Walter & Janet Jackson
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October is Domestic Violence Month, Remember the Children
During these economic times, Americans stress level is on the rise. The top stressors according to surveys by the American Psychological Association (APA) are: money (81%), the economy (80%), work (67%), and health problems affecting the family (67%).
Domestic violence is a byproduct of stress especially when we are talking about financial problems, and parents underestimate the effects this has on children. I was fortunate to use sports principles to get me through the pain of trying to stop my parents from nearly killing one another, but many children who witness domestic violence don’t have any outlets. This is why I wrote “Sporting the Right Attitude: Lessons Learned in a Troubled Family” for young adults. Those who are exposed to this type of family life, or any obstacles can use this book as a tool to help them get over those difficulties.
The APA reports children exposed to domestic violence are more likely to exhibit behavioral and physical health problems including depression, anxiety, and violence towards peers. These children are also more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home, engage in teenage prostitution, and commit sexual assault crimes.
Parents have to realize that when there is domestic violence in the home, they risk getting their children taken away by Children’s Social Services, because kids often get hurt during these family fights. Once that happens, it’s hard to get them back, or not at all. Although many are good parents who simply lose their tempers during financial stresses, the system still looks at violence in the home as a safety issue for children. Parents have to find ways to work out their differences and control their anger.
In our workshops, we teach Mindfulness, how to live in the moment to reduce stress. One of the components of Mindfulness is using your breath to control stress and anger. You simply follow the in breath and out breath. You can label your breathing to help you focus. Say: “Breathing in, I know I am breathing in.” “Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.” You can also label your breaths like this: “Breathing in,” and “Breathing out.” To shorten it more just say to yourself, “In” and “Out.”
Your mind will want to carry you away, but just keep bringing it back gently like you would a small child who wanders off. Don’t get frustrated with yourself. It’s a new practice. That’s why they call Mindfulness a practice. The perseverance is worth the effort because you will feel instantly calmer, and you will be able to focus and decide on the best actions for any challenges you may face. We have to do this for ourselves and for our family.
We think kids are resilient, and they’ll bounce back from witnessing domestic violence, but that simply isn’t true. On the surface they may seem fine, but like adults, they suppress their feelings and that pain comes out sooner or later in other harmful ways.
A lot of men especially feel badly that they are not able to support their families. But parents must not tie their self worth to their finances. If you feel you may get violent, find spiritual and/or mental health counseling help. There are free services available. And know that whatever you are going through, it will get better. Faith is the answer.
Posted by Walter Jackson (www.SportingtheRightAttitude.com)
For more information, call 818-899-8812, info@sportingtherightattitude.com
NFL Inspiring Kids: Take a Player to School
If we want young people to acquire new, healthy habits, we have to do more than lecture them. We have to inspire them so they become self-motivated. That’s exactly what the NFL is doing with NFL Play 60, the national youth health and fitness campaign encouraging young people to be active for at least 60 minutes a day. It’s an innovative program designed to help fight obesity.
From now through September 29, students across the country can register to win an opportunity to host at their school an NFL player . Students will have the opportunity to ride to school with an NFL player and join him in leading classmates through the once in a lifetime physical education class.
The NFL and JCPenny presenting “Take a Player to School” program understand we have to reach out to young people on levels that excite them to learn. This is a new time and age when celebrities are the ones young people are listening to, and if that’s what it takes to help inspire our kids to stay healthy and to stay in school—Hooray! At least something is working.
Young people across the country from inner city to suburbs are dropping out of school at an epidemic rate. Our nation can’t afford to fall much further behind on the world’s playing field.
What we have to emphasize with our children, is superstar athletes like Tom Brady of the New England Patriots or Steven Jackson of the St. Louis Rams, participants of the NFL Play 60, didn’t quit when faced with obstacles, and they can’t either. They must stay in school.
By: Walter Jackson, author of “Sporting the Right Attitude,” new inspiring, upcoming book for young adults. Available September 30th at Amazon. Visit: SportingtheRightAttitude.com
Use Athletes to Teach Life Principles to Young Adults
The epidemic high school drop out rate across our nation tells us that we have to reach kids differently. We have to find things to interest them, and weave in the traditional school lessons of reading, writing, math, and oh yeah…what they are going to really need to make it…life skills. Since athletes are the rock stars of today’s generation, we should not only admire their physical prowess, but their mental and emotional skills that helped them hone their talents which can help our youth in today’s tough world.
