Mother, the nurturer, protector, and caretaker.

As a child, a girl's sense of self starts with her relationship with her mom. If this child feels alone with her emotions and her emotional needs are unmet, she might spend her whole life trying to win her mom's love and approval. "Please, Mom, love me. I will abandon my needs and do whatever it takes to be loved by you." she pleads.

We are born into this world with two primary needs; attachment, our drive to connect with our caretakers and others; authenticity, our ability to acknowledge our emotions and act in a way that is truly who we are. Most people abandon their true selves (authenticity) to please others and keep the relationships (attachments) even if they are toxic and destructive.

As infants, we are entirely dependent on our caregivers. We need the attachment to survive physiologically and depend on caregivers to meet our needs, soothe us in times of distress, and provide adequate 'mirroring' of our experiences and emotions, all of which impact the wiring of our brain at a deep, physiological level. This continues throughout childhood as our brains develop.

However, if our moods, emotions, or experiences weren't attended to by our primary caregivers, we have likely learned to suppress them and put on whatever mask was acceptable to our caregivers.

We then go on to form strong beliefs in our adult lives and are often unaware of the underlying causing these issues.

In the following posts, I will talk about my relationship with my mom, healing from a destructive parental relationship, and reparenting yourself.

#mothersday #exjw #repartentyouself