We all have defining moments in our lives where we find that we must begin to mother ourselves. For some, it may be the first time they are sick away at college. For others, that moment may define itself when their mother leaves this earth, or their life, and she is no longer available to mother them the way their inner child needs to be nourished. But here’s the thing…
No matter what age we reach, our inner child will always need nourishment and will always need mothering.
So what are we left to do if we no longer have a mother in our life? Do we sit still and neglect and abandon our own inner child? Do we pretend that he or she doesn’t exist? We can pretend all we want, but the truth of the matter is that, like most children, our inner child will stop at nothing to be heard and to be given the attention it needs. Who really wants to let their adult-self throw a tantrum like a two year old? But it’ll happen if we don’t give that sweet inner child of ours the love and attention it wants.
And why wouldn’t we want to attend to our inner child? Once nourished, he or she will give us the fortitude to keep moving through our challenges, the patience to handle emotional situations and the security we need to feel when we are alone.
But how do we mother our own inner child? We make a point to allow our hearts, bodies and minds to feel cared for and to feel loved. We can certainly invoke the help of other women in our life to mother us. It feels wonderful but that still puts us in the position to be dependent on someone else’s availability and desire to mother us. What if there was a way for us to mother ourselves? There are many ways to mother ourselves, but this week we are going to focus on nourishment.
A mother’s loving food heals not only our bodies but our souls.
So this week, we are going to act and receive as if our mothers are with us healing our bodies and souls. Your assignment for the week is to pull out your crockpot and make your favorite recipe. While preparing your food, add love to the ingredients and add the intention that you are mothering yourself. Leave for the day and when you arrive home, bask in the aroma and love and the mothering tenderness that is welcoming you home. The beautiful food that is going to heal not just your hunger pains, but your hungry inner child, will be a wonderful nourishing gift to yourself. Receive your own love.
If you don’t have a crockpot, you can do this with a baked potato in the oven and bake it for an hour and then turn the oven off and allow it to continue to cook in the hot oven while you’re away. If you don’t have time to prepare a crockpot meal in the morning, you can set and prepare your coffee pot at night to begin making your coffee in the morning before you awake. Be sure to RECEIVE your mothering love first thing in the morning. This whole exercise is based on receiving the intention you give your meal or coffee. It is about the gesture of mothering. It is about finding a way to give our hearts just what they need. It is about us receiving our own mothering love.
There is an inner child and mother within each of us. There comes a time when we begin to let them take care of each other.
So take the time this week to mother your inner child and to give it the love and attention it so desperately needs and wants. Allow this moment, right now, to be your new defining moment of mothering love.
I can’t wait to hear what you decided to make this week to mother yourself. Share your meal and if you really loved it, please share your recipe.
Love and Blessings,
Erin