Before beginning this week’s post, I want you to know that this post is about celebrating Mother’s Day. If this is a sensitive topic for you, you may want to skip this post and rejoin us in two weeks. Please feel the love, light and peace that I’m holding for you!
Happy Mother’s Day! This post is about the spiritual practice of Gratitude.
I grew up in the suburbs with a huge backyard, which meant during the summer, my backyard was ground zero for fireflies. Every evening, tons of fireflies would zoom around my backyard. One day, I decided that I wanted to catch a few fireflies to keep in my room. I had seen a movie a few days before in which the main character caught a few fireflies in a glass jar and kept them in her room. It looked so easy and like so much fun!
So, I asked my mom if I could do the same thing. She agreed. She found a jar with a lid, punched holes in the lid and, voila, I was in the firefly-catching business. Well, after I ate my dinner and put my dishes in the kitchen sink, I was in the firefly catching business.
After dinner, I ran to my backyard and figured out a firefly catching strategy that I knew would work: run after every single firefly until I caught one. While I was putting my strategy into action, my mom and cousin sat down on our back porch. I knew they wanted front row seats to see me fill my jar with fireflies!
As I began chasing the fireflies, I thought to myself, “This will just take a moment. Once I catch a few fireflies, I’ll name them and show them around their new home: my bedroom. After all, it only took a few seconds for the girl in the movie to catch her fireflies and I had a lot more fireflies in my backyard than she had in hers.”
Several minutes into my firefly-chasing activity, I proved one thing: I was not the girl in the movie. As it turns out, fireflies do not willingly go into jars. In fact, they flee, with all due speed, from cute little girls who want to lock them up in captivity. Who knew?!?!
After what felt like an eternity of unsuccessfully chasing fireflies, I stopped, laid down in the grass and stared at the sky full of those freedom-loving fireflies. I figured that I just wasn’t fast enough to catch fireflies, so I let go of that goal and decided to relax.
After a few minutes of relaxing, I heard my mom’s voice, “How’s the firefly catching going?” I turned my head to see my mom standing next to me.
“They’re too fast for me. I couldn’t catch any,” I motioned towards the empty jar.
My mom picked up the jar and said, “Let’s see what we can do about this.”
I sat up and became excited again. My mom had that ‘mom tone of voice.’ I thought, “Uh, oh. You fireflies better watch out! My mom’s coming for you.”
In a blink of an eye, my mom caught 2 fireflies and handed me the jar.
“Thank you Mom!!! What should I name them?!?!”
“Whatever you like sweetie.”
So often, mothers, and mother figures, embody the Divine through mothering their own children and whoever else they choose to mother. During this Mother’s Day week, I thank my grandmothers, aunts and those who chose to be mother figures to me. Most of all, I thank my mom for loving, guiding, supporting and nurturing me to reveal the fullness of who I was created to be. I love you, Mom!
Have a beautiful two weeks! I’ll see you soon!
Love, blessings and purple,
Allison
You can do this exercise as often as you like this week. If you need modifications to the practice, scroll down to the section titled Access Notes.
Expressing Gratitude For Your Mother(s) And/Or Mother Figure(s)
Make a list of the mother(s)/mother figure(s) in your life. Set a timer for between 3 and 5 minutes. Say(either orally or via sign language) why you are grateful for each person on your list. When doing this exercise, feel gratitude at the deepest level of your being.
The following modifications are intended to create equal access to the spiritual practice above. These modifications are somewhat general to be as useful as possible to as many people as possible. Please feel free to further tweak the exercise as needed so that you can participate as fully as possible while honoring your body’s needs.
1. If you are unable to speak verbally or communicate via sign language, try the following modifications and see which one works best for you. The most important part of the exercise is that you feel gratitude while you express gratitude.
Set a timer for between 3 and 5 minutes and deeply feel gratitude while you either,
a. Think about why you are grateful for each of your mother(s)/mother figure(s), OR
b. Write or type why you are grateful for each of your mother(s)/mother figure(s)
2. If you want to type or write why you are grateful for your mother(s)/mother figure(s) and typing or writing is challenging, type or write one or two words that sum up each reason you are grateful (for example, instead of typing “I’m grateful for my mom because she is a good listener,” write or type “good listener”).
3. If doing this exercise for 3-5 minutes is not possible, do the exercise for as long as is healthy for you.
