Differently Wired 7-Day Challenge: Day 1
Welcome to Day 1 of the Differently Wired 7-Day Challenge! I’m so glad you’re here!
I know you are super busy and so I’m just going to jump right in. Today’s TILT is to become an expert at breathing. Yes, breathing.
And I’m going to tell you what I mean right now. So…stop what you’re doing, take a deep inhale, hold it in for a count of five, and slowly blow it out through your mouth. Now do it again. Inhale, count to five, slowly exhale. And one last time. In, hold, out.
Okay. Got it? Good. Because that super simple action can be a game-changer.
It was a parent coach I worked with, Margaret Webb, who introduced me to this tool four years ago as a tool to use when I needed to figure out how to handle particularly difficult situations with Asher. I remember at the time, I was thinking like, Yeah, yeah, deep breaths… that doesn’t actually fix anything.
But then I tried it. Like, honestly committed to doing it, no matter how upset or frustrated I was with what was happening right in front of me, and you know what?
It works.
When you can stop before you react to what’s happening with your child and take that deep breath, hold it in, and slowly exhale, it will not only shift your energy, but quite often your child’s right along with you. The bonus? Once you have this tool in your toolkit, you will feel more in control when the crap hits the fan because you have a plan. Plus, it gets easier with practice.
Your Challenge:
Commit to taking a breath, counting to five, and slowly exhaling when you’re in a tough situation with your child at least one time each day. Unless of course you have a day with no difficult situation, in which case, awesome! But, assuming you are taking these breaths, notice how they changed what was happening, both for you and your child.
Oh, and one last thing… to download the Differently-Wired 7 Day Challenge workbook, click on the link below. It’s a PDF workbook you can print out and fill in as you go along.
I can’t possibly explain what a jolt of bright light finding this site and group has been for me! Just knowing that someone else is going through what my family and I are…..and knowing that we’re not crazy and we’re not alone. I read the first chapter of the book and cried my eyes out because that’s ME and that’s Charlotte. I’m terrified that when she starts kindergarten in the fall, no one will be able to see past her outbursts and her sensory quirks and her rigidity to see HER – the little girl who woke up with an anxiety attack at 11 last night and couldn’t calm down until I took her into bed with me and just held her, while she whispered “you’re the best mommy I’ve ever had!” So thank you.
I discovered your book on Amazon and have been up much of the night reading it. Thank you so much for calling attention to a tragically overlooked and often minimized population of exceptional kids/human beings. Your book gives me hope that the biases towards our kids will lessen as awareness grows of their exceptionalism and the gifts they have to offer the world. I feel less alone. So, thank you!
This is awesome. We work on breathing with our kiddo, “smell the roses. Blow out the candles…how many candles do we need to blow out/ is on the cake?” For me, I like using the Fitbit app that give a visual of breathing 🙂
This is awesome. I’m a public primary school teacher.
I’m here to understand families better and learn different techniques to enlighten them for the good of my students.
I’m grateful for your support.
Respect from Istanbul
is the breathing for the parent or also the child ? ifor example do I instruct my child to count to 5 nd hold breath etc etc.