Young neurological systems can’t develop without the gentle gaze of a loving adult. The infant brain requires programming from caregiver facial expressions to develop healthy neurons. So if your mother was depressed, often angry, always distracted, or couldn’t stay with you, your brain is accustomed to suffering. Suffering is normal—sending you strength to curate the …
Did you know that beauty is a basic pleasure? Our body responds to it viscerally … if you see something beautiful today, notice how your body responds, and prolong the moment if you wish.
Mother Hunger (MH) is a silent epidemic that goes undiagnosed and unnamed, leaving women in a fog as they sort through symptoms of despair. Despair masquerades as rage, shame, and/or hopelessness and is frequently misunderstood as depression.
Isolation hurts. It literally damages the brain. Think of loneliness as a health risk, and do what you can to find your way out of isolation.
Identifying Mother Hunger is the most challenging work some of us will do in this lifetime. My research and clinical work focuses on naming this painful first heartbreak so that we can find a pathway to heal. There are many psychological and cultural roadblocks that inhibit naming this terrible heartache, so we must be patient …
Sometimes, it’s easier to look away from our internal world. The pain there is too hot to touch, to know, or to feel. So we focus on externals, and if they aren’t going the way we like, we judge, we blame, or we might go numb. Essentially, we get lost. This is when we need …
The difference between solitude and isolation isn’t always evident. Chronic loneliness starts young for women who didn’t find refuge with their mothers.
Understanding attachment as a dance with DNA, cultural factors, and psychological roadblocks can reduce the shame you experience when loneliness brings hopelessness. It didn’t start with you.
Women connecting with a warm friendship heals isolation, if there isn’t another agenda in the way. Too often, women take other women for granted. It’s a sign of healing when respect for our female sisters rises to the top of our priority list.
Early Maternal deprivation creates a lifelong hunger for her love. In my book Ready to Heal, I name this unique grief Mother Hunger. Mother Hunger complicates bonding for women, making romantic relationships and friendships very difficult. Here’s a unique study that reinforces the grief of Mother Hunger from sciencedaily.com Even brief maternal deprivation early in …
