In ADHD therapy, we look for approaches that work well for parents as well as educators.  In this u-tube, Howard Glasser talks about the Nurtured Heart Approach in schools.  It is better to have this approach in the whole school, rather than trying to have it one grade and then have an entirely different approach in the next grade.  That tends to be too confusing for the children and less effective.

 

"Children need good words and when provided with good words, they will be provided with positive emotional energy and their inner wealth is established and they will flourish. Good words are generously spoken and they are positive in respect to their daily moment of living, providing nourishing guidance which sets the stage to be ready to learn.

How can we set the stage? How can we provide positive emotional energy? How can we speak good words and how do we choose the words to speak? How can the good words provide inner wealth and how can this action created by teachers, parents, school administrators have an effect on tardiness? bullying? procrastination? depression? sense of self-worth?"

Advanced Community Education 

Answers to these questions can be found by contacting any advanced nurtured heart trainer.  

www.familyrelationshiphelp.com

Sister Theresa

Listen to what Howie Glasser learned as he initiated the Nurtured Heart Approach.

 

More4kids blog give an important tip. 

"When you really stop and pay attention to them (your children), you send the message that you care about what is being said, they are important, and you empower your child."

http://www.google.com/reader/view/?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-ww-ww-bk&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=google+reader#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.more4kids.info%2Ffeed%2F

Howie Glasser builds his nurtured heart approach on positive recognitions giving children positive attention throughout the day.

—
Sister Theresa

The Nurtured Heart Approach started by Howie Glasser is a way to channel the child's energy from bad to good behavior.  In the ADHD therapy website, we look at this approach and some others. Look at this video on u-tube to see how the Nurtured Heart Approach is done in the schools.

 

http://www.energyparenting.com/public/228.cfm

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As you look back in history, you notice people are born, live their life span, and die.  Some leave an impressionable mark on the world; others do not.  However, each of us takes a spiritual journey, sometimes unaware of how God is wooing us on the trip. For some, their spiritual journey is made up of resisting God as they understand Him. Sometimes this is an invitation from God to change our image of God.   For the Christian, who takes the spiritual journey seriously, he or she is involved in some sort of prayer practice. There are different ways of praying.  There are formal vocal prayers, such as the Our Father and Hail Mary.  Meditation is a more reflective way of praying.   Contemplation is a gift from God.  I am in complete agreement with St. Therese of Lisieux who said it is not important how you pray, but that you pray.

In this blog post, I am going to focus on the prayer form of Christian meditation. Christian meditation is a structured way of reflecting on the mysteries of the life of Christ, usually found in the Bible.  It is a form of concentrating or focusing on the Christian message in order to develop a loving relationship with Christ.

Christian meditation is different from meditation practiced in Asian countries, such as Buddhism or Hinduism, which usually try to block all thoughts.  Many of these forms of meditation use mantras in an attempt to erase thoughts.  One form of meditation practice in Christianity is to read a biblical passage, think about that passage or try to place yourself in the particular Bible story in an attempt to enter into the mystery of Christ.  It therefore stimulates thought in an attempt to find Christian meaning in one’s personal life.  As the Christian meditates on the life of Christ, they try to develop a loving relationship with the God who loves them.

Meditation is only one form of Christian prayer.  The bible is God’s self-revelation.  It is the belief of Christians that God wants to communicate Himself to them through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and that He does that through the Bible.  Christians believe that God is a personal God and loves each one deeply.  Naturally when you love someone deeply, you want to share your life with them.  God does this through the Bible.  So, the Christian wants to read the Bible, and reflect on the life of Christ, trying to see how Jesus’ life connects with to their personal lives.  This is the opposite of the oriental practices of using mantras in an attempt to block or erase thoughts.  The second aspect of Christian meditation is to respond to God’s love.  Therefore Christian meditation is relational, reflective and personal.  After reflecting on God’s love, the heart is moved to respond to God’s love.  One of the ways of responding is to praise and worship of God.  Other ways of responding are through acts of charity.  The purpose of Christian meditation, then, is to deepen the relationship with Jesus and have a stronger relationship with God

In the 12th century, a Carthusian monk, Guigo, divided Christian prayer into four steps: lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio.  Lectio is reading a specific bible passage; meditatio is to reflect on that passage, oratio is then responding in prayer to what one has reflected upon; the fourth stage is simply to sit in the mystery of God in a listening posture.  True contemplation is considered a gift from God, but the Christian can prepare themselves for this gift through lectio, meditatio, and oratio.  The pray-er does not control the contemplation.  It is a free gift from God.

It is a common practice for Christians during Lent to reflect on the passion and death of Jesus, in preparation for the Easter mystery, when Jesus rises from the dead.

There are many great saints within the church that speak of Christian meditation.  St. Ignatius helps the Christian through the spiritual exercises.  There are several forms of these retreats.  One can enter a 30 day retreat apart from his or her normal activities, living at a retreat center during that time and following a different exercise each day.  Another form of this retreat is the Annotated retreats, where someone is fully engaged in their active lives and take time out daily to mediate on the Bible, following the 30 day format.  It is also recommended that they have a spiritual director at that time to help them process their meditative experiences.  St. Teresa of Avila meditated twice a day for one hour at a time.  She wrote the Interior Castle to explain the spiritual journey through prayer.  St. Augustine and St. Teresa taught us about the God that lives within us.  As we think about the God who lives within us, it is easy to access Him within the silence of our own hearts, much easier than using a cell phone or writing an e-mail.  In her “Way of Perfection” St. Teresa called her prayer practice “recollection” because “the soul collects together all the faculties and enters within itself to be with God.”  So unlike the eastern method of having a mantra to erase and block all ideas, Teresa teaches us to focus all our faculties on the God who lives within us and loves us.  As St. Teresa meditated, she stated in time after much practice, the mind effortlessly maintains its focus on God.

Different saints divided prayers in different ways, but almost all mention meditation and contemplation.  Many including the late Pope John Paul II viewed the rosary as a form of meditation.  As one prays the rosary, one is reflecting on the life of Jesus, usually from one of the Bible stories, while reciting 5 Our Fathers and 50 Hail Marys.

In the Eastern Christian churches there is a prayer practice called the Jesus prayer.  In the Jesus prayer, the Christian repeats over and over for a set period of time or a set number of times, the phrase, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me.”  This practice has not really taken root in the Western world where meditation is more reflective thinking on the life of Christ.  This practice seems to be more in keeping with the mantras of Eastern religions.

In summary, as the prayerful Christian goes through life on his/her spiritual journey, Christian meditation is an integral part of that journey.  The meditation is personal, relational, and reflective with the purpose of a closer union with Christ.