Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there! There is nothing I love more than being a mother. I find it fulfilling beyond words. But being a mother also brings lots of fear and worry.

Right now, in Asheville, it is tick season. Yesterday my husband found a tick in our son’s ear when I was in a yoga class. Ticks can be very dangerous, especially if they carry Lyme disease.

Even though I did not want to scare my son, I could not pretend not to worry when I got back home and heard the news. 

Earlier this week I had an astrology session with an amazing human being who was also a worried mother. She found herself caught in worry regarding her baby’s health due to some complications her baby had in her first weeks of life.

We all suffer from worry, not just mothers.

Worry is a broken record that runs in our heads and does not let go. We all know worry does not help, but it’s hard to let it go. We are so often identified with our mind that we believe everything it tells us.

Worry brings up the worst-case scenarios. But there are so many other possible scenarios.

There are three astrological forces this week, that can help us deal with worry:

Groundedness

Sun in Taurus, Mercury (just stopped retrograding!) in Taurus and we are approaching the new moon in Taurus. The beauty of Taurus is that it is very grounded. The more grounded we are, the less we let the stories of our mind take hold of us. Taurus is capable of seeing the facts and being rooted in reality, which is usually better than what our worries reflect to us.

Observer

Uranus conjunct sun helps us tap into our observer. We can observe our mind and converse with it. We can see the other options that the mind neglects to offer.

Our mind works a lot like artificial intelligence. It generates thoughts based on what it already has in its database.

If we are used to worrying, then our mind will generate more worry, because this is what’s in its database. To change this pattern, we need to start creating spaciousness and opening the possibilities. When we introduce our mind to new options that are based on optimism, relaxation and trust, we slowly change the nature of our database.

With time, our mind will start generating less and less worry and will instead introduce us to more concrete and realistic approaches to any given situation.

Emotional Connection

Water element is strong this week with four to five planets in water signs. The best thing to do when we are worried is to go to our emotional world, which is ruled by the water element.

Worry is a repressed fear. We are so afraid that we prefer to stay in our heads than to go into our bodies and experience the fear.

Emotions are supposed to be felt in the body, not to be thought in the mind. Fear is no different. When we are worried, we can close our eyes and feel the sensations of our body. How does it feel to be afraid? How does this fear manifest itself? Where in the body do we feel it? Does it feel hot or cold? Sharp or dull?

They say Buddha was a Taurus. Taurus experiences the world through the five senses, unlike the next zodiac sign of Gemini, which experiences the world through the mind. The gift of the Buddha was his ability to sense his feelings and not think them.

When we get stuck in worry, the broken record keeps spinning round and round in our head. It keeps us dizzy, while the fear behind the worry is repressed. When we feel our fear, we process it, and it goes away.

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Speaking of the Buddha and Taurus, one of the main principles of Buddhism is equanimity. For years I misunderstood equanimity and though it meant detachment. But I just recently realized that it was exactly the opposite.

Equanimity is the ability to experience and process all of our emotions, without running away from them, and without clinging to them.

“Equanimity …does not mean indifference, which is actually the near enemy of equanimity. It does not mean apathy, giving up, not caring, or being cold or distant. Equanimity means balance, and it’s the balance that is born of wisdom.”

~Sharon Salzberg

Taurus embodies stability, solidity, and balance. In the low road, they detach themselves from their emotions and their desires to keep steady and calm. But on the high road, they allow themselves to feel fear, frustration, pain and disappointment, and thanks to that, these emotions do not shake their worlds.

In my new path as an author, I experience lots of excitements and lots of disappointments. Sometimes my publications get lots of recognition and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they attract thousands of readers, and sometimes they don’t.  

I allow myself to feel the pain of the disappointment, and with that, I believe in myself and my self-worth, and so I trust that things work exactly as they should. I am solid like a bull. Nothing can take me off my course.

This week, prepare for the new moon in Taurus and ask yourself:

• Do I tend to be consumed by worry? Try to practice groundedness, observation and emotional connections as I described in this post.
• Do I suppress my emotions for the sake of equanimity? If you do, allow yourself to feel more, and see how it affects you.
• Do I feel that I am stable and solid in my self-worth? If not, list your achievements, your talents, your gifts. Do not compare yourself to others, just be honest about what you have to offer. Does it make you feel better? Let me know.