Mom, Mumma, Mama: What Does This Word Mean To You?

Originally Posted Jul 9 2015

When we’re talking fertility, becoming a mother is something that a woman wishes to be.  Cultivating that great mother archetype while holding a new born in her arms.  Can there really be anything more desirable.

As a woman yearning for a child, this feeling can be felt so strongly you can almost believe that its true in this very moment.

But, even if it’s the only thing in the world that you long to be, there might be some triggering feelings that you may be trying to push aside in order to hold this positive affirmation.  Well, ignore them no more, it’s time to bring them out into the open so you can get even closer to be the one in the vision you hold for yourself. FOR Real this time.

When you think of the word mom, mumma, mama, mother what every word you use, what comes to mind.  Go deeper than the surface and that picture of you and a baby.  I’m willing to bet there is more there than you’re willing to admit.

Because we women have a whole lot of emotions wrapped up in this tiny tiny word and in it’s symbolism of our relationships.

Bring your relationship with your own mother to mind.

Maybe you had overbearing, domineering and interfering mums, does a part of this word feel suffocating or that you are about to enter a battle?

Or did you experience the opposite having the sweetest, most perfect, have it all together mother, and because of that you may be putting unnecessary pressure on yourself to do it as good as her.  I’m also willing to bet that the fact that your struggling to get pregnant has already put you in the hole in this comparison so you have to be EXTRA perfect now, because she never struggled….

Did you have a less than stellar upbringing, and are you determined to do it better, and be the example of how it should be done?

Or are you a mother right now, how does your relationship to this word shape the way you parent?  

There are probably another million scenarios that I could list off, but the fact of the matter is.  The word Mum, Mama, Mother has a number overstuffed suitcases full of baggage that you are holding on to, and it’s affecting your fertility.

In Christiane Northrups book Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing

, she speaks of an all to common diagnosis of endometriosis, strongly correlated with disharmony in a women’s relationship with her mother.  For any of you that have had this diagnosis, does that touch a bit of truth?

Regardless, if you are putting unnecessary expectations and conditions to how you are to mother, the body can’t help but feel that, take it in, and interpret that as stress.  Stress and Fertility are on two opposites ends of the spectrum and therefore this stress will ultimately interfere with your ovulation, implantation, may cause pain, stagnation and likely all around crappy flow. 

So, now that it’s out in the open, what are you going to do about it?  You can thank me for the fact that you can no longer ignore it.  Sorry not Sorry.  But it’s time to identify if and when this might be showing up for you.

I invite you to open your journal sometime soon, and perhaps a few times over the course of your cycle. 

And Journal, what does the word Mum mean to you?  How does it feel in your body, are there areas where it brings discomfort, or does it fill you up some place?  What other words come to mind?  What was your relationship with your mother like?  If you were adopted, consider the missed relationship with your biological mother, is there anything there that needs mending, same goes for the woman you call mom? 

Consider this a weekly or daily practice, from the time that you bleed, your follicular phase, ovulation, luteal phase, thru to your premenstrual phase leading up to your next bleed.

Note all of it, when we have awareness we can then ask our inner wisdom for our next steps to heal it.

If you are finished with pregnancy or no longer experiencing a menstruation, this exercise is still valid.  Use your cycle or choose a moon cycle and tap into your body and these words.  See what comes forth that requires your attention.

In the comments below, I would love to hear any revelations that are coming to you about the word Mama?

XO Ashley