In today’s post, the Universe seems to be nudging me towards herbalism lately, but fitting it into my busy life will be a challenge. Despite my black thumb, I feel pulled to this new avenue of study. As a conscious mother, I worry about the impact of exposing children on social media. It’s a delicate balance between sharing and oversharing.

There have been signs from the Universe lately about herbalism. Between subject matter I’ve been drawn to, card decks I am spotting in the stories of people on Instagram that I have also had saved on my wishlist for ages, advertisements about online courses, and the like, deepening my understanding of my connection to plants, essential oils, herbal remedies, and the like seem to be the soul-trend. I don’t know that a course will be the avenue that’s ideal to pursue this only because it’s yet another break I’ll need to allot into my schedule. Books and learning through reading seems to be the most ideal way to adapt this interest in a way that meets my learning and time needs. I’ll take stock of what books are in my collection already and expand from there.

The only problem is that despite my absolute love of plants – and garden centers – I have a black as rot thumb and certainly not a green one, so that aspect of herbalism (growing, tending, pruning, the like) is sure to be lost on me. In addition, if I follow the advice of Mountain Rose Herbs, there’s a whole stock of “tools” a herbalist needs. This sounds like a lot of work, if I’m being honest with you! Maybe I’ll just dip my toes into it all.

Since motherhood is my primary identity and one I absolutely am enamoured with, I do like to know or understand how my learning will impact my awakened mama journey. Herbalism could certainly be beneficial, but it obviously will never replace Western medicine for me and my family. I’m already thinking about how a little tincture or essential oil could benefit my carsickness, could soothe a scraped knee for my little, could purify the air when sickness is circulating. There are sparks on how to make this meaningful to my overall journey – and, of course, sharing this knowledge with the collective – but I also need to make it applicable to my own personal skills and commitment level.

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My intense emotional commitment to the protection of children worldwide has lead to a lot of nights in bed, crying. Not recently, but there were months were I struggled with this weight and got pulled into a YouTube or Instagram blackhole of pain. Before becoming a mother, most of these tears were reserved for helpless animals – now I share them for both animals and children. The kidnap and mutation of children in Africa for voodoo, the indoctrination of children into war in Islamist Middle East, the robotic “production” of children for communist China, the use of children as human shields, the indoctrination or use of children as a tool to promote political viewpoints and push agendas, the kidnapping of children – and the world’s ability for forget about them once a hashtag loses popularity – and the children caught in the crossfire of adult hate and cruelty and harassment is just beyond my soul comprehension.

While it’s obviously not as extreme as the aforementioned, I feel that using your children for content can be equally dangerous and is a careless way to use (you are using) your children. It puts them in a direct line for predators, it turns them into a commodity that leads to your profit (followers, sponsorships, financial gain, etc.) which is equivalent to trafficking, and it presents very serious concerns about consent. The beauty of breastfeeding photos can be found when this child is a teenager and used as fire and fodder by their peers to ridicule them and make their youth completely miserable. Even if it’s done with the most pure and precious intent, it is essentially very selfish because it’s for you and doesn’t consider the long-term impact on them.

@mom.uncharted on Instagram is one of my favourite accounts exposing the realities of momstagram and child influencer accounts. I found her when I was still pregnant and it was easy to make the decision to leave my child’s face off social media. I am not guilting or ridiculing those who choose to share, but sharenting is a big issue in the social media sphere and there are lines being crossed by far too many. I follow a beautiful account by a mother who is raising her children in a gorgeous cottage in the woods, and she posted a video of her child being bathed in the sink. Why? Why do people need to see this? Yes, it’s a beautiful moment – between you and your child – but it’s literal bait to p*rverts. They don’t need to see anything to use it for their own pleasure. And do you think your teenager daughter will want a video of her being bathed in the sink as a child to be shown and passed around her classmates? Our short-term decisions have profoundly heavy long-term impacts on this new generation, and too many parents/mothers are really not diving into their intuitive self to see that big picture. And, quite honestly, it’s selfish to solely focus on the short-term pleasures (and it’s catering to your ego, too).

There’s a reason my spirit baby readings have me leaving a client session so light and high and happy – they’re as close to the God-energy of LOVE as you can get, so the thought of doing anything towards them other than learning from them and preserving their innocence just enrages my soul. Want to be like God? Want to Awaken, Enlighten, or raise your Consciousness? Connect with a child, love a child, and be like a child.

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After releasing that, I have transitioned into a very quiet soul-space right now and I am unsure what to write about any longer. There is nothing in particular stirring within me. I just fear about leaving this as it is and approaching it in the evening, because my evening writing is just so scatterbrained, messy, grammatically disastrous, and the like. It is painful to reread posts I’ve done in the evening, quite honestly. At that point, my head is melted and there’s not much left of me to give. When I am attuned and writing in the morning and in a stream-of-consciousness zone, it can feel like it’s being channeled out of me. But in the evening, it’s pure exhaustion, and it takes pushing and pushing. I will have naptime to write today, at least. However, in this very moment, there’s nothing to give or share in this space, and so I will listen to what my soul says and I will pause and find something else to inspire or awaken me.

Slow Sundays is no cliche – I am genuinely running slow, but it feels right to settle into this. This afternoon, we are going to CERN for some Scientific exploration; quite the opposite of a gently soft and sluggish head, no?

xx C

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Ignore this, but “irregardless.” While widely used, “irregardless” is considered nonstandard English, and it’s unnecessary as “regardless” already conveys the intended meaning.