Parenting and Spirituality
Being a spiritual parent has been a major area of growth for me. Becoming a mother has taken away a lot of my private time and often left me exhausted, which has made it harder to connect to God/my heart in the way I was used to. Thankfully I’ve found a wealth of spirituality in being a mother that I’m learning to appreciate.
Meditation – When I lived alone, before marriage and family, I could spend hours meditating. I didn’t often do that, but I could if I wanted to. Now, I have to really pay attention and work out times when I can meditate. I will admit that I’m finally beginning to be able to find time to meditate, and I’m almost three years into being a parent. Normally this is after my child is in bed for a short time. It makes meditating much more valuable to me because of the amount of work and planning I have to put into it.
Being Present – I’ve had a lot more opportunities to practice being present since becoming a mom. At times when I used to zone out and be on my phone, I have a little child with me who wants my attention or just my presence. I’ve found these are great moments to practice being mindful and present in my body and voice. My little one needs it, and I do too!
Dreams – Dreams are one area that I’ve found has suffered in some ways for me. There were times in my life, before becoming a parent, when I had reams of precognitive dreams. It almost seemed that I couldn’t fall asleep without having a psychic dream. Now those dreams are happening less. They still happen, but I miss having them more often. Being woken up in sleep and the low-grade stress that comes with being a parent has probably affected it. Saying prayers before I fall asleep has helped.
Healing my throat – Speaking my truth with love has been a major part of my spiritual path. I’ve had five separate healers see blockages in my throat that I never told them about. I practice singing and speaking whenever I can to heal and release my throat chakra and speak with honesty. Luckily, we have a built-in nightly ritual with my daughter called Bedtime Stories that is a great way to practice speaking in my voice. When I read her stories, I practice centering in my throat and speaking in my true voice.
Being a parent has many blessings and I’m so grateful to be my daughter’s mom. It also requires a different approach to spirituality than I’ve been taught about. It’s the spirituality of being here, in this world, and living in love by being there for yourself and your family. I used to try to leave the world to connect to God, now I stay firmly in it. I connect to the divine through the mundane. The methods may be different, but God remains the same, and I’m grateful for it.
