S08|24 - Creating Connection and Support in Our Homes

Language matters- are we creating inclusive spaces in our homes, schools and communities? Or are we pushing away those who need accommodations the most? We can listen to our children, and to our own inner wisdom, and figure out what our kids truly need and help them to feel more connected and included. 

Join Siris Raquel Rivas-Verdejo and I as we talk all about how to advocate for our families and help our children find their unique gifts. Siris is the owner of Empowering Light Language LLC and works with busy individuals and families virtually to improve their communication and self-care facilitated by a greater connection with their bodies and powered by a greater awareness of how their language impacts their lives. 

On today’s episode you’ll hear: 

• How children’s behaviour is communication and how we can figure out what our kids are really saying to us.
• How to create inclusivity at home and school through connection. 
• Creating a healthy environment where all children feel thought of, accepted and wanted. 
• Working with our children’s strengths and interests to help them see their unique magic and create connection within the entire family
• How to tune into our “yes” and “no” and help our kids do the same (ie. what is your body telling you?) 

To Connect with Siris Raquel Rivas-Verdejo:
Website: empoweringlightlanguage.com
Email: [email protected]
Podcast: https://bit.ly/CaDFwSpodcast
IG: @empoweringlightlanguage

---

Join the re-parenting movement, at my next retreat, The Inward Journey: www.coachcrystal.ca/the-retreat

Parent School: Discover your own unique path, with confidence… raising emotionally intelligent children that leave your home knowing that you truly, deeply care for them… that you aways have, and you always will. Isn’t that we all want deep down? That is my goal for me, and for you… and for the future generation for children we are raising. To be seen. To be heard. To be valued. To feel loved. To feel supported. To feel known. To welcome them to be themselves- fully and completely. That is The Work. I am here for it. Welcome. 

Join me for the LAST LIVE round of Parent School:

• shame resiliency: how to feel shame and move through it, what triggers us and why, and how to move through heaviness and use it for growth. 
• emotional regulation: what co-regulation is and how to support our children from our energy- not our words (not scripts and mantras, this work is much deeper than that), how to support ourselves and our kids through big emotions.
• the power of our thoughts and beliefs: how to separate who we are from what we think, how to create the exact relationship we want through the power of our mind 
• connection-based parenting: why it’s the way of the future, how to parent in a relationship-first manner, developing deep and lasting connections that last a lifetime.
• 6 modules covering all these topics, and more. 2 group coaching calls to get support in your individual family situations. (add-on available for your partner to join). 

Find all the information HERE.
Contact me via email: [email protected]
Audio/text message me on Voxer HERE.

 

 Episode Transcript

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Hi, I'm Crystal The Parenting Coach. Parenting is the thing that some of us just expected to know how to do. It's not like other areas of your life where you go to school and get taught, get on the job training, or have mentors to help you, but now you can get that help here.

I believe that your relationship with your children is one of the most important aspects of your life, and the best way that you can make a positive impact on the world and on the future. I've made parental relationships my life study; and I use life coaching tools, emotional wellness tools, and connection-based parenting to build amazing relationships between parents and their children.

If you want an even better relationship with your child, this podcast will help you. Take my Parenting Quiz, the link is in the show notes. Once we know what your parenting style is, we will send some tips tailored to you and a roadmap to help you get the most out of my podcast.

 

Creating Connection and Support in Our Homes

 

Language matters; are we creating inclusive spaces in our homes, schools, and communities? Are we pushing away those who need accommodations the most? We can listen to our children and to our own inner wisdom, and figure out what our kids truly need and help them to feel more connected and included. 

Join this conversation with my friend Siris – who is the owner of Empowering Light Language LLC – who works with busy individuals and families virtually to improve their communication and self-care, facilitated by a greater connection with their bodies, empowered by a greater awareness of how their language impacts their lives. She is very well-educated; you'll hear all about her in just a minute.

And on today's episode, you're going to hear how children's behavior is actually communication to us and how we can figure out what our kids are really saying. We also talk about how to create inclusivity at home and school through connection, and how we can all get on the same page as a family to create that connection within our home. We also talk about working with our children's strengths and interests to help them see their own unique magic and create that connection with a family. We talk about tuning into our yes and our no, and helping our kids do the same. This was my favorite part of the episode. i.e. what is your body telling you?

