Show Notes

The term "pillar of parenting" refers to a fundamental principle or value that serves as a foundation for effective parenting. When it comes to children with special needs, there are several pillars of parenting that are particularly important. These may include:

1. Advocacy: Parents of children with special needs must be strong advocates for their kids, ensuring that they receive the support and services they need to succeed.

2. Flexibility: Raising a child with special needs can be unpredictable, so parents must be willing to adapt and adjust their parenting strategies as needed.

3. Patience: Many children with special needs require extra time and attention from their parents, so patience is essential for building strong relationships and providing effective support.

4. Empathy: Understanding and respecting your child's unique challenges and experiences is important for building trust and promoting positive outcomes.

5. Collaboration: Parents should work closely with educators, healthcare providers, and other professionals to create a supportive network around their child and ensure that all of their needs are being met.

Together, these pillars of parenting can help parents of children with special needs navigate the challenges and joys of raising a child with unique needs and abilities.

Do you still feel surreal as parents of kids with special needs?

This show is for parents who are mourning the loss of the life and the child they thought they would have. This show is for parents who are tired, lonely and see no hope in sight.

You will learn how to deal with your non-verbal child with a sensory processing disorder, seizures, meltdowns, haircuts, and family trips. Embark on a journey of consciousness, self-care & meditation.

My name is Chad Ratliffe. I am a single father of five kids within 6 years of age and two of them are with  special needs. 5 years ago, in a nasty divorce, my depression led me to addiction and hopelessness. Today, I share with others a life I never imagined possible.

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If you find our podcast beneficial, you can help us continue producing the show by subscribing on our Patreon. We are truly inspired and grateful to create a community for parents raising their children with special needs. https://www.patreon.com/thenakedparentpodcast

If you’re interested in getting more information on the next Naked Parenting Transformational course,  email chad@nakedparentpodcast.com and put "I Am Ready For Transformation" in the subject heading.

Looking forward to navigating parenthood journey with you!

Check our website to learn more: www.thenakedparentpodcast.com

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

naked, parents, yoga, path, parenting, bursts, children, life, family, supermom, pregnant, realize, pillar, feel, door, started, stated, diagnosis, seconds, community

SPEAKERS

Chad Ratliffe

Chad Ratliffe  00:01

Welcome to the daily naked parent podcast brought to you by Rocco blue. The first ever brand focused on supporting parents with special needs children. Naked parent nation is a group of parents with special needs children, who are willing to give all the rubble stripped it all down and take a look at ourselves, our parenting, our family and our plans create a life beyond our wildest dreams. On today's show, we'll be discussing the first pillar of naked parenting that opens up the door to the world filled with joy, it leads to a life you are excited to wake up to. It's the first time you get to make a decision as to whether or not naked parenting is the path you want to travel. Let's just say your family and your children anxiously await your decision. Their future depends on it. Hello naked parent nation and welcome to today's episode of The Naked parent podcast. My name is Chad ratliffe.

And I'm your hosts and before we get to our amazing first pillar, I'd like to share a message from naked parent nation. Naked parent nation is a worldwide community of parents and professionals raising children with all kinds of needs. We come together to share our Naked Truth, support our fellow parents and inspire the inner growth that each of us needs to build the life and family of our dreams. For the parents that are struggling, we want you to know that we will love you until you can love yourself. For your children we pray and send power from our collective group. Naked parenting is the process of moving from where you are to where you want to be. Naked parenting understands that the mind is responsible for all of our problems. As you shed the layers of your old programming and beliefs, you will return to the deepest truths of your own being.

Do what you have always done and receive the life you're living or create the vision you want for your family. Combine that with an elevated emotion, support from our community. And you can live the life of your dreams and beyond. We have the power to create any kind of life we want for ourselves and our families. We do this by living in the naked present moment, one day at a time. If this is your first time connecting with us, I hope you feel the love that's here for you. Together, we walk different paths side by side. So let's continue our journey and get centered and do a breathing exercise that we can always turn to David G calls it 16 seconds. And what we're going to do is we're going to breathe in for four seconds, we're going to hold for four seconds, we're going to exhale for four seconds, and we're going to hold for four seconds. And we're going to do that for three rounds. So just allow your eyes close. If you're sitting. Make your back straight. Let your shoulders relax. Feel the weight of your body being supported by your seat. And take a deep breath in for four seconds. Hold for for an exhale for four and hold the four then inhale for four hold exhale hold and do this last one on your own. And then let your eyes open and recognize that moment recognize those three sets of 16 seconds. That's something that you should always be able to make time for. Even if you have to go into the bathroom at work. It's a moment to reset, recalibrate. It's a moment for you. And it will do amazing things if you give it the chance That's another thing I love about 16 seconds is it opens the door to so much more. If you're not meditating, if you're not doing any breath work, if you feel like you're not doing anything healthy, you can start with 16 seconds. And it will grow and evolve.

