You have come to this quiet place in search of peace.
Find a comfortable position and get settled,
Whether you choose to sit or to lay down.
Close your eyes.
Through your mouth,
Push out all the air in your lungs.
Now slowly fill them up from your belly all the way up to your collarbone.
Hold it.
And now completely release it again.
Full breath in.
Hold.
And release.
One more refreshing big breath in.
Hold it again.
And let it out.
Breathe comfortably now.
Let your body release any stress it is holding,
Starting at the top of your head.
Let your mind relax.
Unlock your worries like a cage filled with butterflies.
Let them each flutter through the open door and fly into the blue sky and out of sight.
Feel the tension in your neck and shoulders soften and dissolve.
Your forearms and hands feel heavy and warm.
Any tightness in your back releasing,
Rolling down and falling to the earth.
Your legs and feet are grounded.
They feel pleasantly slack.
Your brow is placid and restful.
You are just right here.
You are safe and loved.
You are a woman.
You are a daughter,
A sister,
A friend,
A love,
A mother.
You have been mothering long before bringing children into the world.
You have been mothering for your whole life.
You are needed in so many ways by so many people.
It is sometimes difficult to maintain balance.
It can sometimes feel like you are surrounded by failures,
Barely holding on to your sanity,
But you are doing beautifully.
You can fail to amount to your imagined perfect mother self and still be a wild success in being a beautiful,
Learning,
Growing being.
You are a bearer.
You bore up a belly heavy with life for many,
Many days.
A person you could not see,
But you felt and you waited for with excitement.
You bore up under the weight of life giving with grace and love.
You bore up under the weight of fear of motherhood.
You bore up under the exhaustion and the strain of pregnancy.
At birth,
You danced all the way to the edge of what you thought was possible.
You bore down and lifted into your arms was love unfathomable.
You are a bearer.
You are both teacher and student.
The process that held you and made you a mother is still teaching you now.
It is making you the woman who sees today as a collection of moments waiting to be made beautiful.
Questions waiting to be asked by curious minds and answers waiting to be found and given together.
Nature is waiting to be discovered.
A tree is a new world,
A rainstorm,
A firefly.
Your eyes will open with theirs new again to the glory of the world around you.
They will renew you.
They will teach you things you never knew before.
You are patient with them as they learn and you are patient with yourself because you know that a song must be learned measure by measure.
You offer yourself grace in gathering the knowledge.
That grace spills over onto them like warm water over their skin in the bath.
You are a learner.
You are a comforter.
Yours is the softest shoulder to their cheeks.
Yours is the voice that soothes.
Your arms hold them with fierce tenderness.
Their hearts are bound up by your love.
You are a healer.
You allow yourself to be healed,
Slowing down and being still when you feel depleted.
You allow your loves to minister to you through words and gifts of affection or touch.
You let every expression of love and praise seep into your soul like a balm to a wound.
You turn to your father and let his love come in waves of tenderness from heaven.
You receive it all,
Allowing yourself replenishment and wholeness.
Your children come to draw from a well in you that is full of living water.
You are a healer.
You are a warrior.
You fight battles with time and energy and discouragement.
You fight battles with guilt.
You fight battles with feeling taken for granted.
But wise warrior that you are,
You are learning to use weapons of love.
You have no time and then remember that your days are full to overflowing with abundance and you allow yourself to breathe and to discern what should stay and what should go.
You have no energy and then remember you have given all and you listen when your body says to stop.
You care for your body and nurture it with nourishment and rest.
You feel unseen and then remember to look in the mirror.
Thank you for all you have given today you say.
You are good enough.
You win every battle that is fought with love.
You are a warrior.
You are a mother.
You give love and it comes back bounding to you in armfuls.
You give love and are rewarded with pain that is evidence of its depth.
You give love and have hard days and days that are filled with sweetness.
You give love and it comes back smelly and covered in dirt.
You give love and it makes mistakes.
You love her,
This woman who gets messy in motherhood.
You love her not only for her goodness but for her rough edges.
You love her just for being who she is today.
She is beautiful.
She is whole.
She is worthy of love.
She is teaching you through the shadows where to find the sun.
And her children will rise up and call her blessed for having taught them this love,
Pouring back and forth from cupped hands and open hearts as you reciprocate your light.
You are a mother.
Now as you return to face yourself and your family and your day,
You are full of renewed perspective.
You are calm and peaceful.
You are confident and energized.
When you are ready,
Open your eyes and embrace all that awaits you.