Hello everyone. It is lovely to be with you here today on The Parenting Coach Podcast. Again, I have an amazing interview with another amazing expert that I-- I love to bring in experts that I actually want to know more about. I'm like, 'Okay, tell me more about what you do.' And like, 'I think this will be supportive for me.' So, hopefully, it is just as supportive for you listeners today as well.

 

What Siris Raquel does and how she got started

Crystal The Parenting Coach: So, I have my friend, Siris, on the podcast today. And do you want to just introduce yourself, and tell everyone a little bit about you and what you do?

 

Siris Raquel: Yeah. Hi. Yes, I'm Siris Raquel Rivas-Verdejo; and my name might imply, as you might suspect, that I speak Spanish and English. So, my first language was Spanish. I was born in Puerto Rico and my dad is Dominican, so I'm half Dominican and half Puerto Rican. And I was born in Puerto Rico, but then was raised in the Chicagoland area – so, very much have like Midwest vibes. 

And now I live in the Charlotte, North Carolina area – after having about a five-year stint in Savannah, Georgia. So, I've been hopping around quite a bit, but really love Charlotte area right now. 

And my business Empowering Light Language has been around-- I've been a business owner now for, gosh, I think it's 10, 20 years – I don't know, 10, 15 years, yeah. The pandemic has sort of skewed my sense of time. 

But I work with individuals and families around communication and self-care; how our communication is one of the greatest forms of self-care that we can choose, and how that actually changes our mindset in how we either create lives that work for us and are really lit up about, or the ones that kind of our language can sway us away from and take us away from.

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Oh, I love that. This sounds so good. And I feel like oftentimes when you're talking to people about relationships, whether it's with their kids or with their partner or at work or whatever, communication is one of the number one things that gets brought up. Like, 'I need to communicate more effectively,' or 'I don't really know, you know, how to speak about this thing that's on my heart.' 

So, I love that that is a topic we're going to talk about today. I'd love to know, first of all, how did you get into this work? Were you just like, I'm really good at communicating and so I'm going to share this message with the world? Or how did that happen?

 

Siris Raquel: I definitely came out screaming and talking like my family, when I said I was going to be a Speech Language Pathologist, they were like, 'Oh, of course you are, yeah, that does--' 

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: That makes sense. Yeah. 

 

Siris Raquel: But then the other reason why, was because all of my family – on my mom's side – all of them stuttered. So, I was around that, like people stuttering and figuring out strategies of how to do that, especially in a generation where they didn't really have Speech Language Therapy in Puerto Rico and access to it, so you kind of just had to make your own way.

And then my sister had very, very severe stuttering, so we had speech therapy for her – but she also has spina bifida, which is a congenital disorder, so she also had physical therapy and occupational therapy. And then my brother had a diaphragmatic hernia; he was born with that and he was-- he's hard of hearing, so he has a bilateral sensory neural hearing loss. So, he needed speech therapy to advocate for himself, to learn how to pronounce things better. He speaks very, very clearly, given how profound his hearing loss is; everyone comments on it, he had a really great speech therapist. So, this has been my life since I was like two years old. And I have cousins that have autism. 

You know, it's just been-- It's been me marinating in these energies for as long as I can remember. So, when I work with families and kids, I think of them as my family. I'm very personally invested. I don't take for granted that they're opening up their homes and their lives and their quirks to me. When I'm advocating for them and when I'm supporting them, I'm thinking about what my siblings received, how they were treated, how they-- the things that worked, and the things that were very dishonoring of them and really disrespectful.

And making sure that the parents know their rights because a lot of them know some, but maybe not all of their rights and what they can ask for. And then also just how they can learn how to support them in the home because if they have any kind of early intervention services, they miss that family approach when the kids go into schools a lot of times, unless they're doing homeschooling. 

And that's where I'm come in there and be like…okay, this is what they mean, what they're doing at school. And then, how can you do the same stuff in what you need for your family routines?

