Blog

Mother’s Day can be a sensitive day…

I think of all the mothers who have experienced the passing of a child, of all the wonderful women who wish they could be mothers, of all the mothers who are no longer here and have passed, of all the mothers who are in the thick of parenting and maybe struggling with a lot of stress within their family or strained relationships with their child and of those with strained mother relationships.

No matter, how we experience mother’s day, it is a good day to be kind to ourselves .  As parents, we often make self-care a low priority, when really it should be a top priority.

Due to the pandemic, many people  have been feeling burnt out; therefore self-care needs to become more of a priority.  Today I share some important reminders and self-care tips.

As Alyson Schafer, author of  Breaking the Good Mom Myth says:

If you had to be replaced, would you hire someone like yourself – in your current shape – to care for your own children?!

Alyson Schafer states the top 5 reasons why putting yourself first is important:

1) You need to be healthy and alive.  Chronic stress reduces life expectancy and stresses the body’s immune system.

2) You need to be your best to give them your best.  Listen to your intuition and give yourself what you authentically need to be filled-up.

3) You set the tone.  Parents create the energy in the home.  If you are grumpy and stressed, the rest of the family will follow…misery loves company.  If you are happy and loving, others will sense this and feel the same.

4) You lead by example.  Your children are watching you.  How you choose to live your life creates their attitudes about self-respect and living their lives fully and completely.

5) You are able to be proactive.  You can change your ways but it takes energy to make the commitment to be proactive vs. reactive.

Self-Care Tips:  Ten Keys to Happiness by Deepak Chopra, M.D.

1) Listen to your body’s wisdom, which expresses itself through the signals of comfort and discomfort.  When choosing a certain behaviour, ask your body, “How do you feel about this?” If the body sends a signal of physical or emotional distress watch out!  If the body responds with joy and comfort – go for it!

2) Live in the moment.  The present is the only moment you have.  Have your attention on what IS and see its fullness in every moment.

3) Take time to be silent, to quieten the internal dialogue, to be guided by your intuition, rather than externally imposed interpretations of what is or is not good.

4) Relinquish your need for approval.  There is a great freedom in that choice.

5) When you find yourself reacting with anger to any person, situation or circumstance – recognize that you struggle only against yourself.  Don’t be so hard on yourself.

6) Know that those you react to strongly, whether you love them or hate them, are reflections of yourself.  Use the mirror of relationship to guide your own personal growth.

7) Shed the burden of judgement – you will feel much lighter.

&)  Don’t contaminate your body with toxins – either through food, drink, or toxic emotions.

9) Replace fear-motivated behaviour by love-motivated behaviour.

10) Understand that the physical world mirrors the process in our consciousness.  Cleaning up the environment and getting rid of the toxic wastes and dumps that contaminate our earth, its rivers and oceans is worthwhile, but even more important is the flushing out of toxic ideas that contaminate the human mind.

I hope we can all find ways to make self-care a greater priority.  If we are not “filled-up”, it is hard to fill-up our children.  Perhaps Mother’s Day can be the springboard for giving yourself time each week to rejuvenate?

Lastly, a quote from Brock Tully:

… ‘intelligence’ is what we know…

‘wisdom’  is what we do with what we know…

‘awareness’ is knowing why we do what we do with what we know…

and ‘happiness’ is doing it.

Wishing you a wonderful day of self-care 💗 🌷

Warmly,