The Mother
Difficult things happen. You’re going to get knocked down every once in a while. That’s just how life works.
Part X, what we refer to as your inner enemy, exploits these events by generating a sense of demoralization through false hope, keeping you stuck in an endless cycle of despair.
To pick yourself up and keep going, you need a tool that generates resilience. The Mother offers you the unconditional love and support you need to get back on your feet and keep yourself in a positive state.
The Archetypal Mother
Psychotherapist Barry Michels speaks with coach and therapist Kristan Sargeant about some of the finer points of the Mother tool, including how it helped Barry dig out of a deep depression.
Cues to Use the Tool
When you feel defeated by life circumstances, like a breakup or the death of a loved one, or when a work project goes South.
When you're blocked creatively and need to get back into the flow.
When you have to deal with someone who is impossible to please.
When illness or fatigue puts you in a dark mood.
The Tool in Brief
1. Feel the Demoralization
Remember back to a time when you felt a sense of despair. Focus on it; feel its heaviness, as if it’s an oppressive substance weighing you down. Visualize that substance so vividly that the demoralized thoughts and feelings are no longer in your head but take on their own form, like a black sludge or some other shape.
2. Invoke the Mother
See the Mother hovering above you. Place your faith in her power to remove the dark, heavy substance you’re holding onto. Let go of it. The Mother lifts it from your body as if it’s weightless. Watch it rise until it reaches her; she absorbs it into herself and it disappears.
3. Feel Her Love
Now feel her eyes upon you. They radiate absolute confidence in you; she believes in you unreservedly, like no one else ever has. With her unshakeable faith filling you up, everything feels possible
Try It Now
The Gifts of the Mother
Remember what it was like when you were a child and you woke up excited for the day? You had no specific expectations, just the excitement of being alive. Living with the love of the Mother feels like that. This hopefulness leads to an optimism about your future and builds your capacity for resilience in the face of life's inevitable challenges.