 

How do you know if a child needs a Speech Therapist

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Okay. I love that. How would somebody know if they need your services? Is it like-- Because I love that you talk about communication and all of that, and I have some family members with dyslexia, so I'm super interested in learning more about this. But is it usually you work with people with stutters., what else kind of is there to kind of look for?

 

Siris Raquel: A lot of it is very, not to be vague, but I really, especially being bilingual, a lot of times people come to me because they want someone that will honor and respect their culture. And so, since I'm a specialist in multicultural and multi-linguistic populations, they usually were like, 'Oh great, I don't feel like I have to put my culture aside for you, you get the importance of that. And I have these concerns around how my child's communicating, how they're connecting, how they're creating their lives, how I am advocating for them or how they are learning,' because I'm a Learning-Behavioral Specialist, Feeding Therapist.' 

So, sometimes any of those things, for some parents, it's very urgent – especially when it's feeding because a lot of times, that's life or death. Like they're not getting the nutritional variety that they need or even enough caloric intake; and they come in very concerned and they want to make sure that they're seen as the expert that they are. They're seen as someone that is of value as part of a team and not just railroaded in the midst of like whatever therapist, teacher, educator's agenda might be. 

And then also seeing their child as a whole person and seeing them as a gift instead of like something that needs to be fixed or something that's a problem. Like what unfortunately my siblings got and what my family received, we were told a lot of times, both implicitly and explicitly, that the world would be a better place without them in it…be it, the world would be better if they would just shut up already and became monolingual instead of bilingual, if they just were in a corner and didn't have to deal with all these different variety of needs that they had.

And my sister had learning challenges. She had fine motor challenges, so she needed the OT for that. My brother, you know, needing to have an interpreter in the classroom was like, 'Oh, this is intrusive to the other kids, these types of things. How is it-- You know, it's not fair that they had these accommodations and these other kids don't.' 

The language and the things around this have changed in-- You know, now they're in their 30s and 40s, right? And yet, there's still a lot more to go. There's a lot more possible.

And so, most of the time, it's parents that come to me knowing more is possible; and they're not sure how to ask for it, how to approach it, how they can support what they know is possible in the home, in whatever area of the child's development they have concerns in.

And especially if there's more than one child, it's like, I'm tired of going to multiple appointments. Can I have somebody that will work with the whole family? Because I'm already kind of burnt out, I'm already overwhelmed. I'm already in the car and driving from this place and this place all the time. Can it be something where it's a one-contact person that will disseminate and help me out with all these different things in a way that doesn't seem like another extra thing, like that gets embedded in the routines. That’s why I love--

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: I love that. I feel like-- I remember one of my siblings talking about their kids going to these different therapies; and it was like, this day, this therapy…and this day, this therapy…and this day, this therapy. And so overwhelming. 

I love that you help with all of those things…that you're like a Behavior Specialist, but then also Feeding and Language and Communication. I have only a little experience with the feeding stuff, but I do remember one of my kids was like…failure to thrive, having a really hard time. They came over and helped me with like feeding, breastfeeding, food, all the different things – like helping them learn to like suck in different ways or whatever. So, I have like a tiny little, I guess, experience with that. 

But the experience that I have more in is, I guess, children learning, not necessarily-- I guess, communication in behaviorally. Like, how do I communicate what's happening inside of me, for sure? But also, just really struggling to learn to read, learn to speak what they're reading out loud – even once they have learned how to do it in their mind, speaking it out. 

And my kiddos have gotten pretty good at communication, but I think there's also, I have one who struggles with some social anxiety. And so, even though communicates well at home, maybe not necessarily communicating well with people their age or out at the playground or whatever. 

 

Working with our children's strengths and interests to help them see their own unique magic and create that connection with a family

Crystal The Parenting Coach: So, if there's anybody that's struggling with all of these things that you do, I guess, what's kind of the first step? Like, how do you help people right off the bat?

 

Siris Raquel: Well, I invite them to have a consultation with me, where I figure out; what are they looking to have more clarity and ease with…what have they already tried – what has worked, what hasn't worked? And then they walk away right away with some tools they can immediately implement. And then we discuss if they want additional support, coaching programs, things like that. 

