Women’s bodies magically transform an egg into a living being. Transferring that being into the world takes a very delicate hand and happens one way or the other – vaginally or via Cesarean (the escape hatch).
Every woman wants to manifest their ideal vision of their birth plan and since the birthing business is a billion dollar industry, many people and companies want to influence your vision. As much as the industry is about life and death it’s also about facing all your fears and laboring your love.
Expectant mothers seek support on their journey from people like Latham Thomas Founder of Mama Glow who is a health and wellness coach, doula, yoga teacher and author of the soon to be published book Mama Glow: A Hip Guide to Your Fabulous & Abundant Pregnancy (Hay House, November 2012). (more…) read more →
With all the gadgets and gizmos and extra curricular activities available for kids to occupy their time, a lost art form is sitting with your kids, getting hands on and creating a masterpiece together.
ARTCETERA, in Brooklyn, is known as an adult and children’s play place and also offers fun mommy and me events where you and your kids can get crafty. We spoke with Artcetera owner, Nanette De Cillis, event organizer Christina Berrios and with licensed Creative Arts Therapist Orliyah Finnegan, MA LMFT/ATR, PPS, about how to capture the lost art of bonding and communicating over crafty time.
Art Space. Go screen free and leave your work at the door. We often take our work home and find ourselves glued to our mobile phones. Keep all electronic devices off and set aside personal time together free of distractions, mark a creative space and get ready for some fun.
Use Imagination. Let your children’s early developing minds roam free. Go with them, explore, and create new worlds together. Our inner world comes out in our imaginary worlds and Orliyah says “art is a way to peer deeper into what our children are longing to express.” Use plah-doh to make figurines and craft new characters or create your own board game. Check these sites for inspiration Art Therapy Blog or Kaboose.
A Thousand Words. Orliyah loves using art when working with children, particularly special needs children who are often frustrated trying to vocalize their feelings because “it is a less self-defensive approach and the art becomes the vehicle for fostering communication”. It is a liberating experience for children and can calm overactive kids and focus them. Art uncovers meaning so observe and you may see what’s behind their depression, anxiety, anger and moods. Are they drawing monsters or fairytale lands? Are they looking to escape or protect your family? Call Orliyah to help you interpret.
Fun First. Your project doesn’t have to be perfect but it must be fun. It’s about the experience. Your children should feel comfortable so withhold criticism, let them go with their feelings, and fight the urge to correct. Use positive leading language like “wow, that’s interesting, who is that?” It’s their world so let the pigs fly.
Take Turns. Participate and take turns. Try tracing games and take turns tracing eachother’s drawings or create a project where each family member has to contribute. Try making year round ornaments for your family with some glitter, pictures and popsicle sticks and assign each person a task.
Recycle. Make it green and fun. Use materials from around your house, toilet paper rolls, old art projects that you’ve amassed in a closet, wrapping paper and go outside and hunt for some leaves and twigs and see how you can reimagine and repurpose the materials. Try all different re-arrangements for homemade birthday cards.
Make Memories. Memories are crafted to be lifelong keepsakes. Have each person in the family contribute something to the creation. Create a treasure box, take a binder and create your own cover to have a personalized scrapbook or hang it on a wall, make a frame or a portfolio for your joint family keepsakes.
Exhibit. Share your art. Let the video camera’s roll on your child while they explain their masterpieces and ask them thought provoking questions about the aesthetics, how it was conceived, how they made it, materials they used, what it represents to them and who they think would like it. Post your videos and pictures to your family and friends but be mindful about your budding artist’s privacy. Create a gallery wall or area in your home to show off to company or go virtual with Pinterest.
Create beautiful memories together and let us know how it goes!
ABOUT ARTCETERA: Originally opened as a playhouse for adults and separately for children, a new event series geared towards mommy and me fun. From researchers to early childhood experts, the compelling news about our children’s earliest years is very simple: PLAY WORKS . . . and our kids don’t get enough! Through a balance of guided and unstructured play activities, ArtsCetera offers parents a chance to slow down and engage in the transformative experience of their children’s earliest learning. From an infant’s delighted crowing in music class to a toddler’s first messy art extravaganza, immersing children in a fun, total arts experience is what we are all about.
ABOUT ORLIYAH FINNEGAN, MA LMFT/ATR., PPS: Orliyah is a certified Creative Arts therapist, working in New York and California and a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She graduated from Phillips Graduate Institute, with a dual masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and Art Therapy. She’s credentialed to work in the school setting with special needs children and works with all types of parents and children to spark a new conversation through art. Orliyah@gmail.com
Cynthia Litman is a featured Healthy Living Contributor and is an entertainment lawyer, social entrepreneur, business adviser, working mom, creator, author & hostess of the blog & talk radio show Mommas Pearls. For more about her click here for her full bio and all of her articles! read more →
Tweenage girls are a growing market for the cosmetic and skincare industry. The tweenage years are a critical developmental stage and you can help empower your daughter to take responsibility for her well being by navigating the potential toxic minefield of skin care products.
