Not Just Another Sleep Counsultant

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**Today is Truth and Reconciliation Day**
Land Acknowledgement is lip service until we speak, and ACT
Begin with listening to the stories of survivors

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**_this woman wears red_**
*by Maria E Andrusiak*

Today the trail called my feet
I threw off my shoes and let the earth between my toes

The sun tore my back, orange streaks of burn down my spine
my hand tired from climbing
But when I hit the trail, my feet felt the earth
and the soil took me there
the warm, wrapped in cool
when I tucked my toes and gripped the earth

This woman wears red
and strips off the dress
girded her loins with the torn fabric
and binds her breasts

This woman shoulders her bow
and her quiver of words
and asks forgiveness for her feet
removed from the soil she was enslaved
to the soil she stole

Colonizer, and squaw
I root my feet in the only thing I know

The earth calls my toes
and the Dawson trail pushes me on

I trust it to take me across the island
to take me where I need to go
if I rise up the warrior
and defend them who walk beside

Give me the earth, the black soil, the rock, and the birth

Plant in me the blood flow of this land, this seed

Let it burst forth in words
that heal me, as much as they heal you when I say them

Let me be a storekeeper
the words stripped bare of the oil
that made me a storyteller

Let me give my blood, my bone, my breast

Let me spill my milk upon the earth
and her milk upon the sky
and let the soil take me where I need to go

I feel the creeping cold in my hands
the dull numb in my toes
I feel the wounds crawl up my legs
bandaged, weeping

I feel my spine fall, my blood pool, my heart clot

But I will not stop until the earth seizes the last cell
and I become the humus you walk upon

© Maria E Andrusiak
July 7, 2002
*Feel free to share with attribution.*
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Do you need to go to the dentist?

Go! And get paid. This is actually legit. I got a gift card when I found my new sensory dentist!

http://rewards.opencare.com/puOVG

Please. Go!

Maria just treated you to $125. Book a new dentist and get $125 after your visit. Opencare makes finding and booking a dentist effortless by providing helpful patient reviews, detailed dentist profiles, and seamless online booking.

For ALL Mothers, Feeding Fathers, Nothers. If a child left your arms but not your heart, you ARE a parent forever.

International Bereaved Mother's Day is Sunday May 5th.
A special day to honour and celebrate mums who hold their child/children in their hearts rather than their arms ❤️

So much this. I would fall apart if you did this to me!

As adults, we are actually afforded a whole lot more choice than children.

We have more autonomy over our lives.
We get to decide.
We get to accommodate.
We get to choose when, with who, and for how long.
We get to leave when it’s too much.

We often hear people say that we need to stop accommodating our neurodivergent kids because they need to learn to survive in the ‘real world’.

I disagree.

It doesn’t make sense to be cruel to our kids so they get used to cruelty.
They should never have to get used to that. They should never think it’s normal and acceptable.

It doesn’t make sense to teach our neurodivergent kids that their natural existence is unacceptable or problematic. We deserve to exist authentically and know that our neurodivergent brains are not inferior to neurotypical ones.

Rather than crushing us into a neurotypical box (which does not work and is traumatising), help us learn the stuff that we actually need to learn:

🌱 Listening to our bodies
🌱 Understanding our sensory needs
🌱 Working out strategies to help with dysregulation
🌱 Understanding our learning style
🌱 Knowing who our safe people are
🌱 Drawing boundaries
🌱 Knowing what accommodations to ask for
🌱 Knowing how to ask for them
🌱 Standing up for ourselves

Childhood is the time to learn and practice these skills, so by the time we’re adults, we’re good at them.

Otherwise we arrive at adulthood not having a clue.

So many of us have lived it.
It’s not fun.

Time to change it for our ND kids.

Yes?

Em 🌈

You need to go!

"The Truth About Parenting" - FREE Conference! Free Conference - Mindful Parenting and Emotional Wellness - November 10-14