And one day you'll look back. Be like all of this started from the 16 second breathing exercise on the naked parent podcast. So thank you for sharing that moment with me. And I am so excited to get to today's content. As many of you know, we do three Shows a week, we do two interview shows, with guests on topics, hearing people's experience, strength and hope. And we recently started to do one solo cast with yours truly. And the solo cast is based on the pillars that make up the naked parenting philosophy. It's the pillars that were created, that I followed from being in the gutter, literally homeless, addicted with needles hanging out of my arm, facing 10 years in prison at one point to a life that I just can't even believe I have. It feels like I there was no way that I'm supposed to be able to have this life. But I do. And that's the message that's the torch that I want to carry. It doesn't matter where you are, it doesn't matter how low you are, doesn't matter how dark your world is, there is a way out. And I'm about to share the first pillar with you. We call the first pillar, a path. And we don't call it the path because you have to make the choice ultimately.

So it's a path. Because there are many ways to get to the top of the mountain so to speak. But this is one I know firsthand, that has produced so many miracles. I'm just baffled on a daily basis. And I can't believe that I wake up each day excited for the day, I never thought that was going to be an option for me. So without further ado, a path. And thank you for joining us. So it starts by sharing that, you know science and spirituality when I was growing up, were like polar opposites. But today, they finally agree. We are cruising through space, we're moving around the Sun at hear this 67,000 miles per hour. That blew my mind when I first heard it. And when you go to sleep tonight, if you sleep say eight hours, you will have traveled 10 million miles in our universe. That world was once flat. And now it's not. You know what I'm saying? So it's a world of technological advances. Our ancestors would never believe ever, ever, ever, ever. But yet, life just keeps getting harder and harder. It doesn't make any sense. So, I mean, do you share that experience? Like do you feel feelings of anxiety? Do you feel depression? Do you feel like not being enough is how you feel on the daily.

So as I said earlier, naked parenting is a worldwide community of parents raising special needs children. We all blindly follow the 21st century recipe which stated you're going to be raised in a home with parents and 50% of them are going to get divorced. We really didn't think anything was wrong with our upbringing. For me, I felt I was fortunate for my upbringing. But later we came to realize the dysfunction that lie, you know, in between the sheets of our families. As our emotional intelligence started developing, these things started becoming apparent. We were forced to go to school. We wanted to be something in life we had to go to university and blindly blindly blindly we followed the herd. Eventually we found our life partner our soulmates and boy, was that fucking exciting. Have you hurry to get married in order to repeat the cycle, but at the time, it feels amazing. But before you start hating your spouse, you got the news, honey. Yes, guess what? What? We're pregnant. eyes wide open. But the distraction from that energy rush of being newly pregnant distracts us from life, It distracted me from realizing my life was going nowhere. Pregnancy was just the next burst of energy big enough to help us forget, we hated our job, didn't have enough money, and started to resent our partners. It was just that next energy burst in the line of bursts like college, high school graduations, sporting events, parties, yada, yada, yada. Those experiences those bursts of energy allowed us to feel something the 10 months of pregnancy was filled with all kinds of bursts of energy.

And it was new and there's nothing like it, the first time you're pregnant is there's nothing like it and, and that's from a guy's perspective, I can only imagine what it's like from a female perspective. And then later, we'd come to find out that the energy that we were experiencing, was because our hearts were open, these big bursts of energy, busted our hearts open. And gave us that feeling allowed us to feel allowed us to feel alive. And maybe for some of us, it was, you know, the first time we were mature enough to realize that, you know, this is something significant. It's new. But then the baby's born and nothing flips life upside down. Like being a first time parent. baby comes out. And I don't know what the percentage is. But a bunch of unbolt, gone, woman sitting there with their baby by herself crying, the rest, stick around for another couple of years give or take, then the first sign that something isn't right. The first time a friend or medical professional told us there might be something up with our child is that day, we will vividly remember for the rest of our lives.

