Ep 38: To Be a Mother or Not to Be a Mother? That is Not the Question

At some point in her life every woman is faced with the question of whether she will have children or not have children. It's a very personal question that we don't have a lot of wisdom and ritual around in our culture, which can lead to a lot of stress, anxiety, personal doubt and shame, and even a lot of separation and judgement among the best of friends. The very question around motherhood itself sets us up for separation and self judgment because it's a yes/no duality based question, which automatically creates limitation with only two choices. Either I have a child if I want to be a mother or I don't. This polarizing approach to motherhood also puts a lot of pressure on a woman to have a body that can produce a child or can beat the clock or that she can justify a reason if she chooses not to birth children. Feminine Wisdom guides us to make inquiries that expand possibility and bring us deeper into our own personal truth. A wiser question - one that can lead us to our own inner truth and feminine power is: How do I desire to mother? It is deep within a woman's psyche to mother. Our feminine energy within MUST give birth, we  just are not all meant to give birth to physical children.  Our feminine energy within has a yearning and instinct to nurture and be a guiding supportive presence. We are all just not meant to be day to day parents.  Our feminine energy within calls us to gather and care for others.  All women have an instinct and need to "mother." What if mother was a verb, not a noun?  In our current "overculture" we are domesticated to believe that means giving birth from our physical bodies. There are deep subconscious beliefs and fears that can cloud our ability to truly know what our path with motherhood is - causing us all kinds of suffering, self doubt and self judgment.  We are missing more conscious ways to explore our relationship and choices around motherhood that diminish our feminine power and sisterhood and self worth that I would love to invite us to explore - for ourselves and for the girls and women we love. In this Feminine Power Time, To Be A Mother or Not to Be? That is Not the Question, with Christine Arylo, feminine leadership advisor and feminine wisdom teacher, invokes an expansive conversation to explore:  The "overculture" beliefs around motherhood that still drive our choices at a subconscious level, clouding our clarity - even the most intelligent and educated women often don't have insight to what is driving their beliefs and choices. The deep desire all women have to mother - and how holding mother in the way the collective culture holds it, diminishes our feminine power and sisterhood. And can confuse us or drive us to make choices that sabotage us. Changing the way we approach the very personal questions about how we each are called to mother  - step out of the collective 'fishbowl' to explore how expanding our choices to mother could change the world, and our over stressed lives. Conscious processes for making the choice for how you will mother - Christine Arylo will share her specific personal process that includes exploring choices at a multiple levels - including diving into yourself to illuminate subconscious societal beliefs, your personal soul path, and more.      And... Christine has invited a special guest to join to share another perspective on the journey. Laurie Jacobsen Jones, a woman who explored many paths to motherhood, first unconsciously - from both ego and soul - then consciously - following the flow of her soul path - including the natural way, the 'fertility gauntlet' way, and finally was led to adopt two daughters, leave her corporate executive career to start a school, and became very clear about what her truth with being a parent and a mother was.  This Feminine Power Time is the 4th in the Feminine Bond Series hosted by Christine Arylo. To learn more about Christine Arylo visit www.ChristineArylo.com   To subscribe and receive the other episodes in the Feminine Bond Series - go to Itunes or Stitcher and type in Feminine Power Time. Or visit FemininePowerTime.com    *Note: The overculture is something we as women must continually pause to see clearly. So pervasive, and we've lived in it for so long, it's like living in a fishbowl and not realizing you do. The word overculture was coined by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of Women Who Run with Wolves. For the full definition visit the podcast page -FemininePowerTime.com