When we neglect doing what brings us Joy, we find ourselves listless and unhappy. The unhappiness gets louder and louder. That’s when you know whole chunks of Joy are missing.

It’s amazing that many of us walk around with a large chunk of solid Joy missing. Vicki Dello Joio defines it best in her ‘Got Joy’ video on 3/25/2012. She describes it as a limitless spring.

It feels to me like a solid chunk of cheese that I need to keep from feeling empty and lethargic. My solution is, of course, meditation, and the full expression of art in our lives..painting, singing, playing music, dancing…

What are you doing to pump vigorously from your wellspring of Joy?

Help with homework can come in many different forms. When we are speaking of children getting help with their homework, we are usually talking about the parent sitting in to help them or a tutor of some sort helping them out. Then there is also the ‘getting them to even BEGIN and/or COMPLETE doing their homework’ effort that takes place quite a lot.

This a most fun time for parents and children alike. Often there is begging, whining and threatening on the parts of the parents AND the kids! There is no end of avoidance and subterfuge. This is where the creation of my Save Your Breath App for Android comes in. With teens especially, the mere threat of blocking the service to their phones if they don’t comply with tasks (such as homework) is enough to gain full cooperation and then some. Of course, you have your incorrigibles who are ‘rebels without a cause’ but for the most part, it’s a pretty handy item to have around.

Before the App was created and once my Son graduated from high school, I sort of let the CD promotion fall by the wayside. I figured my work was done. I’d helped myself and some other parents out with the CD and I could ‘retire’, so to speak. Then one day a couple of years later, as I was sitting and taking a break from shopping at the mall, I witnessed something that rekindled the desire to help parents out. As I sat there, I witnessed a woman about 5’5" be bullied by her son to pick him up and carry him! He was almost as tall as she was! And do you know what she did? SHE PICKED HIM UP AND CARRIED HIM!!!! I was floored.

Now, I’m not saying that using my CD or App will handle all things in every moment but I am saying that we need to think in terms of TOOLS to help us weather the storms of parenthood. Technological tools, psychological tools, spiritual tools and on and on… We need to bring a certain relaxed brilliance to the task. I endeavor to help you out with that.

How do you bring an element of finesse to child discipline?