The Ocean Within You: Motherhood as a Transformative Life Journey
Mindful Intention and the Right Tools
Motherhood is the single most important psychological shift in a woman’s identity after teenage. Yet this is not commonly understood or acknowledged. So mothers cope with the huge changes in their life without any supportive context for their new emotions, thoughts, or daily experience.
My specialization views Motherhood as a legitimate growth vehicle for a woman, rather than a constant output of giving, giving and more giving. It is based upon decades of study, direct clinical work, and personal experience.
The daily work of Motherhood is a mother’s organizing principle. Everything in her life revolves around the needs of her children. This work is constant, non-negotiable, and emotionally demanding. Yet it is invisible, and not seen as a “legitimate” source of stress.
Mothers who work outside the home face a workplace that is clueless about what it takes to do both jobs. This is where “equality” in the public world breaks down. Feeling ambivalent about motherhood, or about the choices made, is natural and completely valid.
Having a child with special challenges is an additional area of isolation and invisibility for a mother. She is often the only person between this child and the outside world, and has to advocate for the child. This is very stressful, especially as the child grows older.
Regardless of her particular circumstances, it is very common for a mother to feel frustrated, reactive, overwhelmed, or unsure of herself. These feelings are genuine “signals” of stress and distress, not evidence of personal shortcomings.
I believe that motherhood is an unnamed, lifelong opportunity for a mother to align her abilities as a smart, capable woman with her capacity to love and nurture. It is absolutely possible to thrive. Most mothers are trying to do just this. However, the challenge of doing work that is invisible, constant, and lonely begins to wear a woman down.
This is when she is at risk for losing her strengths. She needs the opportunity to assess her journey as a mother and to get new tools. The range of tools I have designed for mothers is inclusive, vast, and spans the mind-body-soul spectrum. The support of mind-body natural tools allows you to newly manage physical and emotional fatigue, emotions, and unproductive behaviors.
With the right tools, you have the opportunity to take a step back, regroup, and then function from your strengths. New capacities for love and personal vitality come forward. You learn how to advocate for yourself, and elicit respect for your work of motherhood.
I enjoy and excel at this work, and feel great humility sitting with women who embark upon it. I have learned that when all is said and done, your personal journey of motherhood is also about the survival of your capacity to love.
If you would like to continue this conversation, you can contact me at my Wellesley office at 781-237-4343 ext. 3, my Norfolk office at 508-553-9703 ext. 3, or you can email me at .
Areas of Expertise
• Naming a mother’s journey
• Mind Body Tools for emotional mastery
• Managing anxiety, depression and fatigue
• Negotiating personal ambition
• Helping mothers see themselves through new eyes
• Differentiating between loneliness, solitude, and isolation
• Supporting a woman’s emergence as a new woman and new mother
• Mother-daughter relationships