Denver has been grief struck once again by recent school shootings, attempts and lock downs. 
A recent CNN article states that America has had 288 school shootings since 2009, a statistic unlike any other country in the world.

I have had the pleasure to work with a vast array of populations and ages of people throughout my 30 years. I’ve heard so many stories, a wide scope of diverse experiences from poverty stricken homeless mothers, refugees, gang violence, high risk youth in foster homes/institutions, LGBT, Veterans, to wealthy business owners and middle class of all ages from babies to ninety years of age.

Which brings me to this:

THE PROBLEM

What we are dealing with is not just loose gun laws, but is the repercussion of attachment and acceptance issues.

When we have children killing children, they are holding up a mirror saying “I want to harm myself because my child self is wounded, lonely, angry and scared. I didn’t and haven’t received the nourishment, connection, attachment I need now, and needed as a child.” Such actions are a shout out to be seen and known, no matter the consequence.

As for attachment, we are the only culture that takes the baby away from mother at birth, puts gel in their eyes which impedes vision and attachment to mother. Our corporate medical institutions supported an anti- breast feeding movement to increase sales of formula, which not only effects attachment to mother, but creates imbalance in the micro-biome of the gut that can increase physical and mental dis-ease. The breast milk is so important for the entire health of the child, and the skin to skin connection is vital to the emotional security.

Then we have a diet exacerbated by high sugar processed, genetically modified foods and psychotropic drugs that are regularly prescribed to not only adults but children. What a mother is ingesting, her baby is too. Half of the the gut microbiome of a mother is given to the child. So if there is depletion, the child will be depleted too. And the gut is the second brain, and affects the health of the entire body, physically, mentally and emotionally.

We are also the only culture that puts our babies in another room to sleep, with methods of sleep training that support the baby to cry itself to slumber. Further creating non-attachment from mother and father, feeding feelings of insecurity. I see these effects in age ranges from 14-80 year old clients every week. All craving a closer connection with parents who were equally wounded, passing on ancestral wounds.

Secondly, we are a culture that wants to conform, look and hide differences away. Homelessness, disability, homosexuality is uncomfortable and an “embarrassment”. Meanwhile, ethnic differences are unwelcome. All equates and breeds non-acceptance and lack of compassion and connection to all beings- human, animal, mineral and plant.

Thirdly, placing emphasis on screens at an early age rather than the importance of community, creativity, imagination and play in nature is stripping the child of vital connection and healthy growth. Screen time promotes dissociation and suppresses imagination and creativity. Media breeds a corporate televised message that condones violence, pornography and labeling, that creates anxiety, confusion and of course more trauma. Then add the effects of a colluded education system that has lost touch with the support of teachers, and the true heart, wisdom and imagination of the child; you have children who feel alone, anxious, angry and hopeless and LOST.

WHERE DO WE BEGIN?

It starts with each one of us learning to Re-mother ourselves, so we can nurture the present world around us.

Moving forward often means revisiting the past. What works, what doesn’t? What needs to be forgiven, unraveled and let go of?

We have to learn how to “carry your own cross”, and our children need us as mentors to exemplify that very action. How to forgive, listen, be honest, open, accountable, accepting of all, and compassionate in the midst of all our uncomfortableness. Not looking away and hiding from the pain we hold within and that which exist in the world, but mirroring to our children the love and bravery we wish to see and experience in our familial unit, community and the world.

It’s time to put away the wine, the anxiety and depression meds, the marijuana, or whatever your vice may be, and really start to feel.

It’s time to sit with the uncomfortableness and walk through the portals of your grief, that which you fear to feel, and move through the scars and limitations. You can’t escape, the only way out is through. To shift reality, it takes each and every one of us to learn how to glide like the swan through the shifting tides of our life, being a healthy and trusting example to all those in the coming generations.

TRIGGERED? I send you love and a message that whatever triggers you, is a sign that there is “mothering” to do, healing to be had.

If you are ready to breathe love into those places, I’m hear to help.

LOVE+TRUTH+ MAGIC,

Kari