children Archives - Page 2 of 2

When Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect

Post author:tamara
Post published:October 10, 2012
Post category:ARTICLES authenticity books buddhism children compassion dharma healing mindfulness resilience spirituality

There’s something you and I likely have in common: a familiarity with the well-known children’s book The Little Engine that Could.

I’ll admit it’s a cheerful and uplifting story. We enjoyed it as children and now we read it to our own.

But here’s the thing. The message, ‘If we try, and we try, we’ll eventually reach our goal,’ has not always reflected my reality.

My experience is that sometimes we try and we try, and we end up falling on our face. And so do our kids.

I’ve thought long and hard about the messages we teach our children (and ultimately maintain as our core beliefs as adults). To expect our efforts will always result in consistent success is misleading at best. We’re setting kids up to have unrealistic expectations that life should and will be perfect, and that’s not the real world…

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Yoda Had One Thing Wrong: It’s OK to Try

Post author:tamara
Post published:October 10, 2012
Post category:acceptance ARTICLES authenticity buddhism children compassion failure fear mindfulness peace resilience spirituality

So I know Yoda is a Jedi Master and all that, but he’s got something wrong. One of his most favourite claims — “Do, or do not. There is no ‘try,'” — has a big hole in it.

I get his point: Words have power and the word try carries a defeatist attitude. But he’s suggesting that if you make enough of an effort to achieve a goal, you should be able to reach that goal. And that if you fail, your effort or conviction was lacking.

That certainly hasn’t been my reality. Sometimes I try my best, yet I still experience failure. There are often external factors that are part of the ‘success’ equation. To conclude we are to be blamed for our failures is to be denying ourselves of the acceptance and self-compassion we all deserve. It’s difficult enough for adults to grapple with these issues. Imagine how difficult it is for children.

I want my nieces and nephews to know that if they try to reach a goal, but can’t achieve it, that’s OK. Regardless of whether they win or lose, they are still amazing; their self-worth is not determined by achievement. By learning to simply enjoy the game as they’re playing it, they’ve already won…

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The Joy of Yoga – Interview with Tamara Levitt on her upcoming book and launching a Kickstarter campaign

Post author:tamara
Post published:October 9, 2012
Post category:acceptance authenticity books BUZZ children compassion dharma failure healing mindfulness resilience spirituality

Emma from the Joy of Yoga interviews Tamara on her work and campaign. check out the interview below!

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1069 FM – Crowd Funding Campaigns Give Creatives A Kick Start. (Travis Dolynny from 1069 FM interviews Tamara on her experience launching and preparing for her successful Kickstarter project.)

Post author:tamara
Post published:September 29, 2012
Post category:books BUZZ children compassion dharma empowerment failure fear peace resilience spirituality

A Toronto artist, teacher and author has taken a new avenue to get funding to publish her new book.

Tamara Levitt is the founder of Begin Within, where she creates multimedia content that fosters self-awareness, emotional intelligence and interpersonal development. Her passion for teaching children about compassion and self worth led to her writing a book titled, Happiness Doesn’t Come from Headstands.

Happiness Doesn’t Come from Headstands is about a young girl who has a dream to do a headstand, but she just can’t do it. Her resulting feeling of failure makes her unhappy. The story unfolds to gives to children a positive message that just because you have failed, it doesn’t make you a failure. Levitt says it’s kind of an anti-Little Engine that Could message, “My feeling is that helping kids learn how to deal with failure will allow them to navigate through challenges with much more ease…”

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The Global Patriot supports Happiness Doesn’t Come from Headstands!

Post author:tamara
Post published:September 18, 2012
Post category:books BUZZ children compassion mindfulness peace reviews spirituality

In this age of hyper-achievement, where egos rule and our self-worth is measured only by our “success”, it’s a welcome relief to find a message for children which is focused on self-awareness, self-acceptance and personal resilience. Such is the message within Tamara Levitt’s book, Happiness Doesn’t Come From Headstands.

While you may not be familiar with her, Tamara Levitt is one of those magical souls that brightens a room whenever she walks in, or comes to you via social media. So it’s no surprise that she came up with the idea for this series of children’s books.

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