My Wish for You on Mother's Day

Mother’s Day can be complex. It can be full of flowers and appreciation. It can also carry with it the heartache of those who are no longer with us or the resentment of feeling unappreciated, isolated, or misunderstood. 

So here is my wish for you this Mother’s Day… 

May you know the innocence of your heart and trust its capacity to hold the full range of the experience of motherhood. 

May you give yourself the gifts you truly need, acknowledging your courage, strength, and commitment to those you love the most. 

May you surrender your ideas of what you thought would be and find the gifts in what is. 

May you know your children deeply and accept their not-so-bright-and-shiny parts because you accept your own not-so-bright-and-shiny parts.

May you feel yourself surrounded by your fellow peace-makers and change-creators, and know that you are not alone in your determination to parent well. 

Cultivate Space in Hard Moments

By cultivating space in challenging moments, we can practice shifting from reactivity into mindful responses and intentionality. 

The first step is to become aware of your own reactivity patterns. When do you get the most triggered? Is there any proactive work you can do to help shift this pattern? You can set expectations with your kids or mix up the routine. 

The next step is to practice catching your reactivity before it escalates too far. Try putting a hand on your heart and validating yourself: “This is a hard moment. I’m feeling stressed / overwhelmed / scared / disappointed / frustrated.” 

We can breathe and practice regulating our nervous systems. This pause will help ground us into our values and allow us to shift into our more mindful responses. 

And then, when we fail, we can always repair. We can always model humility and accountability for our actions by apologizing to our kids and communicating our commitment to working toward collaboration and connection together.