EP 341: Showing Up in Creative Mode for Our Kids

In my son’s favorite game, Minecraft, there are two modes: creative mode and survival mode. When I learned this, of course, bells went off in my head because these are the same modes of our bodies: Stress is survival mode. And homeostasis (the opposite of stress) is creative mode. In Minecraft, when you are playing in creative mode, you are constructing and developing the world around you. The ‘bad guys’ are still around, but they don’t bother you while you’re in creative mode. I love this metaphor for helping our children construct their emotional intelligence! When our kids are with us, we can provide this safety for them to build awareness of their emotions, which leads to the ability to regulate them in the ‘survival mode’ world outside the home. This means that we should help them develop this awareness through asking them questions about their emotions and not trying to fix things for them, reminding ourselves that we’re not in survival mode. In order to provide this safe place for our kids, we must be in creative mode ourselves. That is, we must be free from stress and the difficult survival emotions associated with stress so our kids feel safe. What do you think about this? #mindfulness #selfcompassion #presence #acceptance #mindfulparenting