MOTHER EARTH

I don’t know about you but sometimes I display behaviour that is less than desirable for my children to be witnessing. Things that I really don’t want my children to copy, i.e. shouting, screaming, throwing things, crying, criticising, and generally just not being in the mood. I try to keep this to a minimum but self control was never a strong point for me.

Some days I wish that my little angles would fly away and leave me alone for just 1 minute. I feel like I’m last in line for everything: eating, bathing, sleeping and other really essential things and it really pisses me off. And on top of this I then feel miserable and sorry for myself.

This is not a good way to live, or to feel and I needed to snap out of it or I’d be in danger of falling back into depression. Luckily, about a week ago I was reading a beautifully illustrated book that a friend bought me about chakra healing, not a subject that I would have previously chosen but I’ve found it really useful. The book is called Chakra Healing by Liz Simpson and although it’s not directly about parenting a lot of what’s covered can be of help stressed and over-burdened mothers. What I found poignant on this occasion is the distinction it made between two archetypes: the victim and the earth mother.

The victim was described someone who lets themselves become vunerable, needy and ungrounded and the earth mother is more positively associated with nourishment, caring and unconditional love; an earth mother is strong enough to act with love and to effect positive change. So now when I get frustrated or angry I somehow manage to intercept and consciously switch to earth mother mode, replying to screaming demands for milk and chocolate cake with a kind and rational voice: it seems to be working. Now I feel like I have more time, which means more time to cuddle when they feel sad or lonely in the night; more time to play even if I’m knee deep in housework; and more time just to say I love you when I know that I’ve only got 5 minutes to concoct and cook dinner before man gets home.

This new approach really paid off today. Not only did people comment on how polite Gwen was being, there was even no tantrum on leaving playgroup, and indeed less tantrums in general. Both my girls seem more content and more like little earth mothers themselves, and that makes me and everyone else a little bit happier.