Finding Your Inner Mama: Women Reflect on the Challenges and Rewards of Motherhood Book

These days, I check most books out from the library before I decide to buy them. We bought a house. We have our own library's worth of shelves and they are already full. So, if I buy a book, I pretty much have to get rid of one to fit the new selection in. For that kind of sacrifice, the book had better be good. I'm going to buy Finding Your Inner Mama and make space on my shelves. It's not that every one of the essays speaks to me, but the ones that do go a long way because they are well written by smart women who help me feel seen as a mother and a person. Also, many of the essays are gently prescriptive in that they offer advice about how to accept life as it is, to review our expectations of motherhood, of our children, and of ourselves as mothers. And truly important, they remind us to breathe more.

My Cliff's Notes version of this book will have me reread all of Part One "The Reality of Being a Mother." In Part Two, "The Inner Work of Motherhood," I especially liked "Dawn," "Children as Spiritual Teachers" and "Parenting with Mindful Awareness." All of the essays in Part Three "Why is Being a Mother So Hard?" were focused on the politics of motherhood: the messages mothers are given through the media, society, lack of social services and workplace benefits for mothers. Though it was all informative, it just made me tired. The ward between stay-at-home and working mothers, single mothers, do-it-all mothers are just not battles I want to fight or spend much time on. The essays were worth a first read, but won't be reference material for me in the future. Part Four, "Finding Balance" started with an essay by Ariel Gore called "Tell Your Secrets" that brought me to tears. "I'm Breathing, Are You?" uses the tenets of Buddhism to put forth the four noble truths of motherhood, and "Good-bye Herd" is a recommended read for pregnant women.