Athletes know that in order to win, they must maintain winning thoughts regardless of the adversities they may face. Just as the athlete must have the right attitude in order to win the game, anyone, with the right attitude, can cope with the emotional stresses of their troubled family.
The skills I developed in sports, along with the courage and principles I later discovered, taught me that we can have inner peace while the outer world appears to be falling apart. Sense of confidence is built up through sports — a reassurance that somehow things will always turn out all right as long as you do your best.
I was certain I would be able to escape my family violence if I received an athletic scholarship. Several universities had expressed an interest in my athletic ability in football, basketball and track during my junior year in high school. But I watched my dream of becoming a professional athlete slip away when I was injured in a car accident that left me in a coma for three days, and took my best friend’s life.
The road back to physical and mental recovery was a difficult one. But I used the principles I used in sports to heal and get back in the game of life.
Many athletes use practical methods to rise to a higher consciousness to help them overcome challenges on and off the playing field. By using constructive channels of thought, most successful athletes learn to believe they are winners.
By: Walter Jackson, author of “Sporting the Right Attitude,” new inspiring, upcoming book for young adults. Available September 30th at Amazon. Visit: SportingtheRightAttitude.com
Olympic Track Coach Jeanette Bolden Hurdles Over Beijing Air Pollution
Jeanette Bolden has leaped over personal and professional hurdles all of her life. She won a Gold Medal for the 4×100 relay in the 1984 Olympics with an asthmatic condition. Today Jeanette is the 2008 Olympic Coach of the U.S. Women’s Track and Field team and the UCLA women’s track and field head coach.
Beijing’s poor air quality is a major concern for athletes competing in the Olympics, but for someone with asthma, it can be frightening thought of losing a race to pollution, but having an attack. However, Jeanette who was born with an asthmatic condition refuses to let the air quality or the competition hold her back. She’s in Beijing focusing on helping the U.S. team bring home the Gold, not on losing races or her breath.
Jeanette has never let her asthmatic condition hold her back, and today she tries to help others do the same. She is the founder and director of the Jeanette Bolden Asthma and Allergy Track Clinic, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation.
“I want to inspire people,” says Jeanette, “Asthma is not a handicap. You can and you should be able to achieve your goals.”
Jeanette is one of the athletes overcoming the odds featured in the upcoming book for young adults, “Sporting the Right Attitude: Lessons Learned in a Troubled Family.”
Posted by Walter Jackson (www.SportingtheRightAttitude.com)
Homeless Garden of Hope
One of the ways I find I can make a difference in this world is by walking the streets of
downtown Los Angeles where I take a homeless guy either to lunch, or buy him food.
It’s quite a different giving experience for me than sending a check to a mission, or
passing a few dollars out of a cracked car window, although both are important.
Talking to a homeless person I feel their soul while they tell me their stories. Although
I give them money for food, sometimes just me listening to them I know I am feeding more
than their bodies I am feeding their hearts. Many have not had anyone listen to them, or
take them seriously for years. Just taking time to listen to anyone these days is a form
of love since we all are so busy. This is evident seeing other passersby’s who don’t even
want to look at the men and women living on the streets, let alone talk to them. Maybe
they fear they’ll catch that contagious disease called homeless.
While I have to admit I often get lumps in my throat especially seeing women with babies
on the streets, there are glimpses of hope. For example, seeing a cinder-block wall of a
parking lot in the middle of skid row. Former homeless people who are residents of the
Rainbow Apartments next door are growing vegetables there. They started their garden with
help from the nonprofit Urban Farming, which is part of its Food Chain project.
Looking at their fruits and vegetables growing in that garden, I realize the harvest will
not only give nutrients to the apartment farmers, but because they share their harvest
with others still living on the streets, that garden will bring hope to a lot of people.
by Walter Jackson (SportingtheRightAttitude.com)
A Cry For Light
“A Cry for Light: A Journey into Love”
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