Recently, we made our second trip as a family to the annual Taiwanese American Conference, this time in East Stroudsburg. A year ago, when I reported on our first visit there as a family and posted photos on Facebook, it prompted several acquaintances to ask about the event. It made me realize that the Taiwanese are one of the few cultures in the U.S. that holds a conference embracing three generations for its community. Other organizations and conferences gather subsets of our community, such as school-aged children, college kids or young professionals. While these have their place, I see the multigenerational conference as an amazing opportunity to instill family and cultural values and pass them along to succeeding generations.

This year's conference theme was Growth, perfectly timed for Natural Awakenings’ August Transformative Education and Children’s Health issue. Both venues encourage children to grow in ways that they might not realize as valuable until later in life. Leadership skills were a particular focus on this year’s conference. Independent thinking skills make a huge difference in personal development as illustrated in Sandra Murphy’s “Schools that Rock”, on page 18; here teachers and parents explain some of the alternative ways kids can learn most effectively, because when it comes to education, one size does not fit all.

A fun bonus of my own ongoing growth was the opportunity to write an article for the July-August 2014 issue of Mama’s Lil Guide. It was an honor to be chosen to contribute as a member of our community and highlighted “mama” to share with other mothers how I work to make life work in the midst of myriad demands. We all know how each day can be a challenge. I hope you pick up an issue when you see it around town.

I rejoice that this summer I also managed to take time off for a short camping trip to French Creek State Park, where I meditated under July’s super moon. It proved to be a good time to mentally check in with myself and explore my emotional state of being. Unplugging from technology and letting go of accumulated stress was freeing. I returned feeling rejuvenated and wishing the same for you.

To peace and growth, Audrey

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