Healing The Mother Wound | Weekly Wellness Tip 20

Yes To You Podcast

Healing The Mother Wound | Weekly Wellness Tip #20

Here in the US, Mother’s Day is promoted as a time of celebration, connection, gratitude for the woman who brought you into this world and for the woman or women who nurtured and sustained you along the way.

We are bombarded with images of smiling mothers who are warm, caring, strong, and compassionate.

But what you don’t see are the thousands of women who feel like outsiders looking into a world they’ve never experienced or perhaps no longer feel they have the ability to participate in.

Women who despite their grief over departed loved ones and loss...

Women who, despite their memories of childhood abuse, neglect, rejection, abandonment, and shame…

Are bombarded with images that say, “this is what you should be experiencing. So, show some gratitude.”

Women who are aggressively and carelessly invited along in a few weeks of a nationwide rumpus, a cookie-cutter, Stepford-like, depiction of motherhood...

A glamorization of the one experience they want more than anything else in the world, but feel permanently separated from.

So, if you’ve ever felt invisible on mother’s day due to the commercialization and sensationalism of an idea that simply ran wild—I want to acknowledge you.

You are not alone and healing is available to you when you are ready.

***Trigger Warning: This episode is NOT for everyone.***

If this message resonates with you, then I challenge you to consider taking a more active role to reframe your interpretation of Mother’s Day and what you feel it represents by shifting your focus to the practice of nurturing YOU.

The following are questions that you can reflect upon in your journal to gain a deeper understanding of yourself as you explore authentic ways to heal.

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Journal Prompts

What story are you choosing to live in regarding the parent-child relationship and your relationship with your mother?

Where did this story come from? Is it fact or can it change?

Are you holding onto unreasonable expectations of yourself and others in your life?

Notice what comes up for you around Mother’s Day.

Are there any specific triggers?

What about the scenario, gesture, image, etc is really bothering you? Why?

What patterns are you seeing replayed in your relationships as a woman, sister, mom, friend, relative, spouse, partner, or colleague (especially with other women)?

Are they yours or are they unconscious, impulses, and behaviors?

What is it that you’ve always wanted, longed for, that you feel you didn’t receive from your mother?

In what ways can you give those things to yourself?

What’s 1 thing you can do to start that process this week?

How do you define self-care?

How well are you meeting your basic needs (food, hydration, sleep, sex, companionship, adventure, spiritual connection, etc.)?

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

BOOKS

Healing Your Emotional Self by Beverly Engel

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

Successful Women Think Differently by Valorie Burton

Loving What Is by Byron Katie

SISTERHOOD

Meetup.com (find and meet up with women in your location who share your interests)

Mocha Moms (cultivate friendship between women with children)

Connect with Dominique