Be Like the Lotus Flower in Your Homeschool

Episode 73

Today, on the Art of Homeschooling Podcast, I invite you to be like the lotus flower in your homeschool ~ untouched by the mud and the muck and the mess!

Because let’s be real for a moment. Parenting and homeschooling can challenge us to our core. And it’s often messy!

Messy but also filled with beauty and goodness. Especially if we can get quiet enough, for just a moment, to tune in to our inner selves, to reflect, and to be present.

This kind of mindfulness takes practice. Daily practice.

This daily practice ~ inner work, mindfulness, growth mindset…whatever you want to call it ~ helps us to get quiet long enough to connect with our deepest truest selves.

In the episode, I share with you three practices to help you be like the lotus flower in your homeschool. You’ll find highlights and links here in the show notes.

Dwelling in the Muck

When I was homeschooling my young children (they’re all 3 grown now!!!), sometimes I’d dwell in the muck of self-criticism and self-doubt for days on end.

Whenever my homeschool plans would get derailed, not only would I struggle to accept the situation in that moment, but I would also suffer from guilt, doubt, and upset afterwards. Even to this day, it can resurface.

This is known as “secondary suffering.” It’s that tendency to engage in negative self-evaluation that results in feelings of worthlessness and guilt when our expectations of ourselves aren’t met, or resentment when we fall short or our plans don’t go as expected.

And it’s this secondary suffering that actually causes most of our pain. More so even than the original challenging situation!

Does this happen to you, too?

The daily practice of inner work has made it possible for me pick myself back up pretty quickly nowadays, when I find myself dwelling in the muck.

It’s this daily practice that has helped me to soften, feel a bit more relaxed and at ease with myself, even in challenging situations.

Be Like the Lotus Flower

The late spiritual leader and activist Thich Nhat Hanh said, “No mud, no lotus.”

I love the analogy of the lotus flower ~ because the lotus flower dwells IN the mud. But it’s unaffected BY the mud. The flower transcends the muck and finds a way to express itself in a beautiful manner.

The lotus flower shows us in a simple and beautiful way that life is messy but we can rise above the mess.

And let’s also consider the purpose and necessity of the mud.

We actually need the mud! Yes, life is messy. The world is a messy place. And we are only human.

For some reason that we may never know or understand, we need to experience the muck and the mud and the mess. In fact, the only way we can express ourselves beautifully and to experience growth is to be IN the mud. So let’s get comfortable with that mud!!!

3 Ways to be Like the Lotus Flower in Your Homeschool

I want to share with you three practices that can help you transform your beliefs about yourself, your parenting, and your homeschool so you can get more and more comfortable with the mud.

Self-Compassion: We can find ways to accept ourselves and our circumstances no matter what they are. Instead of putting ourselves last, we can learn to take good care of ourselves.
Self-Talk: We can look below the surface to truly understand the soul message underneath our circumstances and reactions so we can guide our thoughts and self-talk to be more useful and encouraging.
Self-Preservation: Learning to set and hold boundaries with love, to create and hold emotional space for our family without losing ourselves, and to ignite our intuition and stop doubting ourselves can help us to preserve our sense of self.

Whether it’s through yoga, meditation, singing, quiet walks alone, or poetry, I invite you to return to yourself again and again and again.

So you can let go of the secondary suffering and be like the lotus flower ~ untouched by the mud!

Inner Work

Inner work changed my parenting and homeschooling journey. Once I started practicing inner work every day, I was able to become less reactive and more present in each moment.

Inner work is a way to make space for yourself, to take care of yourself, to rediscover your inner spark. So you can show up as YOU and find joy and wonder in your homeschooling life.

That’s why, every spring, I take homeschool parents on an Inner Work Journey. To create a sanctuary for ourselves and practice going inward, exploring our inner landscapes.

We gather online for 3 weeks to explore how we can create acceptance and possibility within ourselves. And we do this by focusing on self-compassion, self-talk, and self-preservation, together in community.

I want you to remember this my friend: We’re all on a journey! And part of that journey is finding ways to bloom where we are planted, rising above the muck.

“The lotus flower blooms most beautifully from the deepest and thickest mud.”
~ Buddhist Proverb

Instead of trying to get rid of the mud, let’s find ways through inner work to get more comfortable dwelling there.💜

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