Throughout the year 5 free priceless gifts from the heart helps you give a gift that is remembered and valued more than anything else. When the gift comes from the heart, it may be purchased or created by the giver. To create a bit of fun, try to solve the riddle, “What gift can you give yourself that becomes a priceless gift for others?”
I hope you enjoy buckets of laughter throughout the year!
Cheri
The Riddle
The Riddle: What gift can you give that becomes a priceless gift for others?
My husband’s most precious gifts are listening, encouragement, and conversation. This is not the answer to the riddle.
A Story as a Hint
When our youngest child turned two, her older sister was old enough to start school. Her older brother went to a half-day school program. Thus, we discussed the choice of me either resuming my career teaching special education or staying home with our 3 preschoolers. Being practical, we calculated the cost of childcare, clothes, insurance, taxes, and additional food expenses. Shocked, we learned that my hourly wage would be reduced to $4.00 an hour, $32.00 a day. This was back when minimum wage was $5.50.
Even though staying home to care for our preschoolers was a priceless gift from the heart, staying home is not the answer to the riddle.
What is the Priceless Gift?
Hint: What is the opposite of stress, meltdowns, and chaos?
After our financial analysis, we discussed the emotional cost of us both working. We recognized that our preschoolers would have to meet our work needs and deal with our attitudes of stress. Was it worth the cost? I wanted to meet the emotional needs of our children. All that additional stress on our family for only $4.00 dollars an hour. No way!
Did you figure out the answer to the riddle? If your answer is your time, that would be a wonderful gift. What gift can you give yourself that becomes a gift for everyone you love? Anyone can received this gift, your friends and loved ones. Okay, one more hint. It is a priceless gift from the heart and often results in buckets of laughter.
The Answer to the Riddle
A home filled with JOY.
Did you catch the hint in the first picture before I shared the riddle? Joy is expressed in numerous ways: laughter, serving, sharing, playing, baking, listening, and so much more. Joy is the attitude behind the actions, the gift.
5 Free Priceless Gifts
Each day, how will you give the gift of joy? As I help clients and their loved ones understand how their child’s behaviors help them cope with vision that blurs, appears to move in addition to sound intolerance, they have cried in relief and oftentimes sorrow. There are answers towards improvements. The very act of reaching out to me and searching for information is a priceless gift. You are seeking to understand your loved one’s needs. That is compassion.
1. Compassion is a Priceless Gift
The gift of understanding and compassion is priceless. Compassion shows you understand a person’s needs and feelings when you offer helpful actions or financial help. Today is Giving Tuesday. Have you thought about how you can give a priceless gift from the heart.
Compassion International is an excellent example of actions taken to empower those experiencing a crisis or poverty. This Giving Tuesday, I challenge you to consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International. On their website, learn how they bring Christmas in a shoebox to children all over the world. You can even build one online.
I helped my children learn about compassion by sponsoring a child through Compassion, adopting grandparents, participating in scouts, helping family members, and much more. Today, they have a desire to help others within their own communities.
2. Empathy is a Priceless Gift
Empathy is the use of words to affirm a person’s feelings without offers of helpful actions or financial help. Learning to use empathic phrases and body language tells the person you are really listening to them. Listening shows you care, a priceless gift.
Throughout the year, I encourage you to learn how to give the priceless gift of empathetic listening. Here are some empathetic phrases that recognize others’ feelings and your feelings. Just remember to let silence follow. Also, try to not overburden them with your feelings. They are most likely already overwhelmed by their emotions. The best connection is listening.
Recognize Speaker’s Feelings
You sound…
Life is so unpredictable.
It is normal to feel…
That sounds exhausting.
It is ok to need…
Nobody understands
Share Your Feelings
I can’t imagine.
Life is sometimes too difficult.
When… happened, I felt …
Sometimes, I need…
For me, trust is essential.
No, but I do identify
While playing with or alongside your loved ones and friends, your words provide you with an opportunity to use empathetic phrases. Yes, you can compete and show empathy. For example, “I know it is a bummer to lose. Thank you for being a good sport.” Also, empathetic words help you share truth. For example, “I hear your frustration. Yelling at me really makes me feel bad.” Or “It is Ok that you are unable to remember. I prefer you let me know that you do not remember. Then, I know what you really need from me.”
Best of all, empathetic words enable you to take care of yourself, advocate for yourself, and express boundaries. For example, Losing your spouse feels overwhelming. Do you need help? If so, ask for help. But remember to also go to a grief group. Others may not know how you are feeling, but they can identify.
3. Encourage Observations Through Purposeful Play for All Ages
My activity booklets help you encourage play that develops visual and auditory skills. The observation tips provide new insights into understanding your loved one’s visual and auditory needs. Best of all, activities help you emotionally connect with your loved one. How? Because you become the follower joining them in play.
Build Relationships Using Moore Auditory Visual Observation Activities Booklet
Moore Auditory Visual Observation Activities Booklet
Moore Auditory Observation Activities Booklet strengthens relationships.
Build a stronger relationship with your loved one as you,
See through activities and
Hear through their answers how their world,
Looks and feels through
Their eyes and ears.
Each activity in the booklets teaches you how to observe and what to observe. Have fun connecting with your loved ones, clients, or students. Acknowledge their hard work and tenacity. If concerns are found, the next step page gives you the opportunity to talk about the ways you can help them.
4. The Moore Auditory-Visual Questionnaire
One way to immediately learn more about your loved one’s behaviors is to register and purchase a Moore Auditory-Visual Questionnaire. Answer questions and follow-up questions with someone you know well.
5. Joy, a Free Priceless Gift from the Heart
It seems that joy is becoming a priceless gift that is hard to find. Now, more than ever we all need joy within our homes. The purposeful observation play activities have given many parents hope and tears of joy. In relief, they finally understood why their very smart child struggled to learn and so much more.
If able, stop and listen with joy.
Look, and lean a bit forward. Smile, nod your head. Have you thought about how much your body language says, “I am listening.”? Turn off the noise, the TV. Then, practice empathetic listening.
When a mess is made by yourself or another, how will you respond?
When we make a mess, we all feel bad inside. Thus, it is important to acknowledge their feelings. For example, “That is a bummer. Would you like help?”
How I Learned the Value of Grace and Joy
There is plenty of stress staying home with preschoolers, children, and teens. Life truly is a journey. Give yourself grace. There are joyful moments of understanding along the way.
Back when I was a young mother searching for answers, I enjoyed the logic and insights within the No Greater Joy magazine. One day, what I read brought lots of joy into our home. The article asked the reader why we expected our little ones and loved ones to know how to respond to our emotions. Why do we expect our children to have self-control that we ourselves lack?
If parents fail to share their feelings in healthy ways, it is completely illogical to expect our little ones, children, and even teens to know how to express their emotional needs. They may even push their feelings down causing them to feel like a stranger in their own home, misunderstood. Wow! It is much healthier to acknowledge a feeling within ourselves rather than push it down until we explode.
A New Activity Booklet, Another Priceless Gifts
My newly released booklet, Encouraging Observations through Purposeful Play, Toddler Visual Activities, is available for purchase!
Developing eye movement skills needed for instinctive movement.
Your toddler’s behaviors and emotions help them express their needs. A list of toddlers’ visual developmental milestones and visual processing skills along with observation tips helps you understand your toddler’s visual strengths and difficulties.
Recognizing visual processing concerns in toddlers is life-changing. When visual processing difficulties remain undiagnosed, researchers found a higher risk of learning difficulties.
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