Title: The Seeds of Love, Growing Mindful Relationships- Author: Jerry Braza
Basic Overview
Most mothers I know desire a home filled with love. However, as mothers, we don’t always feel lov-ing. Reading The Seeds of Love, Growing Mindful Relationships reminded me that focused effort is required to develop the kind of family relationships that we, as deliberate mothers, hope for.
Jerry Braza uses the analogy of a garden, as well as wisdom from many different beliefs and cultures, to teach us how to cultivate goodness in our own minds. By doing so we create optimal conditions for developing “mindful relationships” with those we love.
Parts I Liked Best
From the Talmud to Mother Teresa, this book shares wisdom from a variety of beliefs and people, which can often be applied to motherhood. For example, the following quote reminds me of the many great Power of Moms articles related to “Mommy is a Person.”
“Sometimes it is easier to share loving kindness with others than to remember to include ourselves in the process. Many of us grew up with the admonition that we must put others first, sometimes at the expense of loving ourselves. How is it possible to give to others what we have not nurtured in ourselves?”
This next quote also resonated with me as a mother:
“If we learn to mindfully arrange our lives so that positive seeds are touched many times each day, we will optimize our well-being and the quality of the relationships we have with those we love. “
On reading this I immediately thought of the Power of Moms article, “The Nine Minutes that have the Greatest Impact,” as well as the entire Mind Organization for Moms program. Both encourage us to “arrange our lives” to allow for those meaningful moments with our children.
How This Book Made an Impact in My Life, Especially As a Mother
Seeds of Love caused me to reflect upon the figurative seeds I am watering in my children. Am I watering seeds of negativity or of happiness? Do they know how much I love them? Do I allow them to feel peace in their lives about who they are and who they can become? Braza writes, “Every time we recognize a child’s positive behavior, that seed becomes stronger in their mind and forms deep roots in the soil of the store consciousness.” I now have a deepened desire to recognize and verbalize the positive behaviors I see in my children each day.
I also realized the need to teach my children how to “unearth” the seeds of anger, fear, doubt, and jealousy. In other words, I realized that I can teach them coping skills. Jerry Braza shares ideas on meditation, what to do when jealous feelings arise, how we can deal with anger, and on showing more gratitude for what we have. These are “weeds” we all have to deal with.
As mothers, we have a humbling responsibility to become Master Gardeners. This means finding the good within ourselves first. Then, as we seek to cultivate all that is good in our families, we will learn to “nurture and water the proper seeds.” In turn, our children will grow into the kind of people who are capable of nurturing seeds of love in others; something our society desperately needs.
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Andrea, Thanks for your wonderful review of my book! I have found the practice of watering the beautiful seeds and transforming the challenges in the garden of our personal lives and especially in our families is at the heart of true love. As you know, “what we nurture in ourselves and others is what we / they become.”
Jerry Braza, Author of Seeds of Love
Jerry, Thank you for reading the review and for visiting the site! I hope others pick up a copy of Seeds of Love and feel recommitted to strengthening their family relationships just as I have.
Great comments Andrea!!!!