We spoke with Kim Grustas, one-half of the Mompreneur team behind the affordable skin care line, Good For You Girls, about the importance of helping your tweens invest in their beauty education.
Kim’s journey began with a trip to the whole foods market unable to find a natural skin care line for her daughter. Here’s what’s she’s learned: (more…) read more →
As a Bella momma, we often lose ourselves in our family lives. We give so much and it takes work to stay in touch with yourself as your caring for others.
Holding a space of love and compassion for yourself in every moment helps ward off I forgot to fasten my oxygen mask first type of emergencies. Love is a gateway to effortlessness. You hold the key to go beyond just saying ““I love you” and instilling self-love as a core value with your children.
Luckily it’s easy to love yourself, exactly as you are, as you are fabulous, and February is the perfect time to fall madly and deeply back in love with yourself.
Some love notes:
Ego Check: Loving yourself is not an ego thing, it’s a love thing and no modesty is required. Being full of yourself and boasting is an ego trip. You are supposed to love, accept and be proud of who you are. You are entitled to fully honor the positive parts of yourself. It’s just being honest! The positive side of your ego will share all that’s fabulous when you’ve forgotten. Keep your negative ego in check when she starts on her ugly track with “you don’t deserve” “you suck” “you’re fat” “you’re too big for your bridges”. Then thank her as she can teach you what insecurities or issues are blocking your mojo.
Date Yourself: Devote time to yourself. My best friend Melissa Goldberg says, “stash time away for yourself like you would save money in your savings account.” Take that time and invest it doing something you love and find inspiring. Go for a walk in the cool air, stroll through a museum, enjoy nature therapy by arranging some flowers, indulge with some super thick Parisian style hot chocolate at the newly opened Laduree or mainstay City Bakery, do a guided meditation from any of Gabrielle Bernstein’s offerings or from Meditations For Moms, read a book, journal, bust out your stencils and draw, turn on some music and get jiggy with it. Enjoy your own company.
Self-Care: Care for yourself. Commit to your own wellbeing and release what no longer serves you. Scan your emotional, physical and spiritual self and each area of your life – health, relationships, career. Acknowledge your unhealthy beliefs, thoughts, practices, habits, addictions, vices or energy suckers in your life. Get professional help where required. One at a time, accept and thank each for the lessons and then actively release it. Forgive your past judgmental unhealthy chain smoking cake batter gorging self. Supplement new healthy ways to care for yourself and be gentle if you fall off the love wagon. I love these 50 simple self-care tips by life coach, Corrie Woods.
Core: Re-connect with the core of who you are, that part of you that is pure spirit and is so open, clear, divine and peaceful. You may have to dig through and clear some layers but she’s there, ever waiting to be acknowledged and to integrate fully with your daily experiences.
Live Your Truth: Pauline Esposito, an intuitive metaphysical healer and teacher says, “living your truth is your greatest act of self-love, to love yourself is to know your soul and accept it fully. To know yourself and love yourself well enough not to do something that is out of authenticity for your soul. “ When you start doing what everyone else wants you to do you start losing touch with what you feel is right for you to do. Do what is in your truth, is honest to who you are and take actions that expresses and advances your truth.
Be Your Best Cheerleader: Accept a compliment. While in law school, a close friend said without a shadow of sarcasm “you are so smart, beautiful and amazing.” She’d go on and on listing my positive traits and by the end of my third year, I was finally able to accept and fully embrace those beliefs. Take a cue from Stuart Smalley, grab a mirror, smile big, blow yourself a kiss and say “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and doggonit, I LOVE ME!” Then go be a cheerleader for your friends and family, shower them with Arielle Fierman’s I LOVE ME rings, and bask in the love.
Listen to your heart to show you your pathway to being your own best lover.
Join Cynthia in an insightful and empowering 4 Week Intensive Tele-Call Series we will take a journey of Self-Love and build a space of unconditional love for yourself!! Mommas Pearls 4 Week Intensive Tele-Call Series: i-5 Live!!
Cynthia Litman is a featured Healthy Living Contributor and is an entertainment lawyer, social entrepreneur, business adviser, working mom, creator, author & hostess of the blog & talk radio show Mommas Pearls. For more about her click here for her full bio and all of her articles! read more →
Having a perfectly balanced life is a wild goose chase, being a perfectly balanced person is another story. Stop the chase and embrace the notion of fully embodying each aspect of yourself.
If you’ve felt like never ending spinning top in Inception rather than feeling like a well adjusted person with a full life, revamp your thinking so you can enjoy your time whether it’s by yourself, with your family, while working or engaging in your passion. (more…) read more →