This post a part of a project I am calling the Awakened Mama Community. I am featuring spiritually conscious mothers in this space to encourage us to find our Tribe, to connect with like-minded mamas, and to help them boost their digital spaces. During these interviews, Awakened Mamas pick five (out of eleven) of their favourite questions to answer. You don’t need to be entirely spiritual to be featured; you just need to be working towards raising conscious children who will hopefully build a better world.

If you want to be a part of the venture (I am happy to feature you!), please email me at: awakenedlittlesouls[@]gmail.com

Awakened Mama Community Featuring:
Jessica Hartsock RN

Please introduce yourself to readers:

As an ER nurse for 7 years I learned that our world and medicine is not helping people become healthier. As I became a mother, I realized again that our society and the medical system is falling short in helping mothers bring life into this world and helping them transition into that role. I started Transitions of Motherhood to educate and empower women to care for themselves, build their own support system, and thrive during motherhood.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/transitions_of_motherhood/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/TOMpostpartum/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1231694004363336
Website: https://transitionsofmotherhood.com/

Can you share a bit about your background and upbringing, and how spirituality became an integral part of your life?

I come from a family with strong religious traditions. I was raised within that faith and while I was young I was always eager to be good and make good choices. As I got into the young adult years I started to questions and veer from my own faith. I left the faith that I was brought up in and wandered for 4 years just trusting in myself alone. After college I was feeling very lost in a tough economic climate and decided to dive head first back into the faith that I was raised it. I went all in 100% to see if I truly believed the things that I had been taught in my youth.

That changed my life significantly. It started to invite spiritual experiences into my life and changed the trajectory of life all together. I now have a strong faith and trust in God that propels me to do things that I would never have the courage to do on my own. I still don’t believe I have all the answers, but I’ve had enough spiritual experiences to trust the process and keep going. I have a relationship with God who I know loves me and that I can trust him to support me no matter what I face.

As I have become a wife, a mom, and business owner, I feel God leading me and helping me through the many challenges of those roles. It’s nice to not feel like I’m in it alone anymore and that someone who has a bigger more perfect perspective guiding me along.

Are there particular spiritual teachers, books, or traditions that have had a significant impact on your spiritually conscious motherhood path?

The traditions of my family have had probably the largest impact on my motherhood journey. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and that community has been a consistent support throughout my journey. Especially after moving to a city where I knew only two people it has helped me build a community of mothers to lean on when I need it in my motherhood journey. They are like minded mothers also trying to embrace their spiritual journey to raise their children.

I love the book Hunt, Gather, Parent. This book has helped me see how other cultures raise children and learn from their decades of wisdom.

How do you integrate your spiritually conscious understandings and beliefs into your role as a mother, and what values do you aim to instill in your children?

I try to live what I believe, which can be hard as we are all imperfect, but I think modeling is the best teacher. I also like to talk out loud what I’m thinking and why I’m doing the things that I’m doing to instill in them the process. Then when things naturally occur throughout our day that hit on values that I want to instill I stop and try to address them in the moment.

Are there specific rituals or ceremonies that hold particular significance for you and your family?

Prayer and scripture study are important daily rituals that we try to embrace and engage them in. If my children wake up during my morning time I encourage them to join me in my own spiritual connection time (meditation, visualization, affirmations, yoga, scripture study, journaling). So my son joined me in my yoga the other morning.

As our children get to the age of 8 they will be able to choose if they want to get baptized and join the faith and commit to following Jesus Christ. This will be an option for them and if they don’t feel ready at 8 to make that choice we will allow them to wait until they are ready to make that choice.

How does your spirituality connect with or influence your relationship with nature and the environment and how does this influence your parenting journey?

Through my experiences I have seen that for my children and myself we become more regulated when we are outdoors. So when I feel over stimulated or my children are out of control we just go outside. The beauty of the outdoors is you don’t have to plan an activity. It is ripe full of activities waiting to be discovered. Yesterday we went outside and played I spy, cheetah family, and talked about the things that we found on the ground. All things that my children initiated without me prompting it.

How do you cultivate mindfulness and presence in your daily life, and how does it impact your parenting?

I have spent a lot of time on awareness so that I am aware of myself and my choices throughout the day. This helps me to identify moments when I’m not the mother that I want to be when I’m parenting so I can make changes in real time. For example yesterday my kids were sick, I was tried, and I was not the present mother than I needed to be. I was aware that I was often choosing to disassociate with technology because I was tired. So I turned on an audio story with my kids, got out some legos, and gave them the choice to play, listen, or lay down with me and take a nap. I rested during that time so I could give more to them after the 30 minutes.

How do you approach teaching spiritual values to your children, and how do you encourage their own spiritual exploration?

My husband and I teach spiritual values to our children often through stories. Our children love stories real or made up. So my husband tells elaborate stories and we use scriptural stories to teach spiritual values.

To encourage their own spiritual journeys we are giving them tools now to help them discover what they believe in the future. Things like prayer, meditation, yoga, breathing techniques, and relationships with other adults we trust.

How do you maintain a balance between your spiritual life, family responsibilities, and personal pursuits?

I use a paper planner to schedule things out. I reflect on what felt good and what didn’t the previous week and then plan for the next to prioritize the things that I value. I also prioritize time every morning to myself before my kids wake up. During that time I meditate, visualize my day, speaking positive affirmations, a short yoga session, reading scripture, and journaling. This allows me to prioritize my own spiritual and physical needs before I take on my family responsibilities.

What are your aspirations for the future of your spiritual journey, and how do you hope it will continue to influence your family and community?

I hope that my continual efforts to connect spiritually with God and understanding his will for me and my family will inspire my children to create their own personal relationship with Him. I hope that I can model questioning truths, repentance, forgiveness, kindness, love, and growth. I hope that my children will better understand who they are and the potential they have through my example. I don’t need them to make the choices I have made, but I do hope that they will find a spiritual connection in their life to give them purpose and drive them to be who they were created to become.

Anything else you wish to share? A quote? Advice? Wisdom that you heard and stuck with you? How to manage motherhood and business?

They are your children for a reason. Never doubt why they have you. You have specific traits and qualities that they need to feel love, learn, and grow to be who they are designed to be. I truly believe that God gave them to you because he trusted you to guide them through this life. He knew you would never be perfect, but even in your imperfections you would be exactly what they need.

Endless gratitude to Jessica for being a part of this digital tribe of spiritually conscious mothers that I am trying to build! Be sure to check out her website, Transitions of Motherhood.

And remember, if you want to be a part of the venture (I am happy to feature you!), please email me at: awakenedlittlesouls[@]gmail.com

xx C