5 Practices of Conscious Motherhood
To The Awakened Mother
The Queen Bee is a symbol of motherhood and a reminder to prioritize your emotional and physical growth and change. She leads by intuitive truth through emotions, heart and creativity. She is the matriarch who honours her own truth while understanding and guiding the hive to the bigger plan and purpose.
Parenting can feel really hard.
If we see children struggling, that means parents are usually struggling too.
What do you do when your children are pushing you away?
What do you do when your children want space as they enter adolescent years?
How do you grieve and love in the acceptance of an unexpected diagnosis or loss?
How do you manage your own energy so you can show up as a conscious, present mama?
How do you filter through conditioning and family patterns that you are ready to let go of and lead your family in a new way?
How can you release the old beliefs and patterns of the generational parenting that don’t sit right anymore so you can lead your family into the new Parenting Paradigm?
Learn how to cultivate a life with more presence. Do the work to grow and heal your own triggers and unhealthy coping methods. Learn to lead your family into the new Parenting Paradigm as you release the old beliefs and patterns of the generational parenting that are in doubt. Some things from the past still work, but some need to be released or upgraded!
You mama, are here to lead your family into the new Parenting Paradigm!
5 Practices of Conscious Motherhood
Below are the 5 evolutionary practices I have been guided to share with you, culminated from my own life experience as an awakened mama:
1. Slow Down
Life can get busy and the weeks/months/years can fly by. Are you feeling like you are not present and it is going by too quickly? Many things can distract us from enjoying the motherhood journey. These distractions can suck our precious time (and our TIME is very precious). Some are necessary obligations/distractions– like work, bills, passion, balance in life, etc. Some are chosen distractions – electronics, numbing out with tv, alcohol, avoidance, people-pleasing, etc. If we take time every day to slow down and become completely present with what we are experiencing, calming our nervous system, we can begin to ground and cultivate our life from a calmer state, honouring our pace and energy levels. This is an awareness of self. The gift of our presence for our children is a great way to show love. We will begin to enjoy more little moments. Practice this as often as you can this week: Get up before your children and sit for 5-10 minutes in quiet. Connect with your breath. Put your hand on your heart chakra (center of chest). Listen to what your body is telling you. Journal if you want to.
2. Break the Cycles
Generational parenting patterns are handed down, learned behaviours. In our generation of awakening, we are given the gift of deep self reflection and introspection. We often fall back onto what we know in the way we were raised. And so it continues – if we allow it to. Some of these cycles are meant to be broken. Some of these patterns originated around wounding, fear, control, patriarchal imbalance, survival, poverty and loss. When we become more conscious in our own parenting behaviours we can choose new ways to parent. It is up to you to decide where in your parenting, if any, changes need to be made. I will note that some ways in which we parent are from our own childhood traumas & experiences. We can heal these triggers by doing our own healing work through therapy, life coaching or self improvement on our own. Put this into Practice by noticing your parenting strategies this week – watch how your body responds after interactions, do you have flashbacks to your own childhood and how you were parented. We are not aiming to be perfect parents here, we are just looking for improvement. Question the things that don’t feel right. Journal your findings to go deeper into your own childhood experiences. Are there ways you parent like your parents? What inherited parenting patterns are working for you? Which ones are not?
3. Empathic Listening
When we practice presence more often in the day, it is easier to listen to our children. By slowing down, we are also able to give our children our full attention. When we tune into our children, when we ask how their day was, do we truly listen? We want our children to feel heard. Holding space for them to vent, and be present with them through their best and their worst, is an act of love. Stay with them in the hard times – if you can stay nearby, within sight so they feel loved (unless you need a momma time out to calm yourself). Make eye contact. Your body language should be relaxed and attentive, not rushed and hurried. When we practice empathic listening, we are listening with an open heart and mind, not always quick to solve their problems. Help them find solutions, or just let them vent if they need it. Helping them learn to communicate hard things is important for life. Use all of your senses when you are having intense conversations, called environmental listening. Listen for the things not said through eyes shifting, voice changes, delays, body language. This is activating for your mother’s intuition. Practice this when the opportunity arises. In addition, you can start each day by saying good morning to your child with eye contact.
4. Support Your Kids For Who They Are
Our children have unique personalities, likes, dislikes and quirks. We can learn to accept our children for their uniqueness. We are not here to raise mini versions of ourselves. To help your children in becoming their AUTHENTIC SELF, allow them some freedom to explore different interests and passions, whenever possible. It is normal in childhood for children to “try on” different ways of being – through tastes in music, new friendships, clothing styles and different activities. Some of this may bother you. As an awakened mother, be witness to these changes and keep a pulse on it - avoiding helicopter-parenting. Allow them to get to know themselves better and see what fits for them and what doesn’t. Please note * If “styles” or experimentation with drugs or alcohol are concerning, talk with your child, learn about it yourself, and seek help if necessary. The idea is to help your child learn healthy outlets & coping skills for troubles in life. The best way to do that is to MODEL IT! Help your child find outlets they truly enjoy to release stress and anxiety. To put this into practice acknowledge and accept exactly where you are at with these journaling prompts: Is there behaviour in my child that is different or upsetting to me and I need to learn more about it? What do I love about my child? What do I struggle with about my child? Are there things about my child where I can say “this too shall pass” or surrender it to the divine will “your will not mine”? In my child’s struggles, is it triggering something in me such as memories of my own childhood, protection or a trauma response? Are there ways I did not feel safe and free to be my unique self as a child?
5. Be Flexible
Learning to move with grace from one phase of our child’s growth to the next is a challenge for most. Just when we think we have the current phase under control with understanding and routine, it changes! Can you see how this mirrors your own adult growth and development? We are constantly growing and changing and adapting to new circumstances in life. Life changes quickly and so do the ages and stages of children. You can adjust your parenting style for the unique needs of each child – meeting their love languages. We are human, we will make mistakes. Be open to the teachings YOUR OWN CHILD is teaching you. Be flexible with the twists and turns. Release expectations of things turning out exactly how you want them to and allow things to unfold. Have faith. Use your intuition when setting boundaries and rules. Sometimes things happen with our children that shake us to our core, and it is a significant event, but we get through it and things do turn out ok. Have faith in that as you navigate the tides of motherhood. To put this into practice find ways in the week to have fun with your child doing something they enjoy. See if there are areas where you can allow things to “just be” as you all navigate through this journey of life together.
As I reflect on my own motherhood journey, I see how precious this time is with my children. I continue my own self improvement and healing, reminding myself to not take myself too seriously and to enjoy the journey more. The 5 practices above have helped me to become a better mother. Our relationships have improved, I am able to set boundaries, we have strong bonds as I look for ways to connect with my teens on a daily basis. I am always a work in progress and I love being an awakened woman on this motherhood journey!
MAMA’S YOU ARE AMAZING!! You grew a unique soulful person inside your body and now you are raising these humans to become strong, functional adults. By nurturing these conscious mothering practices, you can change the way YOU experience motherhood. By continuing on your awakening path as a woman, you will go through your own life with more joy, gratitude and passion. I will wrap it up with this quote from an author I adore:
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer
Pam Sommerfeld , Authentic Living Guide & Nature-Based Creative
If you would like to explore work with me one-to-one in a highly supportive container as you move through the shifts that come with growth and awakening, I offer sessions and packages. I am a certified Life Coach.