Every family's different. Coaching isn't for everybody and different-- I don't have like a one size fits all coaching program. My coaching program that I have is called Being a Different Possibility. And it's really about-- It's very personalized. So, it's very tailored to what the family dynamic is. 

I ask them to complete a questionnaire where I look at every family member, what their-- what their interests are, what their strengths are. Because when you're looking at the family, you're looking at-- there's different communication style with everybody. There's different love languages with everyone. There's different strengths. And there's different interests. 

And so, I take that all into account. Even if they would like me to focus my time on maybe one, two or three family members, I still am communicating and can keeping in mind that they're interacting with these other people; there's this constellation that's happening within this family dynamic.

 

Tuning into our yes and our no and helping our kids do the same

Siris Raquel: And so, I create a personalized plan after I take in this information, if they would like to move forward after that. And it really based on them tapping into themselves as an expert, like, what do you know? And what is your body telling you? So, something that makes it a little bit different…be it, when I'm working with a family or an individual, I actually use a lot of energetic tools as well where they actually tap into their bodies knowing. And one of the first things I teach them is how to get their bodies' yes and no, the adults or the caregivers. 

And then, I show them how to do that with the kids so that the kids have their yes and no when they're interacting with friends, when they're picking out their clothes, when they're deciding what to eat…how much of it to eat, if they're going to go and add that extracurricular activity or not. 

All of these yes and no helps because what's a yes for you is what's true for you. What's going to light you up? What's going to be sustainable and enjoyable? And that lead to the burnout. 

And what's a no is the stuff that makes it really heavy and sluggish and ugh. So, they can even use this with testing, right? What's the answer? Is it this one, if it's multiple choice? Yeah. Which is the Yes? And their body can tell them the answers, so they actually can be a lot faster at accessing what they know instead of having to second-guess and doubt, and be like, 'Okay, let me double-check.' It's like they go through things a lot faster. So, I think between that and just that personalized approach, I'm pretty different out here.

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Hey, this is very different, and we have to pause here because this is like my jam. Like I really believe that we're all our own experts in life, and that we tap out so much of that. 

 

Siris Raquel: Yeah.

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: We're just like, 'They're smarter. They have their PhD, they have-- they're the specialists. So, let me listen to them.' 

And so many times, I especially feel this way in Behavioral Therapy, we listen to somebody else that we think knows better than we do – even though our insides are screaming like…that is not okay, that is not an okay way to treat my child or a human, but we feel like we have to because that's who the government sent over or that's who our support system is or whatever. 

So, I love that that's what you're pinpointing. And I also-- I just recently posted this on Instagram, like, our goal is just to believe our children, to trust our children…to know that they're their own experts also. 

And like they know when they need to pee. They know when they need to eat and how much to eat of it, and what foods make them feel certain ways. And you know, how much sleep they need. Like if we could spend more time trusting in their yes and their no…it's less of us trying to mold them into who we think they should be and more of them just showing us who they are.

 

Siris Raquel: In the same vein, also letting them fall. Like, because all of us have had those moments where we know what's really a yes, but we'll choose the no anyway. 

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Yeah. 

 

Siris Raquel: That teaches us. That's a teaching moment. That's a teaching moment. 

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Absolutely. 

 

Siris Raquel: So, if you ask them, 'Hey, is that a yes for you to have three scoops of ice cream?' 

And they're like, yes.

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: 'Yeah, it is.'

 

Siris Raquel: -when it really isn't, let them have the three scoops and feel what it does with their body. And afterwards, have a discussion be like, was that really a yes or did you just want the ice cream and you went against your body's no for that?

 

How we can all get on the same page as a family to create that connection within our home

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Totally. And we do the same thing with screens. Like, we'll start-- At the beginning of the week, especially with my teenagers, like, how much do you think? What do you think? What do you notice? What do you feel? 

And I let them choose the hours, and sometimes it's a lot of hours. And at the end of the week, I'm like, okay, how did that go? Like, you know, what's going on? Where they can really authentically see how it's affecting them.

 

Siris Raquel: And they can choose. I mean, that's the thing is that they get to create their lives. And so, part of the third aspect-- Because I work on connection with your body, with yourself, with your inner knowing, communication and all these different realms that we're talking about – from learning, from self-confidence, interpersonal, things like that. 

