Six struggles and coping strategies for the motherless and unmothered

Being without a mother is special kind of club. Only those that share the experience understand the profound ache for once what was or could have been.

Mothers are lost for a myriad of reasons – be it childbirth itself, accident, illness, poverty, circumstances of family, culture, or fate, and the like. Mothers, though physically present, can, also, go missing by way of grief, addiction, depression, subjugation, psychiatric issues, and life doing life. These moms, for whatever set of reasons, are unable to mother. I call their children “unmothered.”

Being without a mom wears heavily on a soul. There is none of the expected nurturing, support, and guidance. You feel untethered and adrift without the emotional umbilicus of mother. Your world is slightly off its axis. There is something missing and that missing is mom.

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I salute the penguin in all of us

Today is World Penguin Day and I salute the penguin in all of us.

I salute the part of us that runs to help, the part that runs into the fray and not away from it. I applaud the part of us that feeds the hungry. I honor the part of us that protects our kids and makes sure our children are nourished, nurtured, and guided. I honor the part that withstands hardship, cold, and hunger for the ones we love. I celebrate the part of us that dives deep and likes to be present and take in the wonders of the world. I love that penguin part of us that values connection and shared responsibilities; I delight in the part of us that likes to play with our friends and relax into the joy of being with one another. I celebrate the faithfulness to loved ones, the strong imperative to protect the children, the need for community and connection, and the delight in nature. And, I get a kick of how swell is it that we can always pull something black and white out of our closet to look ever-chic and pulled together as we follow a caring path and become more like our penguin pals.

Thank you, penguins for reminding us of the way.

Anatomy of betrayal

 A face reader once told me that I had kind eyes, a strong jaw, a good forehead, in fact, an excellent forehead, an emotional nose, and, more pointedly, that I absolutely could not handle betrayal.

Really, though, who can handle betrayal? Its very name conjures up deep hurt and heartache. Betrayal is the stuff of great literature, pulp fiction, films, theater, romance novels, country western ballads, and the top 40. Even Harry Potter deals with betrayal. It’s a universal theme. Betrayal is part and parcel of the human experience. Hasn’t every card-carrying adult experienced betrayal of one sort or another?

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You’re invited to a Spring Equinox Meditation

Spring Equinox is around the corner on Wednesday, March 20.

Join Adele live via telephone or order the MP3 download afterwards. It’ll be a good one!

8 p.m. Eastern Time. Pre-registration is required click the link below for details.

http://adeleryanmcdowell.com/about/news-and-events/

The Forgiveness List

There are days I feel like I am treading as fast as I can and barely can keep my head above water.  Glub, glub, glub.

Technology is wonderful, and, equally, it can be exhausting for me.  My email in-boxes are full of great things I want to read and way too many good intentions on my part to respond with substance and depth to many meaningful emails.  As the saying goes,” I am dancing as fast as I can” and yet, I am still not getting the job done. This makes me feel yucky.  I hate this about myself.

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