Many of us got really, really anchored in denial. Others became supermom and Google engineers. If you know what I mean, whatever the path, it wasn't long before the nucular bomb would land. And when the bomb landed, everything and everyone fought. I mean, life itself exploded. Everything decimated. It felt like winds were howling at 100,000 miles per hour, just sweeping the earth. I don't know how my sound effects are. But as its swept through the Earth, at alarming rates. It left silence. All you could hear was silence. Everything was in slow motion. It's surreal. But when that dust settles enough so that you can see the experience and what's around. There was no question that all hell broke loose. And it was pandemonium being first time parents hard enough.

But when the dust settles from the diagnosis or realization that your child has special needs, there might as well been a bomb that went off in your community. From this point, it's fight or flight. It's depression, addiction, divorce, or all the above if you're my case, like I said, some turn into supermom and sign up for every early intervention service that exists. Others fall into the dark and isolate so fast. It's incredible from friends to isolation in record time. Either path is really just the calm before the storm, which is when you finally realize that all the dreams you had or didn't know you had have been shattered and you're going to be raising a child with special needs and all that that means this stage of the journey for me, and for many, it goes until you lose everything until you hit rock bottom until you're addicted, and or divorced. Or you just realize that life's never going to be the same again. For most of us, you have to get kicked in the face by life in order to break free from the daily routine, following the herd following the herd that otherwise life just gets worse and worse and worse, while you're in fight or flight state of being 24/7 365.

So for the parents whose kids brains are on fire, no wonder they can't learn how much did you learn and grow emotionally, spiritually and physically, after you received your unexpected diagnosis? Not at all. So if you know for everybody listening, and I want to start by letting you know how much I admire you, naked parent nation admires you. I can't wait for you to meet them because it can be so lonely. And we're the largest community internationally of parents raising children with all kinds of needs. And I know I can speak for them, they admire and salute you, and truly can't wait to meet you. But let's get back to the flow of life to this point. Because I want to talk to you about a huge diamond you're about to uncover. You remember back to the diagnosis.

Even drift back before getting pregnant. You were headed down a path. The path you were supposed to head down the path your parents went down. And most of those stories end up on a deathbed urging their grandkids to do more, be more or be anything different than they were. The path is totally unconscious. And it goes to the grave unconscious. It's just a lonely old dude on his deathbed with regrets. My hope for everyone that's listening is that your world gets rocked. So fucking bad. That the only way the only thing you can do is go another direction. It's the only way I've seen people and families get a chance to truly live. But let's let's talk about that diamond, I was just referring to naked parents teen and naked parent nation and diamonds. Hopefully that's interests you. The good news for you is the worst part is over, we certainly pray that others will find truth without having to hit rock bottom and get hit with the storm. But like I said, it's usually addiction or hitting rock bottom, a nasty, brutal divorce or realization that you have a special needs child and you're not going to just give up and you're going to actually raise them, for somebody to find a new way to live. Naked parenting is the pathway that illuminates for parents who made it through the storm.

It illuminates a pathway, a pathway, not the only pathway but a pathway. Without pain, people don't change and when the pain of the same is worse than the pain of change. There's room for something amazing to happen. This is the great paradox. This is when the tragedy becomes the gift. That's where you are right now naked parenting isn't the only path for your new life. But maybe it is you're welcome to learn more, stick around join us or take what you like and leave the rest. My prayer for you is that you take some kind of action, no matter what it is some kind of action other than calling the dealer in one of the most important books I've ever read. And one of the I feel the most important books ever written potentially starts by saying, quote, translation and now yoga in the Yoga Sutras of potentially the first instruction is translated as and now yoga. It's important to clarify that when he uses the word yoga, he's not talking about body positions like we're familiar with in the West. He's not talking about Asana as only will go into what yoga means in its bigger form than just body positions. You know as things unfold, But right now it wants you to just think about how an all time important book starts with.

 And now yoga, just ponder the possibility of why such an important text with start with something so short and simple. What does it mean? There may be other interpretations but how I understand it is after you've tried your way after you've tried your friends way, your parents way, and nothing's worked. Now yoga, alcoholics don't end up in a by choice. Criminals don't go to prison because they liked the food. And parents don't come to naked parenting and naked parent nation, because their lives were exceeding their goals and dreams. They all found their path because it was the last door left to open. There were no other options. The choices were hospitals, death or institutions, with the exception of this one last door, the good news is it makes the choice kind of easy. There's only one door. And the good news, again, is what lies behind that door is a life beyond your wildest dreams. Sure, it's not that you open the door and you just see rainbows and butterflies, and waterfalls. But when you follow naked parenting, when you follow the suggestions, that's the world that comes alive. Behind that door, that tragedy becomes the gift. Behind the door is a community of conscious loving, and experienced people who have been where you are. They've done the work, they've done the naked parenting work, their lives are better than they ever thought possible. And they can't wait to meet you. And it may sound inauthentic, that I'm saying they can't wait to meet you. There's this whole community that can't wait to meet you. But these people can't wait to meet you.

