Alert Circles

     Hello again and thank you for taking a Moment with Mel. Today we are going to talk about Alert Circles. On April 14, there was an earthquake in Southern California. Video from the San Diego Zoo shows that when the ground started shaking, instinctively, the adult elephants surrounded the two young calves in the area to protect them.

     Just as the elephants encircled their young, we have to protect and create safe spaces for our young. Last time we spoke about the importance and significance of pregnancy and the first couple years of life. Today we are going to talk about the Alert Circles we need to put in place so that our children can grow into who God put them on this earth to be. I believe that we all come into this world to fulfill a unique Purpose, but sometimes events happen in our environment that prevent us from walking in that Purpose.

     Truth be told, we might spend more time and energy working to provide for our children’s physical needs than for their emotional needs. In my poem, “Master Peace”, from 51 Revolutions to Me, there is a stanza that says, “Protect me on all sides, Expose me to more, slowly, Make sure you have eyes on me, See where I lean, Don’t let just anyone around me, They can REALLY be disruptive”.

     Two very important books for anyone with or around our young ones are “The Deepest Well” and “Scattered Minds”.

     The primary message of the book, “The Deepest Well”, is that the source of many of society’s problems is exposure to childhood adversity and the solution is reducing the adversity that children experience and enhancing the ability of their caregivers to be buffers.

     The primary message of the book, “Scattered Minds”, is that pregnancy and the first years of life are the brain’s most crucial formative period. Of all environments, the one that most profoundly shapes the structures and circuits of the human brain is the invisible one: the emotional atmosphere in which the child lives during those critical early years. Yes, genetics is a factor but it is not always the primary factor.

     There are big “T” traumas and little “t” traumas. Big “T” trauma occurs when things happen to vulnerable people that should not happen, for example, a child being abused, violence in the family, a bad divorce or the loss of a parent.

  Little “t” traumas are distressing events, often repeated or ongoing that can significantly impact our emotional and psychological well-being. For example, bullying or harassment, emotional neglect, financial instability, difficult life conditions or chronic health issues.

    As we are able to walk in our Divine Purpose, that is when we have the most joy and fulfillment in life. Creation is groaning because some of our children did not or do not have Alert Circles around them.