Introducing: The Resonant Parenting Project
A new approach to empowering mums and dads raising sensitive, strong-willed kids.
Hello everybody, I hope your 2024 has started well!
It’s been a while since I published a newsletter, so I wanted to offer an update on my new project — and share a very special free gift for readers of The HSP Revolution (read on to find it, and details of the latest Highly Sensitive Person retreat I’m leading with Jules De Vitto in the UK in June!).
Since completing an intense phase of working with a start-up in the U.S., I’ve spent the winter months thinking deeply about my next steps. I’ve felt a clear call to return to my work on conscious parenting, in particular the joys and challenges of parenting our sensitive, strong-willed kids. Here’s a talk I gave on this topic at the HSP Awakening Virtual Summit in September:
A big part of the reason I created The HSP Revolution was to support parents raising the next generation of sensitive kids — as well as the wider community of HSPs — to gain a deeper understanding their sensitivity.
Working with many parents over the past year, I’ve absolutely loved the transformations I’ve witnessed — both in terms of deeper connections with children, and breakthroughs on journeys of self-awareness and growth.
I now want to make the most effective tools, tips and knowledge I’ve identified through my years of working with hundreds of parents, and in writing my books Five Deep Breaths and Happy Parent, Happy Child, available to many more families.
With more than a little sadness, and great gratitude for all the wonderful feedback I’ve received from readers, I’ve therefore decided it’s time to stop writing fresh editions of The HSP Revolution, and focus on my new venture: The Resonant Parenting Project.
What Is “Resonant” Parenting?
Our children are like tuning forks — they pick up on our every emotion, gesture and glance. By learning simple practices for paying more attention to what’s going inside of us, and attuning more deeply with our child, we can establish “resonance” — a dynamic sense of connection that helps previously insurmountable parenting challenges start to disappear.
Resonant Parenting brings together the two great passions that have guided my life — my love of the harmonies I experience while playing the piano and singing; and the joy I find in supporting people to regain the self-awareness, confidence and clarity we all innately possess, but can lose touch with as we suffer life’s setbacks.
You certainly don’t need to be musical to practice Resonant Parenting. You just need to be willing to tune in more deeply to yourself, and your child.
Based on all I’ve learned about attachment, attunement and co-regulation through years of study, and working with families, the practices I share will allow you to turn:
Overwhelm into confidence
Self-doubt into empowerment
Feeling frazzled and drained into joy, ease and flow
Every Tuesday morning, I will be sending a brief edition of the The Resonant Parenting Project with practical tools, tips and research-backed guidance on themes such as:
Finding resonance with our kids
Co-regulating our nervous systems
Meltdowns and intense emotional reactions
Not listening
Power struggles (morning, bedtime)
Technology and screens (how to manage video gaming, smartphones, Youtube, social media)
Navigating the school system
Supporting your child with anger, anxiety, friendship difficulties, bullying, self-esteem, sibling tensions
Life adjustments, transitions, grief and loss
Having our own buttons pushed
Managing our own stress levels and overwhelm
Co-parenting with a narcissistic ex
Parenting as a team
Using parenting as a mirror to our own unhealed wounds, to help us transform
I will write in bite-sized chunks since I appreciate how busy parents are.
I’ll also be sending a monthly video check-in, and details of my online courses, starting with From Overwhelm to Calm: Tools to Help Your Sensitive, Strong-Willed Child Regulate Their Nervous System. (To be notified when the course opens for applicants, please sign up here).
And I love to hear from parents. If this is of interest, I do hope you will remain subscribed (in which case you don’t need to do anything, and will receive the first edition of The Resonant Parenting Project next Tuesday, instead of The HSP Revolution).
If you do not wish to receive updates from The Resonant Parenting Project, I invite you to click on the “unsubscribe” button at the end of this email, or visit your Substack settings page to unsubscribe from there. (For more on how to do this, click here).
What Parents Are Saying About My Work
I thought I’d share a few comments from clients to give a flavour of my work.
Here is what a mum and a dad I work with wrote:
“Our family dynamic is so much more positive. We feel more equipped to handle the ups and downs and are better at keeping our buckets topped up.”
