The depth and beauty in the hard stuff

Today I am so inspired by the depth of mothering. I'm not even there yet exactly, but still there seems to be endless ways to celebrate the mystery, beauty and deep love of experiencing motherhood. As I prepare for the wonder of ushering a child into the physical world, I can only speculate curiously how life-changing and awesome it might be. There is also this shadow side of it too, though, that seems to be a danger to discount. This looming unknown of how will my body be after, how will I negotiate the challenges of raising a child - am I enough, am I prepared...?

I read this the other day and it brought tears to my eyes, to think how easy it is to buy into the social and cultural matrix that values only youth and beauty. How we neglect our elders, and see the wrinkles around their eyes instead of the depth of experience inside of them. How beauty is such a much deeper thread than what we see, yet we have lost our trust in experience, and allowed media and culture to tell us what beauty is. How unconsciously we pass to our daughters this feeling of not-enough - not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not popular enough, not anything enough. And we don't even realize what we do because of it's deep root in our phsyche. ... Gross. This little affirmation is one of the most beautiful things I've read in a long time. See if if doesn't resonate with you too (thank you offbeat mama):

http://offbeatmama.com/2012/11/telling-daughters-im-beautiful

And then I saw this blog. This little gem reminding me to go back to what I know - breath. To trust in the deep well of love that I know and that is the truth of me. To let go of the fear - and know that it is only a construct of my mind to keep me a slave to the ego, and to breathe. To breathe in the face of challenge, and negotiate with grace those moments that I don't know if I can make it through. Enjoy friends, as we all only have this moment to shape. Bring your mind to it, and let it expand! Thank you Mothering Magazne:


http://www.mothering.com/community/a/learning-to-breathe-deeply

With much love and gratitude, I sign off to dive in myself!

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