iOS app Android app More  Mark Bertin, M.D.   Finding Calm in
the Chaos: Family and Mindfulness  Posted: 07/02/2012 5:09 pm
One truth of family life is that it is inherently uncertain. We
feel everything is under control one moment and then things
suddenly change around us. We make plans that don't work out
exactly as we pictured. We imagine our future one way, and then
life takes a different path. Sometimes we make assumptions...
and then make more assumptions based on little more than those
tenuous beginnings.  As parents we also have countless habits,
many of which we may not be fully aware of. We may make quick
decisions and then unthinkingly stick with them -- or maybe our
habit is that we never stick with anything. We define ourselves
or our children in some way ('He never works hard') and assume
that can never change. Day-to-day, both the sense of uncertainty
and the influence of our lifelong habits are amplified when we
feel overwhelmed or stressed.  But as parents, we can change and
make family life