“Our work has made me see my own emotional needs are a priority. I can now give myself the acknowledgment that I need. I have much more confidence in what I’m doing as a parent.”
A mum told me:
“My child is able to see her strengths. She is more relaxed, confident, fun, happy and chatty. She has self-respect and can stand up for herself. She is able to recover from life’s challenges more quickly. The key has been to deeply understand my child and know what she needs from me.”
Another mum said:
“We are appreciating each other and our connection is so much closer. The ripple effect hasn’t just been within my family but I have been able to educate the educators.
“I feel like working with you has been like swimming in the sea and then hitting a patch that’s lit and warmed by the sunlight. You know you can carry on through the cold because you’re heading for another pool of light. I want to let you know how grateful I am that I’ve been able to work with you.
“I have benefited enormously from working with you. I am profoundly grateful for the support you have given me to achieve much better balance and awareness. It’s having real impacts on my mood, health and my relationships.
”You have played a huge part with your knowledge, wisdom and guidance. I owe so much to you and hope you know how much you have impacted our lives.”
A Free Gift for Readers of The HSP Revolution
Part of me is very reluctant to stop writing the The HSP Revolution, which has been a source of great joy for me since we launched in November 2021, and have since published 86 editions — all of which are free to view on the archive.
The feedback I have received has been a huge encouragement to keep going, and — though I’m now focusing on conscious parenting — I will remain committed to supporting HSPs; raising awareness of high sensitivity; continuing to connect with HSP researchers; and working towards the cultural changes needed to support people of all temperaments to thrive.
I really want to thank everyone for reading this newsletter, and as a gift of appreciation, I’d like to offer you a 30-minute audio of empowerment affirmations for HSPs, which I wrote, then recorded in a studio last year.
Many of us have had experiences of not feeling worthy, or struggle to fully own our personal power. These affirmations will help you on your journey of self-acceptance and transformation. I recommend listening to them daily for at least 30 days, so that you really begin to absorb their empowering messages.
The track starts with an eight-minute meditation to help you to connect to yourself, and then the affirmations start at 8 minutes, 37 seconds. I recommend lying down in a quiet place where you won't be disturbed, and wearing headphones to enjoy the relaxing effect of the binaural and theta-induction waveforms.
The Highly Sensitive Person Retreat
June 13-16, 2024
Alongside coach Jules De Vitto, I am excited to be running The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) retreat at the Quadrangle, Kent for a second year. We are delighted to be welcoming back Alan Piatek as a co-facilitator and for breathwork sessions; Josh Silver for conscious dance; and Leon Lewis who will be preparing his delicious, organic, vegan food.
To purchase your tickets, please visit The Highly Sensitive Person retreat website page, scroll to the bottom of the information page and select your chosen option here. We also have payment schemes, so if you would like an instalment plan, please email Jules at info@highlysensitivehumans.com. You can also purchase a retreat ticket for the workshop, if you’d like to organise your own accommodation off site.
As I come to the end of this newsletter, I would like to share ten of the most widely read HSP Revolution newsletters:
The loneliness of the HSP: Why so many highly sensitives can be surrounded by people and still feel alone.
Surviving workplace bullying: Highly Sensitive People are often targets. Here’s how to cope.
On Burnout, Part One: Highly Sensitive People tend to be high performers. We’re also more susceptible to stress.
Glimmers: You’re familiar with your triggers, but do you devote enough time to savouring their opposites?
For HSPS, animals are our teachers: Dogs, cats, horses, and other furry friends can help soothe our nervous systems and learn the art of living in the here and now.
Why music is medicine for HSPs: Cultivating a deeper relationship with sound, tone and rhythm can help manage the daily challenges that come with high sensitivity.
When people aren’t who they seem: It took me years to trust my gut and set healthy boundaries.
Owning your anger as an HSP: Many of us were taught to suppress our anger. By reclaiming our connection with this powerful emotion, we can transform our relationships.
My path to confidence as an HSP: After years of stuffing down my anxiety, I learned that self-worth is an inside job.
As an HSP, let your body be your guide: When planning your social life this year, your nervous system can help you make nourishing choices.
Thank you again for your support,
And I do hope you’ll stay for the first instalment of The Resonant Parenting Project.
Until next week,
