{"id":2028,"date":"2016-05-06T06:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T10:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/?p=2028"},"modified":"2016-04-29T15:26:30","modified_gmt":"2016-04-29T19:26:30","slug":"mothers-day-musings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2016\/05\/mothers-day-musings.html","title":{"rendered":"Mother’s Day Musings"},"content":{"rendered":"

An unprecedented number \u2014 nearly one fourth \u2014 of Baby Boom women chose not to bear and raise children. But we were archetypal <\/em>Mothers, nonetheless. We gave birth to something of our passion \u2014 a business, a career, an art form, a political involvement, a spiritual practice \u2014 and nurtured it to keep it alive.<\/p>\n

We created our own ways of being and served as role models, mentors, and teachers to the generations of young women who followed us. Who benefited from our endeavors and learned from our examples. Or rejected them.<\/p>\n

Those of us who did have children are now experiencing an empty nest or anticipating one. We are no longer 24\/7 mothers and have a completely different relationship to our kids. Many of us are grandmothers. (Who would have ever imagined that?)<\/p>\n

And now as we reach a certain age and our own mothers are passing from this life, we are called upon to mother ourselves.<\/p>\n

I invite you to share your thoughts, stories, and experiences of the many modes and moods of motherhood.<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

I went to a Catholic Church on Mothers Day and the priest asked all mothers to come to the front of the church for a special blessing. Even though I do not have children, I went up to be blessed as a mother. Since I have been performing as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, I felt free to receive this blessing.<\/p>\n

I have always made art about my life. Now that I have Dystonia (a neurological movement disorder in which sustained muscle contractions cause twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures), I have made videos about it and performances about it and more recently, found myself “being” Mother Teresa of Calcutta, as a performance. When I put on the Mother Teresa white sari with blue trim, apply the make up and play the audiotape of her talking about the poorest of the poor, I feel as if I am doing a real and positive honor to her memory.<\/p>\n

My body goes into a big spasm as soon as I put on the costume. My experience while doing this performance is that I have the freedom to twist and turn and shake and am not self-conscious or embarassed by my tremors or stooped posture, because I am just a person with a movement disorder! In fact, I am not just any person but as Mother Teresa, I am a saint who has aged and is cramped up from having served millions of people all her life! The movement disorder in this case becomes a badge of courage and symbol of holiness, not something that is shameful or to be hidden!<\/p>\n

So again, I have used my life, to make good art and I thank Mother Teresa of Calcutta for letting me see through her eyes. Maybe she will even heal me???<\/p>\n

– Linda Montano, NY<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

* ***
\nDonna Henes is the author of The Queen of My Self: Stepping into Sovereignty in Midlife<\/em>.<\/a> She offers counseling and upbeat, practical and ceremonial guidance for individual women and groups who want to enjoy the fruits of an enriching, influential, purposeful, passionate, and powerful maturity. Consult the MIDLIFE MIDWIFE\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

The Queen welcomes questions concerning all issues of interest to women in their mature years. Send your inquiries to thequeenofmyself@aol.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An unprecedented number \u2014 nearly one fourth \u2014 of Baby Boom women chose not to bear and raise children. But we were archetypal Mothers, nonetheless. We gave birth to something of our passion \u2014 a business, a career, an art form, a political involvement, a spiritual practice \u2014 and nurtured it to keep it alive.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":218,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,124],"class_list":["post-2028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","tag-holistic-living","tag-mother"],"yoast_head":"\nMother's Day Musings - The Queen of My Self<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2016\/05\/mothers-day-musings.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mother's Day Musings - The Queen of My Self\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An unprecedented number \u2014 nearly one fourth \u2014 of Baby Boom women chose not to bear and raise children. But we were archetypal Mothers, nonetheless. We gave birth to something of our passion \u2014 a business, a career, an art form, a political involvement, a spiritual practice \u2014 and nurtured it to keep it alive.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2016\/05\/mothers-day-musings.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Queen of My Self\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-06T10:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-04-29T19:26:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Henes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mother's Day Musings - The Queen of My Self","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2016\/05\/mothers-day-musings.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mother's Day Musings - The Queen of My Self","og_description":"An unprecedented number \u2014 nearly one fourth \u2014 of Baby Boom women chose not to bear and raise children. But we were archetypal Mothers, nonetheless. We gave birth to something of our passion \u2014 a business, a career, an art form, a political involvement, a spiritual practice \u2014 and nurtured it to keep it alive.…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2016\/05\/mothers-day-musings.html","og_site_name":"The Queen of My Self","article_published_time":"2016-05-06T10:00:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-04-29T19:26:30+00:00","author":"Donna Henes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2016\/05\/mothers-day-musings.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2016\/05\/mothers-day-musings.html","name":"Mother's Day Musings - The Queen of My Self","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-05-06T10:00:26+00:00","dateModified":"2016-04-29T19:26:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/#\/schema\/person\/544e888db264d2e1c6e32fd2f80c031a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2016\/05\/mothers-day-musings.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2016\/05\/mothers-day-musings.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2016\/05\/mothers-day-musings.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mother’s Day Musings"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/","name":"The Queen of My Self","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Donna Henes","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/#\/schema\/person\/544e888db264d2e1c6e32fd2f80c031a","name":"Donna Henes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0c6\/0c683cd428803d35cf10fae85f8125ebx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0c6\/0c683cd428803d35cf10fae85f8125ebx96.jpg","caption":"Donna Henes"},"description":"Donna Henes is an internationally renowned urban shaman, ritual expert, award-winning author, popular speaker and workshop leader whose joyful celebrations of celestial events have introduced ancient traditional rituals and contemporary ceremonies to millions of people in more than 100 cities since 1972. She has published four books, a CD, an acclaimed Ezine and writes for The Huffington Post and UPI Religion and Spirituality Forum. Mama Donna, as she is affectionately called, maintains a ceremonial center, spirit shop, ritual practice and consultancy where she works with individuals, groups, institutions, municipalities and corporations to create meaningful ceremonies for every imaginable occasion.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.thequeenofmyself.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/author\/dhenes"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/218"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2028"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2030,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2028\/revisions\/2030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}