And then, there's the create. So, what would you like to create with these strengths and gifts that you have? What would you like to create with this inner knowing and connection with your body?

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: I love that.

 

Siris Raquel: Is it a business love that? Is it applying it to your sports? Is it with your friends – like, are you trying to create more friendships? 

So, even the parents might bring a certain concern like, oh, I really want them to thrive better at school. 

But it's like-- And then when I talk with the kid, I'm like…what part of that? Is it even relevant? Is it school or is it, oh, I just want to have more friends or I want to feel less alone? 

I had a 9-year-old who I was working with, and she really wanted to build up her confidence. She was really bossy with her brother. Like the example you were saying…like at home versus other places; and at school, she was very polite but would not participate in classroom discussions and would not really talk to anybody at recess. 

And she had friends, but it was very-- it was in very particular situations and context where she would really show up fully as herself. And then by the time we started talking-- By the time we stopped talking and having sessions, she was herself everywhere – to the point the parents were like, can we turn it off? 

I'm like, nope.

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Yeah. Oh, I love that.

 

Siris Raquel: I was working with her younger brother, and his was all about speech clarity and self-regulation. He needed occupational therapy, which I connected the family too. So, I do a lot of referrals to other professionals for the family to feel like they have a team that really has their back. So, it's not all about--  

As much as I have all these different things I can work on. Sometimes it creates more for them to be like, okay, this is your lane and then this other person is who I see for this. And as long as we have a cohesive united front together, it works really beautifully.

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Okay. I love all of this. I would love to hear more about that yes and that no. How do you help-- Especially with kids, how do you help them feel that yes and that no in their body?

 

Siris Raquel: Well, sometimes it's feeling. Sometimes it comes to them as like a visual. Like a lot of my neurodivergent people, they see things in pictures…they see things as visual, so that's one of the first ways they do it. So, I'll ask them the simple question of like, okay, well--  

We usually do it standing up, and I have them squeeze and give themselves a hug to kind of connect to their bodies more because they're already trying to anticipate and analyze in their head. And if you're more in your head, it's harder to get this, which is part of why any Type A people…any go go go people are thinking about their next appointment. It takes practice. 

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Yeah. 

 

Siris Raquel: So, if you're willing to be with it on the way to awesome, yes. And so, I'll ask with them and their bodies, 'Hey, what's our yes today?' 

And they just see how their body moves. Or if they get a picture…if they get a smell, a taste, a sensation, a sound, that's their yes. 

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: I love that.

 

Siris Raquel: It could be just a sense of spaciousness and lifting. All of a sudden, their face goes and smiles a little bit more or glows a little bit more. So, I had them actually do this since we do virtual sessions, they can see how their face changes. And I can point it out. 'Hey, did you see how your nose sprinkled up there? Or how your--'

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Yeah.

 

Siris Raquel: And then...okay, what's our no today? And seeing what shows up. And I love this because it can be a, a really lovely exercise for families to build rapport. Like, okay, what's your yes today? I invite them to do that before they start their day. 

Like as they're brushing their teeth as they're getting ready…okay, what's your yes?

And it can change day-to-day, or maybe a couple weeks in a row it'll be the same. And then something momentous will happen or a life event will happen; it'll kind of shift things and their yes and no will change, but everybody in the family's yes and no will probably show up differently. And it's a really cool way to start because it opens up discussions about…well, what else is different about each of us? And where does it overlap?

 

How to create inclusivity at home and school through connection

Siris Raquel: We really are having individuals within this whole group, and really honoring that individuality as we're recognizing the family's yes and no. So, then I also talk to the family; and if there's a leader, like a certain person that's reaching out to me, okay, if you're the leader in the family, what if you just ask what's my family's Yes? And what's my family's No? 

And if you would-- If you're choosing something like, oh, a new school-- I had a parent that really wanted me to help them in choosing a school that would be more appropriate for their children. And I was like, 'All right, let's get your family's Yes, let's get your family's No.' 

