Who knew that colors could be so important
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am taking a 30 day mental cleanse to help my family life, my business and myself. I have been learning a lot about how my own mind works, and consequently how other people's minds work too.
One of the most beneficial things to come out of this course, however, is my newfound compassion for my four year old daughter, Alaya. She's always been a challenge for me because she's very strong-willed, but clingy at the same time. Teaching her is more challenging that it was teaching her older sister. And now I know why. We're different colors.
My lovely little girl is Yellow. What does that mean? Well, in a nutshell it means that she's an open, but indirect personality. It is harder for her to express herself than it is for me. She's more thoughtful and "mystical" if you will. We can go on a walk, and while I enjoy the scenery, she wants to examine each leaf, stone and twig. She can become entranced by a caterpillar walking across a blade of grass and spend hours watching its progress. And that's fine and good, but when we have an appointment or need to get something accomplished it would drive me crazy.
She's also more sensitive to criticism and the moods of people around her. She needs more time to be cuddled, to be stroked and soothed when something goes wrong. And I can do that, but sometimes the things that go wrong in her mind are complete mysteries to me. She can begin a cryfest for no discernible reason and that leads to frustration on both of our parts.
I, on the other hand, am Blue. I'm happy go lucky, catch on to things quickly, am always rushing to the next adventure and want to get things done so that I can do the fun things in life. So, you can see how her style and my style will cause clashes from time to time. And they have in the past, and I'm sure that we'll have them in them in the future as well. But the great thing is that I now understand who I'm dealing with a lot better than I did before.
So now when we practice reading or working on math, I put her on my lap. I don't rush her when I'm working with her. Time has no meaning to her and the more I try to set time boundaries, the longer everything takes (sigh). I make a concerted effort to actively listen to her long stories and long explanations. I understand now that this kind of attention is necessary for her to grow up healthy both in body and mind. I praise her and make sure that she appreciates how wonderful she really is and how much I appreciate her.
Now her sister, Jade, and I are the same colors, so schoolwork is a breeze (because we both just want to get done with it so that we can do some really fun stuff). So, now I'm teaching her that she needs to be more patient with her sister and appreciate the fact that she is so aware of the things around us. Many times she has opened our eyes to our surroundings and we've been awestruck with the beauty that she's discovered. So, although there are times I'd like to pull my hair out, my little Yellow is a gift designed to help me smell the roses instead of blowing by them in my jet plane.
One of the most beneficial things to come out of this course, however, is my newfound compassion for my four year old daughter, Alaya. She's always been a challenge for me because she's very strong-willed, but clingy at the same time. Teaching her is more challenging that it was teaching her older sister. And now I know why. We're different colors.
My lovely little girl is Yellow. What does that mean? Well, in a nutshell it means that she's an open, but indirect personality. It is harder for her to express herself than it is for me. She's more thoughtful and "mystical" if you will. We can go on a walk, and while I enjoy the scenery, she wants to examine each leaf, stone and twig. She can become entranced by a caterpillar walking across a blade of grass and spend hours watching its progress. And that's fine and good, but when we have an appointment or need to get something accomplished it would drive me crazy.
She's also more sensitive to criticism and the moods of people around her. She needs more time to be cuddled, to be stroked and soothed when something goes wrong. And I can do that, but sometimes the things that go wrong in her mind are complete mysteries to me. She can begin a cryfest for no discernible reason and that leads to frustration on both of our parts.
I, on the other hand, am Blue. I'm happy go lucky, catch on to things quickly, am always rushing to the next adventure and want to get things done so that I can do the fun things in life. So, you can see how her style and my style will cause clashes from time to time. And they have in the past, and I'm sure that we'll have them in them in the future as well. But the great thing is that I now understand who I'm dealing with a lot better than I did before.
So now when we practice reading or working on math, I put her on my lap. I don't rush her when I'm working with her. Time has no meaning to her and the more I try to set time boundaries, the longer everything takes (sigh). I make a concerted effort to actively listen to her long stories and long explanations. I understand now that this kind of attention is necessary for her to grow up healthy both in body and mind. I praise her and make sure that she appreciates how wonderful she really is and how much I appreciate her.
Now her sister, Jade, and I are the same colors, so schoolwork is a breeze (because we both just want to get done with it so that we can do some really fun stuff). So, now I'm teaching her that she needs to be more patient with her sister and appreciate the fact that she is so aware of the things around us. Many times she has opened our eyes to our surroundings and we've been awestruck with the beauty that she's discovered. So, although there are times I'd like to pull my hair out, my little Yellow is a gift designed to help me smell the roses instead of blowing by them in my jet plane.
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