From the same authors that brought you “Deliberate Motherhood”, the Power Of Moms authors are back with another booked titled “Motherhood Realized”, and just in time for Mothers’ Day! While reading this book, I highlighted many quotes and experiences, and in each section below I will share one of my favorites from that chapter.
“Motherhood is rarely what we think it will be. But when we gather with other deliberate mothers and share our most powerful perspectives – like the ones in this book – our mothering experiences can become even better than we hoped.” – Linda Eyre, New York Times bestselling author.
Motherhood Realized is an inspiring book for “the hardest job you’ll ever love”. The book is divided into four chapters, and within each chapter are mini-sections from the Power of Moms community. Each section ends with a thought-provoking question, as well as a challenge.
Becoming Our Best Selves
This section was all about not being so hard on ourselves, and to stop comparing ourselves to other moms. Along with that, we also need to stop judging other moms so harshly. Because each child is different, each mother is going to be different. Our children are ours because WE are what they need, not the “perfect” mom we read about on mommy blogs or see at the park and on Pinterest.
“My mother didn’t specialize in home décor or gourmet cooking, and she didn’t lift weights or run marathons. But she makes me feel like I am the most important, wonderful person ever born. If I could pick any mother in the whole world, it would be my mom…. If you ever find yourself looking in the mirror at a woman who feels badly that she hasn’t yet made flower-shaped soap, please offer her this helpful reminder: Your children want you!” – April Perry
Getting Through The Hard Times
Hard times are something that every mom is going to go through, and are so different for each of us. We each deal with hard times differently, and face a unique set of challenges within our own family. If we just accept that hard times will come, and pass, then we can face them with greater strength.
“The pain and joy of motherhood go hand in hand. They are inseparable. You can’t get the baby without the waves of labor pains. You can’t become the strong and patient and knowledgeable mother you want to be or raise the resilient and wonderful children you dream of without the waves of trials and joy that stretch and grow you and bind hearts together.” – Saren Eyre Loosli
Shifting Our Perspectives
Happiness is always about perspective. By finding the joy in everyday tasks, you will find true happiness and teach our children to enjoy the little things. The most miserable person is going to be miserable at Disneyland, the “Happiest Place On Earth”, and the person with a different perspective on life is going to find joy in a day spent cleaning up the yard. It all depends on your perspective, and if we learn to shift our thinking, we can find joy in motherhood.
“We don’t know our days. This is even more pressed on me as I look at pictures of little children, no older than my own kids, whose lives were unfairly lost in the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Those parents would give anything for a room cluttered with a pile of stuff and an eager little one there to help sort through the pieces, and here I was grumbling. Perspective, perspective, perspective.
Sadly, it’s often when we lose the things that matter most that we regain the perspective of just how much those things, those people, matter to us. It baffles me how quickly I lose sight of the joys in life that are smack in front of my face.” – Rachel Martin
Savoring Moments
This is the chapter that I went through a box of tissues to read. My grandma is always telling me that the best years of your life are when you have your children at home with you, and it is gone is such a short amount of time.
The chapter starts out with an experience a mom shares about encountering new parents at Target with their brand new baby. She compliments them on their beautiful child, as the lady behind them in line grumbles about “Oh just wait!” and goes on about unruly teenagers. Too often, we look at the negative forget about the positive. Instead of going on about how challenging that sweet baby will be, we could tell those new parents about the look on your child’s face as you pick him up from his first day at preschool. We can offer support to other mothers who are struggling. We need to slow down and savor the everyday moments in our journey of motherhood, because way too soon our children are grown and those moments are just memories.
“The joys of life, and particularly of motherhood, come and go in the moments. If we let those moments slip by without any recognition of them, we might find it more difficult to enjoy this journey. Someone once told me that when the sweet moments come, we need to breathe them in long and deep. As a mother of three small children, I’ve loved that advice. It is what I try to do: savor the moment, let time stop, and breathe it in long and deep, because in another moment it will be gone.” – Emily Ashton
Order the book:
This is a book that all moms should read. Your perspective and joy in motherhood changes from reading the experiences each of these moms have shared.
“Every mother deserves to wake up excited and go to bed content. Every mother needs to know that she is the right mother for her family. Every mother has the privilege of experiencing deep meaning in her family work and breathtaking power in her family life that is simply unmatched by any other organization in the world” – Saren, April, and the Power of Moms Team
Visit the Power of Moms website for links to order the book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
GIVEAWAY:
One Enjoy Utah reader will receive an e-copy of “Motherhood Realized”, and one person will receive a hard copy of the book. Enter the rafflecopter below. Deadline to enter is Tuesday April 22, 2014 at 11:59pm.
a Rafflecopter giveawayAbout Power of Moms and the meaning of “deliberate motherhood”:
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