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The Wounded Daughter and the Mother’s Shadow
Learn to disengage from The Mother Shadow archetype in grief.
Robert Browning said, “Motherhood: All love begins and ends there.” He couldn’t have said it better; knowing love begins there. Disappointment in love begins there, as well.
The day of honor for the Mother figure is soon approaching. For some people, the day is full of love, appreciation, and tenderness. For others, it incites complicated emotions, fraught with past unresolved hurt and anguish. Or it represents the day when the lost Mother is yearned for, and deeply missed. The maternal relationship is scientifically well-established, but through the lens of grief, the relationship becomes augmented.
It’s an innate kind of relationship. When people encounter trauma such as grief and loss, they begin to re-engage and reenact their past relationships in the present.
The mother-child relationship manifests in the adult’s everyday activities. If an adult experienced a tumultuous relationship with their mother, it’s likely they’ll recreate the feelings and perceptions they learned and embodied as children. This is prevalent in the context of grief: As you move through grief, the mother’s role affects engagement with others and with the self. The relationship between the child and mother creates a…
