Nobody Ever Taught Me THAT In School...

School's back in full gear for many of us. Believe it or not, every morning when I wake up, I feel extremely grateful to have the opportunity to home school my kids. I'm not going to lie, we don't like being rushed in the morning! We're now starting our 5th homeschooling year and I feel like we're really starting to get the hang of it. We know what works for our family, and we're more confident about this alternative way of life.

In anticipation of all the people who will be asking the kids 'What school do you go to?' this year, I think we will just call ourselves L'Académie Francophone Villeneuve-Carver. Sounds legitimate, right? That should at least reduce the number of awkward conversations with cashiers who think homeschooling is only for hillbillies. But hey, this post is not really about homeschooling. It's about the Art of living.

I wish that someone had taught me about the Art of living a happy, fulfilling life when I was a kid! I learned plenty of practical, interesting facts in school and University, but like the majority of us, I had to figure out the  most important questions on my own: What makes us truly happy? What's really important in life? What can we do on a daily basis to create a fulfilling and meaningful life? How do our thoughts matter? Where's the nearest Starbucks? Good, you're still paying attention.

The bottom line is, school didn't teach me that happiness is a choice I make every day. Did it teach you that? Maybe I just went to bad schools. Lol. I just felt like I had to go to school and things were largely out of my control. I never knew that I was creating my reality with my thoughts. I didn't know that my emotions were my inner-compass and that I could wilfully move myself up the vibrational scale of emotions. Nobody ever taught me that I would eventually get what I focused on, even if I was focusing on what I didn't want! If I had known these things, I would probably have felt much more empowered and confident. Thankfully, times have changed and these notions are now becoming more widespread, even in some schools.

Back to homeschooling for a minute. One of the things I love about it is that I can sneak in some of these 'Art of living' notions when challenges come up with the kids - because they always do- especially during school time! When the kids get frustrated or discouraged, I can immediately intervene and help them become more aware of the thought patterns that are creating their negative emotions. This helps them keep things in perspective, and it may prevent really bad habits from eventually forming. I can remind them to focus on what they wish to reinforce in their lives.

Education is super important, and it becomes even more powerful when it's combined with a growing self-awareness. As their teacher, I get to practice teaching mindfully each day, and that's a real gift!

Here are some of our rules at L'Académie Francophone Villeneuve-Carver:

Teachers:
1. Thou shall stop teaching immediately if you are unable to give loving, compassionate energy.
2. Thou shall stop teaching your lesson if there is no sense of joy, play and wonder in it.
3. Thou shall remember: your energy sets the tone. Be in the moment. Breathe.

Students:
1. Happiness is a choice you make every day. You are in control.
2. Your thoughts create your emotions. Choose your thoughts wisely.
3. You get what you focus on, so focus on what you want, not what you don't want!
4. You are the creator of your own reality. Your intentions are powerful.
5. Negative emotions tell you you're out of alignment. Raise your vibration!

Wishing you a wonderfully mindful school year!

Lise Villeneuve
Creator of Conscious Kids -downloadable mindfulness stories & activities
Get your free mindfulness card deck here
www.lisevilleneuve.com

Dear Daddy: Can I Tell You A Secret? -by Emma

Hey Daddy?

Did you know the movie "The Secret" is on Netflix now? I really enjoyed watching it and I even wrote up a summary (yeah, mom made me!). Would you mind checking my spelling? Thanks dad, here goes...

"The Secret" was written and produced by author Rhonda Byrne. She's Australian, just like the cast of H2O! Anyway, Rhonda's father died and she was looking for ways to come out of depression and despair. What she discovered was a secret that certain important people knew about for thousands of years but never wanted to share. This secret is the Law of Attraction. Here are the highlights of the Law of Attraction (in order of appearance in the film):

-Our thoughts actually become things
-A positive thought is 100 times more powerful than a negative thought
-We have about 60 000 thoughts per day, so it's much easier to monitor our feelings instead of every single thought (because our feelings are the result of what we have been thinking)
-When we feel good, we attract good things. When we feel bad, we attract negative things
-Simply shifting our negative feelings can change our whole day
-When we feel bad, we can learn to change that in a few seconds (by listening to music, by thinking about or doing things we love and enjoy)
-The Law of Attraction is a creation process that has three steps. 1) Ask 2) Believe 3) Receive
-Gratitude and visualization are powerful processes that help us get what we want faster
-For a relationship to work, we need to focus on what we like about another person, not what we don't like about them
-Complaining about things just brings us more negative things
-Only WE have the control to create our own happiness (not others)
-Disease cannot live in a body that is in a healthy emotional state
-Putting our focus on disease creates more disease in our body
-We become what we think about
-It's important to focus on what we want, not what we don't want (mom said something about you not wanting to end up in a group of crows? Not sure what she meant)
-Energy flows where attention goes
-Everything in our Universe is made up of energy, including our bodies and our thoughts
-We are the designer of our destiny
-Our purpose is the one we give ourselves
-Our goal is to experience joy every day

That pretty much sums it up! I felt great after watching this documentary because it gave me the feeling that I can do just about anything with my life by focusing my thoughts and noticing how I feel.

Thanks for reading! Mom also said something about you appreciating the "Coles Notes" version of this movie. Now you are all caught up!

Emma (10 years old)

My Epiphany...

This week, I had an epiphany. I've been working on developing this health program for a few months now and the pieces have been coming together quite harmoniously. But just recently, I saw the entire puzzle for the first time! It was like I finished writing the book and finally knew what the title was supposed to be. I realized that "24 weeks to better balance" was sort of like describing all the little pieces of the puzzle, but once I assembled them, the picture before me read "Create The Life You Truly Want".

I spontaneously began to draw a diagram that incorporated all the different parts of my 6 month health program, and my role as a holistic therapist became clearer than ever because I am now able to break everything down into 4 major steps that lead to a goal. I think it's crucial for anyone embarking on such a transformative journey to know exactly where they are headed and why.

Here is a very simplified version of the outline of my health program:

Create The Life You Truly Want:

Step 1. Acknowledge and accept who and where you are right now / Understand how you got there.
Step 2. Clearly define where you want to go / what you truly want, and why.
Step 3. Start to raise your awareness by practising self-care and self-acceptance:

• Become more aware of core limiting beliefs + negative thoughts / change them
• Tune into your emotions and higher self
• Take great care of your body / mind/ spirit (nutrition, exercise, meditation, self-expression)
• Use consistent, regular, positive focus to reach your goals / intentions
• Learn to gravitate towards what brings you joy and peace

Step 4. Start to create the life you truly want from the inside out / Keep redefining new goals and intentions.

These steps may appear simple because they are easy to comprehend, but the challenging part is that in order to be effective, they need to be practised and applied on a regular basis (especially step 3). That's where I come in and crack the whip! Lol! This program is like a self-love and self-care boot camp that helps individuals experience a different perspective of reality. In this quantum perspective, you are the ultimate creator. 

I really love this work and I'm happy to say I'm now offering group coaching starting this September! There are 2 available spots left in a group that starts on September 13. Would you like to be part of this group? Contact me.

Warmly,

Lise

www.lisevilleneuve.com