Buddhism for Mothers: A Book Review

I took a break from reading books about Natural Childbirth, and decided to pick up a book a bit about parenting. 

OK, I stumbled upon this book randomly when I was on Amazon.com buying the Calm Birth CD to practice my Calm Birth meditation methods. 

Buddhism for Mothers: a calm approach to caring for yourself and your children by Sarah Napthali, is not just for Buddhists or those interested in Buddhism. 

I am not a Buddhist. I took a Hinduism course in college, and found it very interesting. I know I know, they are NOT the same. But, they are more similar than say Buddhism and Catholicism. I have read a bit about Buddhism too. It is an intriguing religion. 

But, I have been very stressed out lately. Part of it is pregnancy hormones making it all worse, there is absolutely no denying that. But, outside forces are also working against me. I am an Aries. OK. I am passionate and I wear that passion right up front. I cry when I am angry, and once let loose, strong emotion is very hard to pull in for me. It can take hours before I am fit for society again. 

Stress effects pregnancy. Right now, I am so stressed out, and then to make it worse, stressed that all my stress is going to make this baby born tied up in knots! 

So, I signed up for Upliv, this stress management program from Johnson and Johnson. Need to be a bit more active on that:) But, I thought this book sounded like it could maybe help as well. 

I was not wrong. 

Buddhism for Mothers is not really about how to practice Buddhism. It is more, how the practices of Buddhism can help YOU! As I was reading it, I found myself saying over and over again, "wow, that is me!" or "wow! that is my husband" or "our relationship". And thinking again and again, "huh, that totally makes sense, and it would really help me in such and such situation which crops up again and again."

There is plenty in there for the actual Buddhist as well, but for those of us just looking for a little emotional support, and maybe some tools for practicing mindfulness, or anger management, or stress management... this is a great book. 

In fact, I have asked my husband to read it. While it may be called Buddhism for Mothers and is definitely steered towards addressing moms, I think anyone who has children, or deals with children regularly (teachers, nannies, grandparents, aunts, uncles, whatever!) can benefit from it as well. 

Bottom line... pick it up. It is a highly interesting read that just might help you achieve a bit of calm in your hectic life! 

Physical Training Slacking

These last few weeks have been super hectic. We are currently undergoing some construction in our house--we are getting our basement and the bathroom down there refinished and it has just been crazy. The work only started today, but I have had headaches about this for weeks. Dealing with moving everything out of the basement, figuring out what of all that crap we needed to keep and what we could trash/donate/sell--or what would be assessed once the project was complete and we were putting everything away. And of course, I was the one who had to make all those decisions--but then validate and explain those decision to my other half who sometimes saw the reasoning, and sometimes just rolled his eyes at me.

I am just glad the work has finally started, even if I have been on and off the phone all day with my husband (who is at home right now overseeing the work) and the contractor (who is not at our site, just his workers) working out the final kinks in the project. I have a killer headache and all I want to do when I get home is change and go for a run in the park to de-stress, but instead have to look at what was behind the ugly wall paneling, discuss our options with the contractor who will be at my house about half an hour after I get home from work, then make the decision with my husband who has not gotten any sleep and needs to leave for work by 10:30 this evening. I am thinking my need for a run is going to hit the back burner. 

It is annoying though because, exercise if the only thing I do for myself. The only "me" time I get in my life, and lately, I have really only been getting it about once a week when I have my training appointments with Alex, the trainer Goddess. 

It makes me feel like I am working half-ass backwards because running for 30 minutes and doing 30 minutes of strength training once a week, is NOT going to make a big difference. Yes, it is better than nothing, but it also could honestly be doing me more harm than good. 

A. It is a stress relief tease. Yes, I get relieved of my stress, and if I am lucky that lasts for about 30 minutes after I get home from the gym. On the less than lucky days, stress comes ramming right back the minute I walk through the back door. 

B. If I only run one day a week, each time I get back on the treadmill, it is honestly more difficult. Making my body work extra hard just to get used to it again, and then by the time I am used to it, I need to stop and go to my training session. 

I know I probably shouldn't complain. My life is hardly as bad as so many people's lives out there. But, you know what? Screw that. I don't have someone else' life. I have my life. I can't change that so I won't apologize because it is better than one person's but worse than another. It is the only real life I know, and right now--it sucks!

I only have about 8 weeks of pregnancy left and I really don't want to drop the ball on being physically ready for this now! Mentally, I am becoming more and more prepared. I started a new birthing book called, Calm Birth, regarding the benefits of meditation in pregnancy and childbirth. So far, I am a fan. I haven't finished it yet or gotten to any of the exercises to practice to prepare for childbirth, but I have a feeling they will be helpful. I'll write a review when I finish and let you know my overall assessment. 

So mentally, I am doing well with my training. Physically though--lately--I have been seriously dropping the ball and NEED that to change. With any luck, the basement project will be as quick as promised when they gave us the estimate and within 2 1/2 weeks not only will I have a new basement and bathroom, but also new doors (front and back) and a new kitchen window!!! (Our tax refunds hard at work...)