For Mothers’ Day and Fathers Too

We all have or have had a mother and a father and, of course most of us remember them especially on their special days. But now it could be time to go beyond cards and flowers.

All of us owe a deep debt of gratitude to our parents for creating us in the first

place, then for giving us roots in a secure environment to progress from infancy to adolescence. The best parents of all gave us wings so that we could explore the world and soar to the heights of our own potential.

This is the ideal situation and, alas, one that a great many people feel they have lost out on.

Many of our attitudes to work, relationships and life in general are coloured by how close our childhood came to the ideal. Any couple can become parents without any training, lessons or experience. So it is not surprising that many fall short of the perfection that we might have felt was our due.

The key to overcoming our resentment or regret is forgiveness. After all, what has been done cannot be undone and you are what you are. You are also what you think, so Mothers’ Day is a great time to eliminate any negative thinking about your parents”.

Our parents did the very best that they could with the knowledge that was available to them at the time. Like you, they only discovered what they didn’t know when they needed to know it - so it is hardly surprising that they may have made a few mistakes along the way”.

This does excludes parents who wilfully mistreat their children from this general observation. These individuals will require a greater effort for forgiveness but it is an effort well worth making. Some people are held back from achieving the great things in life because there is simply no room to let them in.

If you harbour a grudge or resentment it will fester and impact on everything else that you do and that is like trying to cycle uphill with the brakes on. The way to release the brakes is to just let go.

If it becomes apparent that a person is being held back by some imagined past injustice, they need to ask themselves three simple questions, ‘Can I let that feeling go? ‘Would I let it go? When?”

Their answers invariably lead to them becoming aware of the way forward and going for it. This process also has a positive impact for people who are parents themselves. In understanding their own parents, they find a greater understanding of their children.

Copyright The Coaching Academy