And as we were looking through these different schools that they had visited, they immediately were like, 'Oh, that's a no,' because it's not just about that one child that was going to go there, their sibling was going to go to a different school, by the way. It affects everybody else in the family if it's a good experience for that child at that school or not. The commute, right? 

If this other person can go to that extracurricular activity or not because of that, the energy they come back with…all of that reverberates and ripples out to the rest of the family members. So, when you have that yes and no, when you're making decisions like that – oh, family vacations…is it going to be enjoyable for everybody? Which is the one that's going to be a great fit? 

I just did this with my own family when we were doing some family vacation planning for the upcoming fall. We're like, 'Okay, well, let's go together.' And like, is this really going to be Yes for all of us? Which is the one with the biggest Yes then? Because sometimes it's yes…and then Yes; and we want the biggest 'Yes'.

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: I love all of that. I work so much with mostly women but also with couples. And I think we talk so much about intuition; and I'm really good at helping them determine that yes and no for themselves so that they can start trusting themselves again. 

But I love this idea of actually teaching our children that physicality of it also…like, what does that energy feel like in your body? Because how safe is that for them? Right? Like when they go into situations that might not be the safest, they might feel that inside. Like, oh, okay, wait, I can tell this one's a 'Yes' one or a 'No' one. 

And like you said, also allowing them the space to make the mistake. because I think we're like, okay, yeah, yeah, we'll let them do their own thing. But also, not three scoops of ice cream, like just like a half a scoop today. Right? 

We pretend kind of like we let them make the decision, but we don't really. And so, allowing them to actually-- knowing that that is how they learn; they're going to learn by not always being kind to their sibling, they're going to learn by being a bully or being bullied. 

Like there are experiences in their life and in the home that are going to teach them how they want to be treated and how they want to treat others with that Yes and that No inside. So, I just-- I love that that's what you share with people also – instead of just coming in as the expert that knows what they're doing…and like, 'Listen to me and I'll tell you the way.'

 

Siris Raquel: Yeah. One of the biggest things I do is I'm very good at listening to what people say and the implications of it. So, I often will listen to the parents and then say, "Okay, do you see what you just said? Now, what message does that send you? What message does that send your child? Is that the message you want to send?" 

And so, they start listening to these cells more so that between sessions and after they're done with me, they're really realizing how their language - including their thoughts, their emotions…but also what they're saying verbally and what they're saying with their body and their actions – what that's communicating and how impactful that is.

So, they really get to see all these different ways that they're impacting their own lives, and how they can be better models and examples of the things that they would like to instill in their kids. And that kids still get to choose if they take it on or not, right?

 

The importance of empowered language

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Yeah, always. The last question that I would like to ask you is, I'd like you to tell me a little bit more about empowered language. So, on your website, I kind of read through it before we were meeting up and you talked a lot about that, empowering language. What does that look like and how can we, I guess, do it more? Like if someone hasn't worked with you and they just kind of want to take something from this episode that they can integrate in their lives right now.

 

Siris Raquel: What could that be? Well, I actually created my business starting from when I was working in the schools. I worked in the Chicago public schools right out of grad school. I did a dual master's program in Speech Language Pathology and Learning Disabilities.

And so, I was very aware of the connection of how like speech and language, verbal-wise, was like a gateway into academic language and all these other things, very early on. This is before they changed our scope of practice where they're asking for Speech Language Pathologists to do more academic work, like working on reading and writing. 

Back then they weren't, but you can kind of see it coming. And I was in a classroom where about, I think, it was seven or eight kids had profound to severe autism; and they were preschoolers, so these are three- to five-year-olds; and all this, a lot of them, was their first experience out of the home. A lot of them weren't in daycares or anything like that. And they're jumping right into a public-school half-day program.

And there would be a lot of behavioral stuff. There'd be a lot of ways that they would try to communicate to us through their behavior because I believe truly that behavior is communication as well. And so, I often am asking, what is this behavior trying to tell me?

And there was this one moment where they were, everybody was screaming, everyone was crying, everybody-- It was just pure chaos. And one of the teacher assistants in the classroom had this brilliant idea to turn on this song. And I'm so, so grateful for her to this day; I still give her credit for this. Hi Margo, wherever you are. And she turned on this song. You might've heard it. I didn't even know the origins of the song, but it was so impactful. It was, this little light of mine--  

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Yeah. 

