The Wise Child (excerpt)
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In My House
I live in a large and sunny house on a tree-lined street in Chicago. I share the house with my husband Patrick, my two daughters Sonia and Sabrina, our dog Miss T, and a steady stream of clients who come to see me in my role as intuitive counselor. Everyday I sit in my office, amid my books and spiritual talismans, and listen to people ask about their deepest dreams and desires. Often I feel that the room is crowded by far more than the presence of me and my client -- entire families seem to stand in the wings because for many people their deepest dreams concern the well being and happiness of those they love.

"How can I help my children to thrive and prosper?" I am often asked. "How can I teach my children to trust themselves so they won't become unhappy or frustrated like I have been? How can I protect them and give them the tools they need to be the best that they are?"

"Children learn by what we do," I tell my clients gently. "If you want your children to thrive as happy and well integrated beings, you must show them how. You must create an environment in your home which honors their fullest flowering. You must recognize that they, like you, are spiritual beings, and as such they have a direct connection to the loving Source of all wisdom. This connection is experienced as a “sixth sense,” their intuition. You must develop and honor their intuition if you are to raise what I call a wise child."

"But Sonia! How do I do that?"

“Step by step,” I answer. “You must awaken in your child a sense of their soulful heritage, and provide them with an atmosphere of spiritual safety and well being in the home. This sense begins by creating that spiritual awareness and atmosphere within yourself. As a parent you set the tone for their intuitive awakening. You are the source from which your children take their cues. An intuitively awakened and spiritually integrated parent who has a strong connection to his or her own inner guidance and well being makes it possible for that same sense to flourish in a child.”

"But Sonia! That sounds impossible to me. How did you learn to be so intuitively connected? How did you come to recognize and embrace so completely the voice of your soul, and then pass this wisdom on to your family?”

People wonder whether I was born with a special gift or whether I had some mystical experience at an early age -- whether it's simply a case of “either you’ve got it or you don't.”

"We're all intuitive because we are all spiritual beings," I tell my clients.

"Intuition is our heart-based connection to our Inner Teacher, the guiding voice of our soul. The difference is that I was brought up knowing this. In my case -- and I believe in many cases where a person has a strong and useful intuition-- the most significant and influential factor in my developing a strong intuition was the mother I had, as well as a family environment that not only allowed for intuition but actually centered on it."

Our family's code word for this inner compass was “vibes” because that's what intuition felt like -- a subtle, vibrating energy that centered in the heart and moved outward to the gut, the stomach, the chest, the throat. Like waves of direction getting our attention as if to say, “Do this,” “Go there,” “Avoid that,” vibes ruled our lives. We navigated by them as birds navigate by sound. Intuitive knowing arrives via energy -- some form of elusive energy, guiding, leading and directing -- and being aware of this energy was the way we were taught to lead our lives.

In my family, the inner voice was not the sixth sense. It was the first sense, the primary sense to focus on. Situations and options were tried on like shoes, and we were asked by our mother, and eventually by ourselves, “How does this feel, energetically? Does it feel right? Does it fit? Does it feel safe, secure, comfortable? Will it support us and provide what we really need?” If we could feel and say “yes,” we were assured that was the safe and correct way to go. If ever we felt “no,” that the vibes were uncomfortable, then we had the freedom to say so, and my mother would respect and even defend our feelings -- no matter what the consequence. Each one of us grew up with a very strong, clear and confident connection to our spiritual essence and our intuitive knowing.

People ask me whether my intuition is a gift, and I have come to answer “yes”. But mine was not the gift of being endowed with an “extra sense.” The gift was having a mother who created a spiritual awareness and an environment for me that encouraged all my senses to develop. In my case and that of my siblings, and even in the case of many other intuitive people I have known, intuition was cultivated by a sense of permission to be more than ordinary -- by a sense that as a spiritual being and a child of the Universe, I could experience and receive extraordinary guidance and support in every way. I am intuitive because I was encouraged at all times to be awake, aware and guided by my soul. I grew up in an environment that treated intuition as normal. Intuition is a gift that we all deserve, that we can all experience and that we can pass along to our own children. It is one that my husband Patrick and I are already passing along to our two daughters.

But what if you, as a child or as an adult and parent, were never given the gift of such an understanding of your spiritual nature or a family environment that supported this truth? Will that prevent you from being able to tap into and pass along this inner wisdom to your children today? Not at all. That’s why I have written this book. As an intuitive and a teacher of intuition for over 28 years, one of the most exciting discoveries I have made is that intuition, the voice of the “Inner Teacher” within us all can be developed at any time, once we learn how. It is waiting for your recognition and attention, and once received, will guide and direct you as it has me. By first nurturing your own intuition, you will be able to do the same for your children.

In my years of teaching intuitive awareness to adults, and in my years as a mother of two intuitive children, I have come to believe that we can all activate an awareness of the soul, and create a spiritual home atmosphere that will nurture and strengthen our most advanced perceptions. Through my own experience I have gained a working understanding of what cultivates this golden inner voice, and it is my greatest desire to share this understanding with you and all families, so that everyone everywhere will connect to the inner peace and creative direction we all have within us.