And let me tell you why. Part of naked parenting is helping others. They all know that the more they give, the more they get, the more they invest in your life. And in your turnaround, the fuller their life and feelings of wholeness will be so now's as good of a time as any to ask yourself. What is your gut say? What do you feel in your gut? Do you feel that there has to be more? Do you really believe that? This is the way life is and it's just the way it's going to be? If you're okay with that life, then carry on. And just put us in your back pocket. If you're not okay, then and now yoga. Yoga means union. Yoga is essentially a spiritual discipline it's based on some would say a subtle science which focuses on bringing harmony between mind and body. It is an art and science of healthy living.

The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit root. Huge. I don't know if that's how it's pronounced but why you J meaning to join or to yoke, or to unite. If any of that sounds good to you, naked parenting helps to illuminate this path by people just like you that have been where you are and who found a new way to live. A way to live they love a way to live where everyone is welcome. Every religion is welcome every culture, every country, every ethnicity, and we continue to widen the list as we see necessary so that everyone feels part of equal and accepted. You are accepted. You have to be accepted because as you'll come to realize we are all connected as Bob Marley saying out one love one world. Let's get together and feel Oh, right. Man, I love that song. But naked parents scenes the process from the moment at the edge of the cliff on a journey towards truth towards your children towards a place you're not exactly sure of but you know it exists. It's a place of love. or more correctly stated it is love. Naked parenting is a journey from where you are to where you want to be.

Naked parenting is bliss, connection, family gratitude. And as you walk the path you will be part of defining What naked parenting is and how it serves others. It's a movement. And we are defining naked parents in. So we can help as many parents as possible worldwide that have been where we were once. There's nothing to sign. There's no sacrifices that you have to give other than the sacrifice of your old self, lowercase self, in exchange for your new uppercase self. So, go within yourself, for guidance, go within and wait for a feeling from this day forward, go within, for everything you decide to do. No more blind? Sure, I'll do it. No more trusting without asking yourself, if it's true and right for you, because truth is within you. That naked part of naked parents, and if you're wondering, is the process of peeling away all those layers of old programming, peeling away the old thinking, the illusion, anger, victimhood, sloth, procrastination, all those things that were tied, and are still tied to our ego. And it's not serving us? Is it serving you?

As you peel the layers, you'll hear that inner voice, it'll get louder and louder as you do the work. You'll eventually realize that what you've been looking for your entire life was right there within your own being. What a day that was for me when I realized I mean, I'd been to 50 states in 40 countries overseas, my dog had been to 48 states. I had no idea I was searching far and wide to find what was inside my being the entire time. Such a great lesson and great paradox. You won't regret the past. You won't live in the past anymore, you'll lose your fear of the future, you'll find the gift of the sweet and generous present moment where everything is all good. Your children,

I promise you this has happened in my family, your children and those around you will see the changes, you actually become a new person, your physiology and brain chemistry changes. You can do a scan today. Go on the naked parenting path and do another brain scan and the structure of your brain will change. Either way, I just wanted to present a path for you. I want to tell you, I love you. I want to tell you that I'll always be here for you. And I'll always be here for your family. Thank you for taking the time with me today to hear a path. And may you feel the peace and love that lies within you. May your family prosper in your conscious expression of love and lights.

28:44

This concludes our show for today. And I'd like to personally thank you for spending the time with us on a topic near and dear to our hearts. If you'd like to be part of the naked parent nation, and help us reach those parents that are struggling and overwhelmed, there's no better way to help them by subscribing rating and reviewing the show on iTunes. iTunes highlights the shows based on these metrics. And the more the show gets highlighted, the more opportunities people will have to be introduced to the show where they can hear that message of hope or that tip that can change everything.

So follow the link in our show notes. And we hope to have you back here tomorrow where we'll do it again. From the team here at the naked parent podcast we wish you the life you've always dreamed of and then some so long