04/07/2017
Many ask me advice about raising children who are highly sensitive and empathic. Here are tips and techniques you might find helpful. I wrote this article for parents or guardians who need guidance in how to discern spirit activity vs a child's imagination and the proper way to encourage them using their God given talents to their best benefit.
Raising Highly Intuitive Children
In the adolescence years, children's hormones are jumping around crazily raising their vibrations and as that 'natural' vibrational frequency moves and adjusts, changes occur which produce encounters of a spiritual nature - as they do for adults as well. Overcome challenges and see your life in a new perspective. Learning to empower yourself with the gift of embracing the true you is not only enlightening but captivates the very spirit within you to blossom into being all that you can be! Your journey here in the physical is brief in retrospect and each new day provides us with the opportunities to open our hearts and minds to new possibilities of how the Divine works through and within us all. Something as simple as knowing how to effectively speak to your children about dream state and its relevance to what is present in their lives, provides them a comfortable outlet to explore and share what they experience. This can be such a confidence booster and at the same time breed a wonderful connection and trust level between parent and child that lasts a lifetime.
The Peaceable Kingdom workshop focuses on specific topics of instruction including recognizing energy fields around you and others, identifying and developing your "psychic senses" and learning to recognize and communicate with spirit using a language of signs and symbols mastering skills needed for balancing the ability to work with both the spiritual and physical parts of ourselves. Other subjects such as past life regression, near death experience, and various forms of intuitive realization are also discussed. The program is designed to provide a comfortable environment where families wanting to develop an increased understanding of their psychic abilities can learn the mechanics of ancient mysticism to reconnect to their soul energy as a soul group. Fostering the spiritual gifts of their children, parents embrace, encourage and cultivate healthy spiritual guidance establishing endless possibilities for successful futures!
Helpful Hints
By being knowledgeable and understanding yourself in psychic awareness and how it is displayed in children, you will be a good guide for your kids. You want to allow their gifts to develop naturally, at a pace that they can cope with and at the same time, you teach them appropriate values - compassion, acceptance and responsibility. Below is a list of basic thoughts in recognizing your child’s spiritual gifts and helping them to manage their senses in a way which is not frightening.
1. It is important to help them understand their ability – That it is real not imaginative and will most likely always be a part of their every day life. It can be helpful, and they can learn to tune in to it when needed (example; listening to the inner voice such as an angel whispering to them). Answer them honestly without fear when they acknowledge and interpret feelings correctly.
2. It helps to sleep with music on. It drowns out the “noise” (vibrations of other spiritual energies they naturally pick up on) and gives their mind something else to listen to. Spirits are active at night and your mind is very receptive when you are going to sleep, it can be like opening the flood gates. (This is where using the exercise aids in setting an intention of protection to their subconscious as they fall asleep)
3. They should learn psychic protection. Walk them through visualization where they imagine them selves in a bubble surrounded by white light not allowing anything to get through. Then have them ask God to dissolve other spirit’s energy into the white light of the Holy Spirit and his angels. Show them the example of how sugar dissolves in water. It’s suggested to have them do this before you go out somewhere crowded also.
4. Pay attention to what your children say and take them seriously – Do not disregard what they are saying because they are young. For instance, if they do not like someone or some situation, there is usually a very valid reason.
5. Knowledge is very important. If you do not know the answers to your child’s questions, buy a book or talk with some one who might know the answer. Let them know that all their questions are good ones. For gifted children, knowledge is power! For night terrors for instance, Carol Bowman’s book Return From Heaven.
6. Be an observant, aware and alert parent - keep a journal of what you notice coming from your children. Record their dreams and thoughts, any unusual experiences and review the journal regularly. This will help you to tune into their symbology and what they may also be receiving from guides/angels and it may help you to figure out how to best help them. Over time you will notice patterns and synergy that will be meaningful and then you can help the kids to understand what is going on for them.
