Annie Dillard quote

How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.

~ Annie Dillard

Birthing

Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers -- strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength.
~Barbara Katz Rothman

I suppose it is natural for me to have the concept of "birthing" on my mind these days. In 12 weeks, give or take depending on when the baby wants to arrive, I will be participating in a literal birthing of the new addition to our family. I'm shifting into a "preparing for baby" phase -- we started registering and figuring out what kinds of things we'll need before the baby arrives, and we start childbirth classes next week. My body is continuing to change in new and unexpected ways, and baby's movements are getting more consistent and pronounced.

But birthing has always been about more than the literal to me. One of my favorite songs is Far Far by Yael Naim, in which she talks about giving birth to yourself. For those of us who are walking the path of spiritual growth, the process of giving birth to ourselves is somewhat constant. There is always something "new" we're uncovering within and learning to show the world. This year that "newness" within that I'm uncovering is mostly about how the divine feminine shows up in me, and how I can share that powerful feminine side of myself with those around me. I am giving birth to myself as a mother, to myself as someone who truly loves her body (perhaps for the first time in her life) now that it is home to her child, to myself as I embrace being a member of the community of woman in ways that my masculine-focused energy used to reject.

We all have both masculine and feminine energy, and it balances (or imbalances) within us differently depending on many factors, like how we were raised, what we value now, what phase of life we are in, etc. I was severely out of balance on the masculine side of the spectrum for the first 30+ years of my life. While the pendulum has been swinging quite a bit towards the feminine, I have often felt that masculine energy still in dominance. This year is really the first time I've felt the balance shift towards the feminine. It doesn't mean that I'm rejecting the masculine energy within me, but it does mean I'm finally finding a way to balance those energies and to embrace my femininity as part of what makes me powerful, as part of what makes me Who I Am.

Mother's Day is this weekend, which is always a wonderful time not only to celebrate the women who gave us birth and the mothers we are close to, but also the feminine energy that lives within us. It is time to let go of the doing energy--we've already planted plenty of seeds-- and instead to celebrate our BEINGness, our unconditional love, our connection to Source, our connection to each other, our ability to allow things to open up and unfold. What are you in the process of birthing? "There's a beautiful mess inside... Take a deep breath and dive... I guess I'll have to give it birth... There's a beautiful mess inside and it's everywhere... Deeper than you ever dared..." Namaste.

Photo: "Viceroy on the Butterfly Bush," originally uploaded by Benny Mazur