Eva Watson

05/12/2024

Some food for thought. It may not be a « happy » Mother’s Day for some. Thanks to Annie Wright for this essay.

Long ago, I stopped wishing anyone (and especially not readers of my newsletters) “Happy Mother’s Day!”

Why?

Because the day may not be (and is not for many) “happy.”

It’s the same reason why I take a pause when someone shares that they are pregnant – automatically rushing to say “Congratulations!” may not be how they’re feeling about the news. So instead I ask, “How are you feeling about this?” and take my cues from there.

So today, I won’t wish you a “Happy Mother’s Day” but I will offer you a new essay on the topic. It’s a share on the origins of the day (well-intentioned perhaps but nonetheless triggering to me as a feminist), the complexity I hold the day with both because of my role as a childhood trauma therapist, a woman breathing the toxic poison of the Patriarchy, and as a mother myself.

The older I get, the more complex, nuanced, and gray zone this second Sunday of May becomes for me.

If you, like me, don’t experience this as a “single note” national holiday, if it feels complex for one or more reasons for you, I hope that you’ll find comfort, validation, and normalizing in what I share today. I'll link to it in my bio. I welcome your thoughts.

https://loom.ly/xKYWNI0

01/10/2024

12/20/2023

This is so true and such a good reminder

“When you go through hard times, remember you already have everything you need inside of you to bloom again.
Trees grow their buds for the spring before winter even arrives so that when the long nights and cold days of winter do arrive, they don't need to do anything except rest.

People are like that too.
When you're going through your own season of winter, know that you already have everything you need to bloom within you, you just need to hang on a little more for longer days and warmer nights.
Your spring is right around the corner, beautiful friend, And the bloom that's coming? It's going to be more beautiful than ever.”

~ Nikki Banas

Art: Lisa Aisato
Lisa Aisato

12/14/2023

Many experience grief during this season of “happiness”. It is more than ok to honor the feelings around the loss of a loved one, a job, a friendship or pet.

HOLIDAY GRIEF

The festive season,
‘the most wonderful time of the year’,
but if you are missing a face at your table,
it can be the hardest time of all.

How to feel merry, how to feel bright,
when your world has lost its light?
How to carry on, continue the traditions,
when the person who made it all worthwhile is not there?

How to face the music, the dancing,
the cheering and the reflection of a year gone by,
when the pain is already suffocating on an ordinary day?

You just try.

It is all you can do my friend.

You try, very hard, to imagine,
what that person would tell you,
and if you listen really closely
you will hear it in their voice.

What would they want you to do?
Retreat?
Isolate?
Or take their favourite songs
and their funny stories
and their little festive habits
and share it with your loves?

In their honour.

Now that they cannot.

I think we can all agree,
it is what they would wish for you.
I think we can also agree,
that they would want you to feel as loved,
as you once did when they were here.

They would want you to feel their love still.

They are trying very hard to make you feel it.

It hasn’t gone away.

And you need that love now more than ever,
and everyone around you needs it too.

So, feel their love, say their name,
bring them back to your festive table,
even if it takes all of your courage and heart.

It is the only way.

Donna Ashworth

Art by Tracie grim wood

This poem is from ‘LOSS’

11/30/2023

This will be familiar to many of my clients as I share this a lot.❤️

Mary Oliver 🌹