7. Teach them to ground themselves. Keep the environment where they live natural, cozy and comfortable and organized. That may seem like an odd suggestion, but for these extra sensitive kids, an organized home and life that is comforting helps to maintain balance in their energies. Their minds are absorbing a lot more information than ours may be, and they are sensitive to the energy associated with confusion so having things organized around them also helps them to organize the information they are receiving more easily.
8. Sound sleep is also very important to multi-sensory children, but they may not need a lot. What they need is quiet time, a space to chill out and sort out all of the energy they have been exposed to in a day. If they can't sleep, they can read quietly, listen to some good music, draw...any quiet contemplative task will usually enable them to relax and process some energy. I urge parents to insist on at least 10 hours of down time every day for these kids. If they don't want to sleep, then they must learn to meditate and relax in this time, to read, write, draw, sing - yes, sing, that's good for the soul and can help these little ones to focus their minds so they can finally relax. But they must stay in their rooms for this time, no TV or other toys. (I exempt dolls and cuddly things from the no toys rule in this quiet time) Soft music can be very therapeutic such as Steve Halpern’s Chakra Tones. They need this quiet time desperately to recharge, and also to assimilate what they are sensing and feeling in a day. Encouraging them to have “draw time” or “art hour” before bed can be very keen in pulling out of them the stresses of the day and rid them of any excess energy and/or negativity energy they may be housing which would other wise inhibit them from enjoying a restful night’s sleep. Not to mention the plethora of information you can obtain regarding their thoughts as you examine and analyze their drawings.
Exercising Psychic Awareness in Children
Encouraging psychic awareness in children is an enjoyable experience for any parent. You not only engage in instilling strong teaching methods that will have valuable results, but the children in your life will reap the rewards of a higher self esteem, a clear understanding of authority and universal laws, a creative imagination, and a strong sense of cooperation in all things around them. Since most children’s awareness has not been diminished by logical and rational thought patterns, the ability to work with a child’s imagination and creativity is boundless. Developing psychic skills teaches them to relax, to remain centered, to listen intently, and to see and understand what is around them in their world. These skills also show them positive ways of releasing emotions and puts importance on being in touch with their feelings and more importantly, their intuitions. They learn to become more independent and to count on themselves, rather than learn to manipulate adults into gratifying their wants and needs.
One way to start the process is working with your child at bedtime. Repeat relaxation and breathing exercises instead of the usual bedtime story. You take them on an imaginary journey incorporating their vivid thoughts, and developing great sleep patterns. Before you start this exercise each night, remember to make a trek to the bathroom, get a glass of water, and remove any other night time jaunts so there are no interruptions once the process is started. After the first time you will find that they look forward to bed and get the other annoyances out of the way quickly. Children are anxious to spend quality time with their parents and care-givers. They look forward to the bonding and intimacy attached to the private one-on-one time spent together.
Relaxation and Breathing
Once in bed and comfortable (loose pajamas that don’t bind in any way are suggested) tell them to close their eyes and that you will guide them on this great adventure. Start by asking them to wiggle their toes and feet slowly and then relax them. Then gently tighten up the muscles in their legs and then relax the muscles. Ask them to picture what their muscles looks like as they tighten and relax them. Encourage them to get the full experience of what they are doing. You want them to learn to think in pictures as well as cognitive assessment. Now take this exercise and work on all their body parts, stomach, chest, arms, neck, face, and head. Once this is completed (some may even start to fall asleep by now), have them focus on their breathing patterns. Begin by asking them to draw in the deepest breath possible and then gently blow out their breath into the air. You can have them picture blowing up a big balloon, or blowing the air all the way over to a Grandparent’s house for instance. Use your imagination. It doesn’t matter whether they breathe in and out of their noses or mouths, the same affect will be achieved through both. Ease is the key here, so especially for allergy sufferers, do what’s most comfortable. Remember that each child is different, so have separate expectation levels for each child in your home. They will individually find which way of scrunching their muscles and breathing work best for them. Allow them to experiment and discover the patterns best suited for each child. The following exercises do not all have to be done in the same night, especially for children under the age of five. Along with relaxing and breathing, I would encourage only doing one exercise each night. Once your child has learned the relaxation and breathing, you can however do these other lessons during the day. It is not necessary to do these at night. Just have your child relax and take a few deep breathes to center themselves before engaging in any lessons.
