Your children are not your children

This practice invites you to listen to the poem not only with your mind, but with your whole being.

1. Prepare

Find a quiet moment. Sit comfortably and take a few slow, deep breaths. Allow your body to relax and your mind to become more still.

2. Read slowly and listen

Read the poem by Kahlil Gibran below, one line at a time. After each sentence, pause and gently ask yourself:

• What do I feel in my body?
• What emotions are arising?
• What thoughts are coming?

Don’t look for “right” answers. Simply allow the words to settle within you.

3. Give space to time

If a line resonates deeply, stay with it a little longer. You can reread it several times, letting it touch different parts of you. Whatever arises — agreement, resistance, sadness, relief — is welcome. Everything is part of your experience. Allow it all.

4. Close with awareness

When you feel ready, let the words go. Return to your breath. Notice what remains within you. If you wish, you can write down a word, an image, or a feeling you want to carry with you.

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.