking and focused will. I did the brief thinking exercise suggested by
Steiner in the early morning (2-5 minutes).”

This exercise offered by Rudolf Steiner helps to develop truly creative thinking. Click here to read an explanation of the exercise from Joop van Dam.

Generally speaking, the quality of our thinking in our daily life is not very focused. If you look closely, you will find that your thoughts often consist in a lot of rambling. What we see around us and the memories that keep coming to us lead us from one association to the other. The essence of the thinking exercise is that you stick with one specific subject. You then verify if you have successfully managed to do this.  When you perform this exercise over a longer period of time, let us say for a month, and you do this five minutes a day, you will notice that your power of concentration and the objectivity of your thinking will increase.   – Joop van Dam

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Practical Activity

This recipe was shared by LifeWays teacher and mentor, Bridget Scherer Schneider. Homemade Graham Crackers are a wholesome and satisfying treat to enjoy while  snuggling with your little ones on a cold winter day.

Homemade Graham Crackers

2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour*

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

6 Tbsp. butter

1/2 c. honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and honey together. Mix dry ingredients together. Add honey mixture to dry ingredients. Mix with a fork, then push dough together with your hands.  If it seems too crumbly, add more honey.  Do not overmix or over knead.  Roll dough out with a well floured rolling pin to 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut rectangles with a knife, prick each piece with a fork.  Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on rack.

*Hodgson Mill makes a 100% Stone Ground “Old Fashioned” Whole Wheat Graham flour that works perfectly in this recipe, but any coarsely ground wheat flour will do.