Listening Skills
Now as they are relaxing ask them to (while keeping their eyes closed) listen to all the sounds around them. Hear intently all the little and big sounds they hear throughout their bedroom and throughout the house (describe to them the sounds you hear also). After they are finished, now tell them to take a deep breath and exhale again and to now try to listen to only the sounds inside their own body. Coaching them gently, tell them to try not to hear the sounds in the room and the house, but to focus on only hearing the sounds coming from inside their body. Ask them to hear their heartbeat. Teaching them to use their imagination, tell them to picture their heart pumping. Describe to them how the heart works to pump the blood to the rest of their body (use discretion for age groups, too much technical staff and most kids will get bored and frustrated with the process). Remember that children have great imaginations and are already used to playing these kinds of make-believe games. If they cannot recognize any sounds at first, don’t be disappointed. Tell them that everything takes practice and that they are not suppose to hear most of these sounds in a literal sense, but in their “mind’s ear”. Describe to them how they can see, hear, and feel “inside their body” as well as “outside their body”.
Tell them again to push out all the sounds around them in the room and to try to only hear the sounds going on inside them. Be still and pause for a minute or two telling them you’re giving them time too really “hear the sounds”. After you’ve paused, ask them to open their eyes and say: “Did you hear differently than you usually do? Were you able to push out to other sounds and only hear the sounds in your body? Could you hear soft sounds that you normally don’t hear when you are playing with toys?” If they answered yes, ask them to describe the other sounds they heard on the inside of their body. Start to encourage them to speak of sounds they might hear in the head also. Call sounds your child hears inside their body or mind, their own sounds. By referring to these sounds as their own sounds it makes them special. Ask them; “Could you go back and only hear your own sounds?” Again don’t be frustrated for those who may not get it the first time, practice and it will come eventually.
Learning to See Imaginatively
Have your child take a couple of deep inhales and exhales. Have them gaze at a particular object for about one minute, and then close their eyes and have them describe the object to you. See how accurate they can get with their descriptions. Tell them to open their eyes and now have them look around the room slowly. Ask them to take in all that they see. Now again, have them close their eyes and describe to you everything they remember in the room. This exercise trains them to see ‘the big picture’ instead of just one or two objects in the room. They will soon start thinking in ‘the big picture’ as well. You’ll see this in the way they describe new places they visit, or the inside of their school, or their dreams. Which leads us to our next phase…dreaming through fantasy.
Examining Dreams Using Fantasy
As children grow their dreams become more and more vivid and real to them. While struggling to develop and become independent, their fear and anxieties manifest in dreams as a way of expression and release. Young children can usually remember their dreams and need little encouragement to get them to describe in great detail their entire dream. These play like movies in their heads and are fascinating to them. Especially for those experiencing night terrors, examining your child’s dreams can help you to understand their fears better, and can provide a venue for teaching them how to fight battles in their dreams to ward off those pesky monsters and beasts. Confronting a scary creature will make the dream a positive instead of a negative experience. First discuss the dream with your child. Be patient and let them tell you all about the dream. Explain to them that you know a way to confront and deal with this monstrous creature. Then have them breathe deeply and relax. Put a pretend magic circle around them. Tell them this circle will protect them from any creatures or images they are afraid of. Then suggest they try to talk to the dream character and ask it what it wants. Tell them it won’t be scary because they are awake and remind them that they can stop the movie pictures of the dream in their head any time they want. They are in total control of the dream and the creatures. When children have frightening dreams where they are being chased, they wake up before they are caught. They can learn to finish their dreams and get away from whatever is chasing them simply by turning around and asking the thing chasing them; “What do you want?” You can say to your child; “Let’s see if we can make this dream turn out right this time. Remember you are making this movie in your head and they can’t hurt you.” Encourage them to finish the dream so they win and the monster creature loses. Amplify their dream and have them finish it with the monster leaving. Learning to face their fears is a great way of understanding how to overcome obstacles. Later, when in every day ordinary circumstances they are thrown in situations of a fight or flee outcome, they will be more capable of confronting and fighting through their dilemmas instead of running from them.
