Perhaps Autism is a Spiritual Experience

My cousin Adam is autistic. He’s one of the lucky ones. He’s a functional autistic now in his late 40’s and working as a gas station attendant.

My most vivid memory of our childhood was him coming to visit on Christmas Day. My father always had a full fire going in the fireplace to warm us in the cold Detroit weather. When Adam came by he took a seat on the couch in front of the fireplace and stayed there the entire visit. Sometimes I would watch him as he sat there and occasionally rocked quietly. At first I would go to him and sit nearby and say a few words. But as he rocked and fixated on the fire it was clear that he was not going to answer me.

His mother, my first cousin taught him to communicate through sign language. Evidently this was a great decision for him because I believe that this is part of the reason he is functional in society today. 

As I watched him I used to imagine being inside of his head. He seemed like he had some type of communication going on but it was within himself. In my mind I thought he was just talking to God. He seemed to have a full life inside of his head and he just tuned all of us out – almost as if we were the invisible ones.

Later when I majored in early childhood development in college I would often think of Adam. Part of my education was learning about autism. Then as I moved into a focus on children’s spirituality I deepened my interest in autism. I observed more children and read more research and drew my own conclusions.

Perhaps autism is a deeply spiritual experience.

Quite frankly as I got older I met other people who reminded me of Adam in various ways. I began to learn that some people have a deep connection with an inner voice that speaks to them daily. All of us have this inner voice but some people focus on it quite a bit. At the other extreme are people who are so focused on the outer world that they do not even recognize that the inner world exits. I’ve learned that to some degree people who are deeply spiritual have a deep focus on this inner voice.

People who are autistic have a deep focus on their inner voice. Perhaps it is a deep connection with the spiritual side within them. Perhaps their communication connects them with a world of unseen supporters that we believe in but cannot access. Perhaps people with autism are the liaisons to connect us to our heavenly reality. Perhaps autism is a deeply spiritual experience. 

So often when people are different from the norm we spend lots of time, money and energy trying to get them to conform to the norm. While the norm is important for our cohesiveness as a society, learning from those who are outside of the norm is also important. So perhaps our approach to autism could be one of learning from them to understand more about our own spiritual connection. And maybe through sign language we can learn more about what is going on inside of the minds of those autistics who benefit from sign language. 

Or maybe we just need to sit by the fireplace with those who are autistic or who are deeply focused on their inner world. If this is what autism is – a spiritual experience – there are many of us on the planet would could benefit by being a little autistic.

Norma T. Hollis, America’s Leading Authentic Voice Doctor® helps people find, live and share their authentic voice. Norma offers various authenticity products, programs and seminars across the country focused on personal development, leadership, youth, women and professional speaking. Take Norma’s Authenticity Assessment and participate in the free Authentic Tuesday calls to live more abundantly with authenticity. These gifts are available at www.GiftsFromNorma.com.

The Voice of the Children

In my first career as an early childhood specialist I learned a lot about children and how they display their natural gifts and talents. The concept of natural gifts and talents was discussed somewhat in the classrooms of my early childhood education training however the true learning took place observing children in actual child care settings. 

In the preschool classroom children have the option of playing in several different corners of the room. If they like art they can go to the paint section and paint a picture on a small easel or use crayons at a table. Children who are physical can play on the jungle gym while others can play house in the dramatic play area. Then there’s free play, puzzle, music or any of the other creative ways that teachers give children to express themselves.

Interesting how this freedom of expression is generally only available during the preschool years. As children get older the school focus is more academic and the rote memorization of letters, words, numbers and rules. There’s also the need to stay in line whether sitting in the classroom or walking as a group to the bathroom or lunch room. 

I’m not saying that this way of providing structural organization is bad. Quite the contrary. We are a huge society and we require certain structures in order to be orderly and civil. But what I am saying is that sometimes we focus so heavily on the order and structure that we forget to return to the creative.

As human beings we are basically very creative animals. It is quite evident in our preschool years when we move freely from one way of creative expression to another. However by the time we become adults we have gone through a process of maximizing our memorization skills and minimizing our creativity unless we had parents with the will and the resources to develop our creativity. Otherwise we become products of public school systems whose focus is on getting the masses through the process rather than highlighting the creativity of the individuals.

