In today’s episode, I was joined by Bethany Webster. Bethany helps women to understand and heal their mother wounds. We discussed her new book, Discover Your Inner Mother and how learning to tend to your needs often involves reparenting yourself.
In 2013 Bethany Webster published an article entitled “Why it’s Crucial for Women to Heal the Mother Wound” based on a body of work she had been developing in isolation over the course of 15 years. Overnight, the article went viral as women around the world shared it on social media, discussed it with their friends, and began referencing it in new blogs and podcasts. Although work by writers such as Adrienne Rich and Christiane Northrup had touched on the concept of a Mother Wound, no one had yet fleshed out exactly what the Mother Wound is and why it remains a universal experience of women the world over. Bethany’s work addresses a crucial gap in our understanding of women’s psychology and empowerment by comprehensively defining the Mother Wound and how it manifests in women’s lives. Through blending cutting-edge research on intergenerational trauma, feminist theory, and psychology with her own personal story, Bethany’s work is the result of decades of research and her own journey of healing. Bethany speaks, consults and mentors around the world sharing her growing body of work that is raising the standard of women’s leadership and personal development.
During today’s powerful conversation Bethany shares how to welcome in grief to process the mother wounds that you have. She talks about creating a bank of empathy to break the inherited cycles of pain that we face from our mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers.
Tune in to hear us explore…
- How patriarchy has impacted our upbringing and understanding of our own innate worthiness
- Taking the shame and taboo out of talking about the truth of your relationship with your mother
- Reparenting yourself and making the choice to love yourself when you make mistakes and fail
- Bethany’s advice on the two things you can do to start healing your mother wound
A note: Upon recording this interview, Bethany’s book, Discovering the Inner Mother was scheduled for publication this July. However, due to Covid-19 that book launch has been pushed back until January. You can currently pre-order her book everywhere books are sold.
Hang with Bethany Webster…
- Visit her online
- Connect with her on Instagram
- Read Bethany’s article, Why it’s Crucial for Women to Heal the Mother Wound
- Preorder her book, Discovering the Inner Mother
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Thank you Mara and Bethany for sharing your wisdom. As leader of a nonprofit that empowers adult survivors of sexual assault, your work resonates with me and with the people I’ve served for more than a decade. I’ve written an award winning memoir about healing my childhood experiences and about working with survivors. I’m so glad you said out loud that we have to be triggered in order to be transformed, because survivors often isolate and avoid the triggers that could be their ticket to freedom. Thank you for the work you do in healing our planet. MavaJoyce, Author of Beyond Aftershocks: Reclaiming Self after Sexual Trauma.