Intuitive Sensing
This is an exercise where you tap into your child’s subconscious. You will be testing his or her extra sensory perception and intuitive abilities. The more you use these, the more you will be amazed at how often and well this works. When your child is busy playing either alone or with other children, gently walk into the room. Sit or stand in a place comfortable but so their back is facing you. Now begin to send them telepathic thoughts of what it is you would like them to do, such as, “Turn around Timmy” or “Timmy do you know I am standing or sitting behind you watching you?” or “Timmy, ask me what it is that I want.” or “What are you thinking about Timmy?” You’ll be amazed when they turn to you and answer your question. The younger the child is, the more likely they are to hear you telepathically. Put another twist on this exercise by performing it from another room entirely and then telepathically calling your child to come in to the room where you are because you need to tell them something. Simply close your eyes, and then as if speaking out loud, in your mind, ‘call to them.’ Be sure to use the same phrases and inner voice like you would if you were calling to them in your outer voice. Don’t be surprised if they come. They can and do hear you telepathically. When alone with them, you can ask them simple questions telepathically. They will answer you. This is why children react to our emotions even when we, as adults, think we’re hiding our emotions from our child. They sense when we are happy, excited, sad, depressed, confused, etc. We condition them to NOT rely on their sensing capabilities when we deny they are accurate, so they begin to question themselves about their own perceptions. Here’s an example; Mom had a trying day at work and is told she may not get that promotion she was promised because of her employer’s financial constraints. When she picks up Timmy from school she puts on a happy face so as not to worry Timmy about something he has no ability to change or impact. Timmy gets in the car and sees his mother smiling, yet he ‘feels’ an invisible wall between them as they hug and greet each other. Timmy recognizes this hug does not feel right and does not offer him the feeling he is accustomed to when hugging his mom. At first he doesn’t say anything and instead chooses to ‘see what happens next.’ On the drive home, although his mom is forcing a smile and making light conversation, Timmy ‘feels’ the forced words coming from her. He’ll even engage her in conversation but all the while, sensing that something is wrong. Timmy finally works up the courage to ask about what he is feeling just as they are about to pull in the driveway; “Mom, is there something wrong? Are you okay?” Mom’s response unfortunately, crushes any confidence Timmy had in assessing and interpreting his own built-in sensing abilities; “Of course not Timmy, why would you ask that? I’m just tired and it’s been a long day.” While it is understandable that a parent cannot unload all the adult issues on a child, mom could respond in such a way that she acknowledges Timmy’s correct in his assumption yet she doesn’t reveal the gravity of her concern on the news of not getting the promotion. She could instead say; “Yes, I had a challenging day but I will be okay. Some days are like that. But with the night brings tomorrow and another opportunity to have great day.” By acknowledging that Timmy did ‘feel’ correctly, she instills self-assurance and reliance in her son’s ability to correctly ascertain what people are feeling. Imagine how this will help Timmy as he matures into adulthood, to quickly trust what he interprets when interacting with others such as coaches, teachers, other parents, adults, and even child-hood friends. This certainly leads to the development of other skills such as assertiveness and leadership because of the confidence in the ability to understand other’s emotions, actions and reactions.
By recognizing and using their psychic talents as children, they will carry into young adulthood the gifts God gave them and they will use them for their benefit. Instill in them a high sense of self esteem and that it is perfectly normal and okay to use these talents to assist them in accomplishing their tasks and goals. Exercise their mind as well as their body!
The author takes you on a journey of spirituality as she explains how to communicate with spirit. For all those searching for answers this is a must read.