 

Siris Raquel: I'm going to shine this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. And all of a sudden, there was this hush that fell over the whole classroom. I didn't know that it was a Christian song. I didn't know-- It was just like, I think there was something about it was just, they got it. They were like, I'd like my light to shine. And it just-- It was this invitation for them to do that with this song. And they were always very affected by music. Anyway, it's very common. But this particular day it was like magic. 

And I was like, this is the energy of the business that I'd like to create. When I went on my own and I started becoming my own business owner, I was like, this is what I'd like to have. 

So, I chose Empowering Light Language as my business name because I wanted to empower the light within all of us using language, using the power of language. Like that, this is something that can affect every aspect of your life – from your confidence to your willingness to respect yourself, to how you are an advocate and an example to other people, how you care for yourself…all of it. 

And so, when I say Empowering Light Language, it's really about being aware of what's true for you and what's not true for you, what's true for your family and what's not true for your family? And the more that you choose that, actually that allows you to let your light shine, that allows you for you to show up more fully and create a life that is something that resonates with you…that's like, 'Oh, this is what I was asking you for, this is what worth getting out of bed for.' 

And it makes things easier. It's not that everything's easy, but it could be easier. It could have a lot more ease to it, when we actually listen to those whispers of that inner knowing.

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: Oh, my goodness, this is such a beautiful message. I interview so many people and I believe this to be so true, but very infrequently is this brought up this idea of like, we have so much inner knowing and we get to tap into it at any time. We have this deep connection with ourselves. 

And the more that I've been able to become that myself, the more I think it gives everyone around me permission to do that themselves, including my children. And I think it's-- I loved your story of the music and that that was the message, like…this little light of mine, like it's inside of me and I want it to shine. 

And that as we can make those changes to really listen and trust our own inner knowing, that everything changes, right? Your business and life and like you have this whole plan that you lay out with them, but all of those changes can happen through really that one simple-- It's not simple as in like, it's easy and quick and you're going to figure it out right away, but it is simple. So, thank you for that message.

 

How to connect with Siris Raquel

Crystal The Parenting Coach: I would love for you just to share how people can work with you, how they can connect with you if this is something they're feeling called to do.

 

Siris Raquel: Yeah. Yeah. I would love that. I mean, first and foremost, anyone can email me, for sure. I'd love to offer your listeners a free eBook; it's like a nine-page ready reference that I have, that basically talks about some really quick tools that they can use that are very easy to implement in their home and in their own lives. And so, I make it really easy because families are busy. I don't need it to be like a whole long thing. And so, I'll provide you with that link and you can share it with your listeners. 

And they can visit my website EmpoweringLightLanguage.com or email me at [email protected]. I'm on all the social media platforms; they can search my name, and it'll all pop up. But whatever way is the easiest, I think for most it's usually that.

I even provide my phone numbers, which I didn't realize was a weird thing, but people can also call me. I'm in the United States, so make sure to dial one (+1) if you're in another country. And then it's (847) 567-4978. Families can text me on there. Like, I have parents that will text me after the kids are asleep; and they're like, is this too late? 

I was like, no, if I'm busy, my phone's on 'Do not disturb' or airplane mode. But that's usually when they have the brain to be like, oh, that one-- I want to ask. So, feel free.

 

Crystal The Parenting Coach: I love that. I love that you're just like, and here's my number, text me. 

So, text her. Thank you. Thank you for coming on and sharing that with us. And I think that your message is profound. I think it's truth, I can feel it. When you speak, I can feel it. And I think we need-- we need more of this, especially in our homes and our families. And especially if you're dealing with kids that have, you know, hearing problems or feeding problems or speaking problems or all of those things, can feel really heavy and can kind of feel overwhelming sometimes. So, I love that now people have this support and this resource. 

If you love this episode, make sure to go share it with someone so that they can hear as well. And we will see you next week. 

 

Thanks for listening. If you'd like to help spread this work to the world, share this episode on social media and tag me, send it to a friend, or leave a quick rating and review below so more people can find me. If you'd like more guidance on your own parenting journey, reach out.