3 tips to making empowered parenting choices

As parents, we want to feel reassured that we are doing the right thing for our children all the time. We have these precious beings, who need us to take care of them, these beings we are responsible for and we don’t want them to get hurt in any way. Knowing how to make empowered choices means knowing how to take care of our loved ones by empowering all of your ways of knowing, especially your intuition. It is an affirming and powerful experience. Of course, the following techniques can also be applied to all areas of our life, not just for decisions that conce
our children.
Even though they may be pointing in different directions, bring your brain and your heart together. When you are faced with an important decision or making a significant choice, you may find yourself feeling overwhelmed because you aren’t clear about what way to go, especially if your head seems to be telling you one thing, and your heart something different.
So how do you bring both of them together? Well, can you remember a time when your child was unable to communicate with you clearly, when, for example, they were too young to speak? Remember a moment when you knew something was wrong, but your child was unable to tell you. Deep inside, you knew that the baby was not feeling well, but you really did not know exactly what was up. Your heart was telling you “something is wrong”. And your brain was saying, “yeah, yeah, you must be crazy… look at the baby he isn’t even crying anymore, he is fine.” Still, your heart kept on saying “no no, something is still wrong.”
At that point, you could start to investigate, to discover what was really going on. You might look at the clock and see if it was time for the baby to be fed, or if there was something in his diaper. Is it time for his nap? Check, check, check. All may be well, or your intuition may insist that you keep looking until you find something that proves your sixth sense was right. I teach my clients to allow themselves to listen to both their head and their heart, because when you do that, and you follow up on what they are saying, you are bringing them together and helping to clarify the best decision you can make. Use your gut to answer the question of what choice to make. First, ask yourself what is bothering you. With the answer to that question, turn it around into a question. So you are not sure if you should go to Kim’s house for a play date? Make it into a question: “Should I take Johnny to the play date at Kim’s house?” When you ask, pay attention to the feelings in the pit of your stomach, which is another location of your “sixth sense” or your “mother’s intuition.” If there’s a bad feeling there, that may be the answer you need.
If you don’t have a clear answer, you may ask further questions. “Why am I questioning this in the first place? Am I uneasy about Kim, does she not treat her child in a way I feel comfortable with?” All of these questions really are coming from your gut, your mother’s intuition. You may not really be sure why all of this is coming up, but it is, so you should pay attention to it and not disempower yourself by ignoring what you are feeling. When you keep asking, keep paying attention to your intuition, you will find greater clarity and empowerment to make the best choice. Literally, sleep on it. When you are not sure of what to do and you have gone back and forth with the issue for hours without being able to come to a certain yes or no, consider waiting until tomorrow and seeing what the sun tells you when it comes out. Remember, your mother told you to do this at some point in your life! Waiting and sleeping on an issue is helpful because sleep allows your unconscious to process what you are dealing with and rest brings you clarity, all of which allows you to see the answer you are looking for. Waiting until tomorrow can provide you with new insight as to what is the better choice. Knowing how to make an empowered choice is a powerful experience. Having ability to trust yourself leaves you with a sense of relief, which is something that, as parents, we all want to be able to feel because we want to know that we have made the best choice. Making an empowered decision brings a level of joy and happiness that you cannot experience when you do not trust yourself. And you tend not to trust yourself when you don’t listen deeply to all of your ways of knowing, when you don’t honor your heart, your gut and your brains. Now, you can move on with your life, knowing how to make empowered choices.