The BEST Mother's Day gift you could ever give

Happy Mother’s Day fellow mamas!!  I am celebrating all of YOU this weekend as I celebrate myself and my own journey too!

I received the weekly newsletter from The Life Coach School CEO this week and it opened with a question: “What if I believed about myself everything I tell my children to believe about themselves?”

Wow - that really got me thinking…  I think I’m pretty similar to most mothers in that I believe that my son and daughter are amazing.  They are very different, but both are amazing kids in their own way.  As we have been through some difficult times over the past year, I have watched them accept the current circumstances and do their best with the hand they had been dealt.  In the process, they supported each other and grew closer as a brother and sister.  I’m watching them become adults and my love for them has grown.  I honestly didn’t know that was even possible, but it has.  I’m absolutely in awe of the considerate, caring adults that they are growing into.  

I couldn’t have asked for anything more from either of them, and there is nothing that I would change about them. I love them both unconditionally, and there is nothing that they could ever do to affect my love for them. There is no question in my mind that I would give my life for them.

Can you relate? Do you feel that same sense of unconditional love for your children?  Does it warm your heart to think of how much you love them?

Now…  Can you imagine having that same unconditional love for your mother’s daughter that you have for your own children?

Wait a minute, did that catch you off guard?  When you first read that, did you think about the unconditional love that a mother has for her daughter and get a warm feeling in your heart... until you realized that your mother’s daughter is YOU?

Do you hold the same level of love for yourself as you do for your children?  Or do you hold yourself up to a standard that no one can meet? Criticizing yourself at every turn, never able to do enough or be enough.  Thinking that if we beat ourselves up enough we will be motivated to change.

I’m certainly in the latter group, and the thought of my children saying the things to themselves that I routinely say to myself makes me cringe and hurts my heart.  I want them to believe that they are amazing, strong, caring, and smart.  I especially want my children to believe that they are lovable, worthy, valuable, and more than enough…  

And this year I want to do that for myself too.  I want to give myself the gift of believing that I am lovable, worthy, valued, and enough... and I invite you to do the same.  Become your own Mama Bear, and protect yourself from your own inner critic.  Look for the good in you that you look for in your children, and love yourself like you love your kids.  Learning to love yourself is a gift you give not only to yourself but a wonderful example and legacy for your children.