Putting on my Empowered Mom Panties

When your kiddo hits rock bottom, do you know how and trust yourself to help, or do you get triggered too?

I had a moment last night that nearly broke my heart: my 5 year old melted into my arms sobbing “I am horrible, I am the worst, no one likes me, I should just die.”  This was the first time he’s ever really spilled something this heavy and painful before. 🥺💔

And in that moment I had a choice to be the triggered, fearful mom and *react* in a way to make myself feel comfortable, or I could take a breath, center, and *respond* to his broken heart in the way he needed.

I could also feel this was a HUGE moment for me in my inner work journey - I had the ability to see the choice, and consciously know how to recognize and navigate this moment. I was calm enough to put on my Empowered Mom Panties and help my son.

Even 6 months ago this type of moment felt overwhelming to me; I struggled with depression for decades, so his words cut deep to my own experience.  As an only child, I am a stranger to sibling dynamics so these intense battles bewilder me.  And after reading all the conscious/peaceful/attachment parenting books over the last decade, the practices continued to fail me and my kids.

And suddenly, it was crystal clear to me how valuable and worth it doing my own “Inner Child work” and learning energy work has been these last few decades, especially the last 5 years when the choices I made were not popular with those around me.

For me, being a “good parent” started with being able to parent myself well first and do my own inner healing, not blindly following all the “best parenting advice” by strangers who don’t know me or my kids.

Want to know how important it is to learn to attend to our own Inner Child, how to manage energy, and how I handled this deeply heavy and real moment in my life? 

Because it wasn’t a parenting book that got me through this moment, it was a book on recognizing and tending my own Inner Child and nervous system that shifted how I parent in these moments of conflict.

And it was an awareness that emotions are energy, and when our kids get stuck in a an overwhelmed nervous system from too much input, they need our help in skillfully shifting it, not just witnessing it.

I invite you to subscribe and continue reading to:

1. Learn how to tend your own Inner Child with more grace,

2. Discover resources for building out your Empowered Mom/Dad toolbox,

3. Learn how to recognize and honor the wounding in the loved ones in your life,

4. Understand how repressed emotions, taking on other’s energy/emotions, and nervous system overwhelm are are one and the same, and

5. Continue enjoying my regular writing and photography that shares insights, tools, and resources for being the bad-ass human I know you came here to be.

Yep, even Remy the Horse can feel the emotional ticking timebomb that is about the go off a few hours after this photo was taken. 😳

I found my kids screaming at each other in the bathroom and crying when I came to get them into bed.  They were swinging at each other so I brought my energy into a grounded state to bring calm to the situation to attempt to understand what the hell was going on by asking them both to share what happened while I acknowledged their perspectives.