New Meaning of Motherhood 2015; 8 Top Motherhood Quotes

Motherhood has a New Meaning in 2015

Motherhood has been honored and appreciated throughout  the history of humankind.  Many men and women have attributed their success and accomplishment to their mother’s great influence and love.  Meaning of motherhood evolved through history as women struggled to find their own individual identity.  Feminism helped to gain a deeper understanding.

Rudyard Kipling credit; telegraphco.uk
Rudyard Kipling credit; telegraphco.uk

 

God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Mary Anne Evens as George Eliot  assumed a male pen name to ensure that her writing would be taken seriously.  She still enjoyed and cherished her own mother and feminine qualities.

George Eliot Credit; SundayTimescouk
George Eliot Credit; SundayTimescouk
Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.
George Eliot (1819-1880)

As rewarding as motherhood has been in the Western nations and other affluent countries around the world,, women became confined and stereo-typed into a role model of domestic nurturers.  But the  men as a social class became threatened by them to participate intellectually outside of homes.

Women have been fighting for their equal rights, freedom of expression and freedom of choice for the last several decades. 

Gloria Steinem Credit Churchmillitant.com
Gloria Steinem Credit Churchmillitant.com
I’ve yet to be on a campus where most women weren’t worrying about some aspect of combining marriage, children, and a career. I’ve yet to find one where many men were worrying about the same thing.
Gloria Steinem (1934- )

 It’s been said that black women have been gonging through triple discrimination; as a race, as an economic class and as a woman. 

Maya Angelou  Credit; alicewalkersgarden
Maya Angelou Credit; alicewalkersgarden
I’m grateful to intelligent people. That doesn’t mean educated. That doesn’t mean intellectual. I mean really intelligent. What black old people used to call ‘mother wit’ means intelligence that you had in your mother’s womb. That’s what you rely on. You know what’s right to do.
Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

 To have a family, to have children, women struggled to balance their deep feelings  of yearning, intellectual freedom and societal oppression. 

Betty Freedan  Credit; salon.com
Betty Freedan Credit; salon.com

Chosen motherhood is the real liberation. The choice to have a child makes the whole experience of motherhood different, and the choice to be generative in other ways can at last be made, and is being made by many women now, without guilt.

Betty Friedan (1921-2006)

Many feminist leaders spoke up and came to new realizations.  

Erica Jong  credit;ericajong.com
Erica Jong credit;ericajong.com


I believe that women should live for love, for motherhood and for intellect, and I believe we shouldn’t have to choose. And I believe that’s always been difficult for women, to express themselves intellectually, maternally, and passionately.

Erica Jong (1942- )

After years of feminism, a new deeper perspective began to emerge.  Men are also oppressed and not free.  Some men in 2015 are fighting to redefine the meaning of fatherhood along with the new meaning of motherhood. 

Most American children suffer too much mother and too little father.
Gloria Steinem

 

Motherhood represents a continuation of life and richness of heritage.  This is an ideal I would like all the people to strive to experience peace and contentment on Mother’s Day.   When speaking of motherhood, fatherhood is a very important aspect of human evolution in awareness.  I would like to share the following excerpts from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book,“No Death, No Fear”  

Thich HNhat Hanh
/ Thich HNhat Hanh

I dreamed of my mother. I saw my The self sitting with her, and we were having a wonderful talk. She looked young and beautiful, her hair flowing down. It was so pleasant to sit there and talk to her as if she had never died. When I woke up it was about two in the morning, and I felt very strongly that I had never lost my mother. The impression that my mother was still with me was very clear. I understood then that the idea of having lost my mother was just an idea. It was obvious in that moment that my mother is always alive in me.

I opened the door and went outside. The entire hillside was bathed in moonlight. It was a hill covered with tea plants, and my hut was set behind the temple halfway up. Walking slowly in the moonlight through the rows of tea plants, I noticed my mother was still with me. She was the moonlight caressing me as she had done so often, very tenderly, very sweet, wonderful! Each time my feet touched the earth I knew my mother was there with me. I knew this body was not mine alone but a living continuation of my mother and father and my grandparents and great-grandparents. Of all my ancestors. These feet that I saw as “my” feet were actually “our” feet. Together my mother and I were leaving footprints in the damp soil.

From that moment on the idea that I had lost my mother no longer existed. All I had to do was look at the palm of my hand, feel the breeze on my face or the earth under my feet to remember that my mother is always with me, available at any time.

Thich Nhat Hanh
Mother's-day-boquet
Happy Mother’s Day
May your life be filled with love, happiness and peace today and always…
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Comments

4 responses to “New Meaning of Motherhood 2015; 8 Top Motherhood Quotes”

  1. Daphne Dobson Avatar

    Awesome post about mothers.
    Mothers play a key role in the
    success of their children.
    Thanks for sharing!

    1. yukiko iino, Life Success & Online Business Consultant Avatar
      yukiko iino, Life Success & Online Business Consultant

      Daphne,
      Yes, mothers do have such a major role! Thank you for giving such a wonderful feedback. 🙂

  2. Kaede Avatar
    Kaede

    What a wonderful way to celebrate Mother’s Day and honor strong women throughout history…Thank you for sharing the wonderful video!

    1. yukiko iino, Life Success & Online Business Consultant Avatar
      yukiko iino, Life Success & Online Business Consultant

      Thank you for your positive feedback. Yes, we have many powerful women and mothers collectively are a strong group!