As a result, the voice of the children often gets lost in the effort of parents and society as a whole to just get us through the process. And in the process the individual voice of creativity often gets set aside and the children adapt rote memorization and ‘get a job’ attitude that most people conclude is the only option in life.

However when children have the opportunity to find their voice at an early age they grow with self-esteem and self-empowerment. When children can tap their creativity they have a fresh view of the world and themselves. And when they are able to find career paths that utilize their natural gifts and talents, they get the opportunity to share their voice with the world in ways that school might never have taught. 

If you are a parent, grandparent, godparent, teacher, caregiver or in any other capacity where you have the ability to impact the children in your life, remember to look for and develop their creative nature. That’s the part that makes each child unique and is the foundation of their authentic voice. Please take time and listen to the voice of the children in your life.

Norma T. Hollis is America’s Leading Authentic Voice Doctor®. An author of several books and founder of the Authenticity Movement, the Authenticity Grid and the nine dimensions of authenticity, Norma also applies the concepts of authenticity to her advocacy for field of children’s spirituality. She’s a strong believer of helping children find, live and share their authentic gifts and talents as the clue to uncovering their path in life. She also sees authenticity as the path to life fulfillment. Norma offers numerous programs and services to help parents and caregivers raise authentic children. Claim free gifts and learn more at http://www.GiftsFromNorma.com.

Foundations for the Future

The things you do today are the template for things you will do tomorrow. It’s also the role model for the history that the children around you will remember. People detect your authenticity by the things that you do and the energy that you emit. You create history by the things that you think, say and do. What history does your life tell?

I have recently been working very hard on myself. My history includes traumatic pain that I experienced in my first decade of life. It became evident to me that my challenge with moving forward with my success was stuck somewhere in my history. As I analyzed my situation I realized that the pain of medication being placed directly on my exposed eardrum caused some changes in my thinking that ceased serving me decades ago. Yet I was still holding on to that history. I had not made the necessary ‘tweaks’ to align myself with the thinking required now. But getting back to this history to reprogram it required very conscious effort.

As I talked with friends and listened to various people talk about the challenges in their lives I began to realize that so many of us spend so many decades reprogramming situations we experienced in our childhood. The history of our childhood stays with us throughout our life. Some of us have historical memories that empower us and others that haunt us. And our authenticity is built on this history.

Consider the history that you are exposing to the children in your world. Examine the areas in your life where you might ‘tweak’ thoughts, words or actions to be an empowering role model. The people in your world who look up to you will appreciate these foundations you are creating for their future.

Are We a Civil Society?

How long are we going to continue to promote a society where children have access to guns and are so angry and out of control that they use them on their classmates? Life has always been hard – every generation has its challenges. As a matter of fact, our challenges as humans going through the process of being human – our challenges are the same, no matter which generation we are born into. Women go through the challenge of monthly cycles to produce children then finance them and care for them – pretty much for the rest of their life in one way or another. Likewise men have the similar challenge without having to actually give birth. We all have the challenge of getting along with each other. We deal with envy, greed, anger, disappointment and sometimes rage in ways that hopefully are acceptable to society. And it seems to me that society has some responsibility in offering ways to help us adjust to life’s challenges. Thus my focus on raising authentic children and teaching them at an early age to recognize and deal with the issues of being human, including emotions.

These are some of the things I wonder about when it comes to how our society is structured to raise children.

• What provisions do we make to help children deal with their emotional development? Are there any classes on ‘being human’ – helping children learn how to recognize and manage their emotions – love, fear, anger, etc. Is this a standard part of school curriculums or only dealt with when there are emergencies?
• How do children get the opportunity to learn about “who” they are? I’m talking about the spirit of the child and understanding the voice that speaks within. Now I’m not referring to religious education where churches help children understand church doctrine. I’m talking about helping the child identify feelings they may be experiencing and identifying responsible ways to deal with their feelings. 

One of the wonderful beauties of being human is being able to feel emotions. Being able to manage emotions is what makes us a civil society. A civil society makes ways for its members to maximize their potential for the benefit of the overall society. How are you doing this for the children in your world?