Miso soup
Sushi
Wasabi
Pickled cucumber
Am I Japanese?
And yoghurt.
Or maybe Greek?
Dear child,
I wonder what will be your favorite food?
A lot of literature about pregnancy focuses on what can go wrong. And it’s true that pregnancy is a state that can be riskful, especially the birthing situation. With all this information that we get bombarded with during pregnancy, I do not even dare to say that most pregnancies are after all healthy. I don’t have any empirical evidence, but I still hope that most pregnancies are healthy, strong and without serious complications.
Can anyone enlighten me about what the statistics look like?
If anything goes wrong, it is ofcourse good to be able to read up on that, to form an opinion and ultimately make educated decisions.
But I strongly believe that the words and thoughts we use are largely creating our world, our feelings and our experience. If we focus on words that are scary, we become afraid. If we focus on words that are nurturing and encouraging, we become secure. Hence, I look for the good, light, positive and beautiful when it comes to reading, studying, thinking, practicing, talking, teaching, writing about pregnancy.
I’m also convinced that we pass on our thoughts and feelings to our unborn – and born – children. So, other than keeping my mood up, I hope that I will also give my child a positive start to life this way.
Dear child,
When I was carrying your brother, I read anything about pregnancy that I could get hold of. Now that I carry you, I read less and feel more. This if of course not a sign of lack of interest in you, but an ambition to send you caring, nurturing and welcoming thoughts.
If you in your stressful life had a tool that could instantly make you:
- calm down
- quiet your mind
- relax
- focus
wouldn’t you use it every day? Especially if you were going through the emotional and physical roller coaster of a pregnancy?
Good news this tool is for free. Even better news is you already own it, for the rest of your life: your breath.
This constant companion, your own rhythm. Rocking your body discretely when at rest. Bursting your lungs under physical effort. Tightening and tensing your muscles under stress. It is yours to tame and make the most off.
Just like your breath is affected by how you feel, so can your breath affect your feelings. Notice how you breathe the next time you are stressed. Isn’t your breath shallow? What happens if you take a few longer breaths?
If you calm your breath down, you will also find that your whole system calms down.
Simultaneously, focusing on the breath will take your mind off what is stressful. As the brain can’t think two thoughts at once you will get a nice break from thoughts that are bugging you.
This basic breathing technique of focusing on your breath can be handy in particular for pregnant ladies that are preparing for the unpredictable and potentially stressful situation of giving birth.
Dear child,
As I breathe for the two of us, I do as often as I remember take deeper, fuller, richer breaths. Making sure my blood is filled with oxygen when it reaches you. You will need it to develop your own lungs.