Shhhhh…The Secret…

Today I want to tell you the secret to being not just the best parent to your autistic child…

Or the best parent…PERIOD…

Or a success in life…

Or happiness…

Or just a better person.

It is simple really…

Yes…I firmly believe that you will find what you are looking for.

If you are looking for all the hard/bad/challenging things in a situation…those are what you will find.

If you are bitter, resentful, and distrusting…that is the type of people you will attract.

If all you think about is trouble…it will surely find you.

But it is also true…

If you look for happiness…it is there…even on the darkest day. Yes, you may have to take a deep breath, wait a moment for the clouds of doubt to clear, and perhaps even squint into the distance to find it…but it is there. In the small things. A butterfly. Or this song…

If you look for good people…they are out there too. Ones who accept you just as you are…Crazzy and all…as long as you accept them for who they are in return.

And when you have been up all night AGAIN…when you want to cry…when you loss hope…try…

Water guns at dawn! That always works at this #HomeCrazzyHome.

Because the truth is that even without autism…or epilepsy…or ADHD…or dyslexia…or rheumatoid arthritis…or whatever challenge you face…

Life itself is a roller coaster…

Up and downs…

Curves so fast that you want to be sick…

Gravity beyond your control…

Centrifugal and centripetal forces tossing you about…

Throwing you this way then that…

And all you can do is hold on tight…to those you love…and wait for the ride to end.

So you might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

I always hated roller coasters. I prefer solid, stable ground beneath my feet…but that too is an illusion. We live on a planet that is made up of hot, molten rock covered in a thin crust. Tectonic plates constantly rubbing against one another, shifting and slipping building mountains only to dash them into the sea again.

If that is not enough that ball of rock is hurtling through the deep, dark reaches of space towards a ball of fire…held in place only by those same forces of gravity on that roller coaster. And even that sun is just a tiny bleep…one star out of trillions in a universe so vast our human minds cannot imagine it.

So no…your life is not harder than anyone else’s. And especially not harder than that amazing human being that you have been entrusted with by Fate…god…allah…Odin…Kali…or whoever, whatever, or nothing in which you believe.

Your child lives in world that is brighter, louder, smellier, more intense than anything you can imagine. So when she stays up late…because she cannot turn off her brilliant mind. When he refuses to eat that meal you cooked because ‘it just does not taste right’. When she says that tag hurts or she cannot handle those socks. When he stands on his head or pounds down the stairs. When she tells you that she does not want to leave her room today…

Give her a break!

Unconditional love and acceptance. That is all any of us want or need…You included. And in order to give that to your child…you must first learn to give it to yourself.

I hope you will give it a try sometime. Because once you do…you’ll be amazed at how easy life is. How happy both you and your child will be. No matter what happens in this world. No matter what people say to you or about you.

It is the only thing you need…

To focus on the good…then it will just keep getting better.