Do you think knowing how you live your life, since you, more than anyone else, powerfully influence your child, could be useful information for you. You can, by living consciously.

Most people go through life accepting what comes their way. They believe that life just happens. John Lennon spoke for the multitude with his lyric, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." Mighty dis-empowering thought.

Actually, you create your life. You can change your belief system if you want to change it. Simply change your daily living patterns, i.e., your life style.

Creating happiness does not involve a "how-to" system as much as it involves a "wake up and live" a conscious life style. Everything that exists in the world starts as thought. Every invention was first an idea in someone's imagination. Every action you take or fail to take started in your mind as a thought.

Thought creates the world. Thought creates your world. Thought creates your child's world. What you think about events determines how you respond to events. How your child interprets events determines how he responds to them.

Imagine how differently you would experience each day with the knowledge you have control over how you respond to life events. Do you think you could empower your child by teaching him that he controls his world, that life does not happen to him?

What happens happens. Interestingly, in Japan the same word means both crisis and opportunity. Something happens in the world. One person calls it a disaster while another calls it an opportunity.

Will that insight make your life peachy perfect? Hardly. It will, however, make your life livable during any horrendous or spectacular event.

You see, you can change your world and your life with this knowledge. You can look at your past through new eyes and realize that words and behaviors you once interpreted as hurtful were just events and behaviors you chose to interpret as hurtful.

Look at those same events from a different perspective. Knowing that struggle is optional, how can you find new and different meaning--or even no special meaning at all--to those old painful; memories?

You have the power to change your life, even your past. If you don't like the way your world looks then change the way you look at your world!

I guarantee that you will see what you look for.

If you expect a great visit with your old friend then you will experience a great visit with your old friend., However, if you expect a stressful visit with your seemingly old friend then you will get a stressful visit. Simple as that.

You always see what you expect to see.

You choose whether or not to take action. You also choose which action to take. You, with your thoughts, make life hard or easy.

How do you see life? Do you know that struggle is optional? What does your youngster learn from you about experiencing life?

Pay attention to your thoughts. Stop and ask yourself what thoughts ran through your mind when you experienced a certain emotion or reacted a certain way. Simple awareness reveals your unconscious way of life.

The next time you experience the same kind of emotion make a conscious choice to think and act differently. Teach your child to do the same.

Ah! You can take control and live on purpose easily. Life does not simply happen to you. Life happens to you exactly as you choose to experience it. Share the gift of that knowledge with your child.

Moment by moment, choose to savor the adventure of life!