Special Needs Parenting: Finding Hope and Possibility With The Mindset of Maybe
Yesterday, Carolyn Greene Dalgliesh, author of the groundbreaking book, The Sensory Child Gets Organized, reviewed my book, The Gift of Maybe. Carolyn beautifully captures one of the most powerful aspects of incorporating Maybe into all of our lives. I just had to share it with all of you!
The journey of special needs parenting can be filled with uncertainty and stress. You can find yourself constantly trapped in a place of regret about decisions / experiences from the past or constant worry about your child’s future. This can leave many of us experiencing daily life with depression or anxiety – lacking any hope about what might come. Of course, there are many external tools to support our child’s journey – specialized therapy, social tools, visual supports – all things that can be an amazing support on our special needs parenting journey.
But what about a tool that changes us from the inside out? What about a tool that changes our internal perspective about our external experience? What about a tool that changes our mindset, gives us a new way to meet the uncertainly of special needs parenting? What about a tool that gives us space to examine the here and now with hope and possibility? Herein lies the power of “THE GIFT OF MAYBE: Finding Hope and Possibility in Uncertain Times” by Allison Carmen.
As one who has always believed that small changes reap big impacts, “THE GIFT OF MAYBE” is the little gift that keeps on giving. This book is a perspective game changer. Allison Carmen, a life coach and business consultant, has created a tool can help you shift your mindset about everything. As someone who is a multi-modality learner, “THE GIFT OF MAYBE” is filled with Taoist stories, real-life client examples, visualization exercises, mini-meditations, and Maybe-mantras. It allows you to experience and then absorb this new reality from many different angles. MAYBE starts from a small place but quickly ripples out to all of life’s experiences. It can work anywhere or anytime an experience or feeling has you trapped in stress or anxiety. “THE GIFT OF MAYBE” teaches us how to be open to life’s possibilities from a place of hope instead of a place of fear.
The Power of MAYBE in my life right now:
MAYBE my child’s current struggle holds a hidden gift – for him and for me.
MAYBE when my child can says “I can’t do it this way anymore”, I can be open to a whole new way that is even better than I imagined.
MAYBE when I ask for parenting help, I’ll get to feel the love and support I have in my life and the love and support for my child.
MAYBE through my child’s challenges, I can begin to accept and understand my own challenges with love and understanding. MAYBE this is his greatest gift to me.
MAYBE I can learn to meet all uncertainty with hope.
MAYBE today is all I need to live fully and joyfully.
Sometimes, our rigid predictions of how life will be for our special needs child (and for us as parents) is the biggest hindrance there is. “THE GIFT OF MAYBE” gives us a new internal mindset for meeting the uncertainty of daily life. It gives us ways to create mental space for new possibilities and leaves us open to new outcomes. “THE GIFT OF MAYBE” is that parenting tool that can change everything because it changes us ~