“Mom, I Owe You Bigtime!”
You were the Architect of my Brain
We all realize that we are indebted to our moms for giving us life. We know they sacrificed time and comfort for nine months, and then visited the shadow of death to give us birth. If we think about it more, we realize that they gave up many nights of sleep and many of their own plans to rear us. Our moms worried about us; they made sure we looked our best on special occasions. They took us to lessons, friends’ houses, stores, and school every day—or when we were running behind and couldn’t get ourselves there. They brought to us our misplaced homework, or PE clothes, or Lunch. They were there when we needed them, and they sacrificed lots of personal time to do so.
When we stop and think about it, our Moms gave us many experiences. They taught us the best they could, to do things right. They taught us attitudes and patterns and helped us be who we are today.
But besides all this, we owe our moms for something else that is MAJOR!
Our Moms were mostly responsible for building the frameworks of our Brains! Yes, although we cannot even find this in our memories, from our earliest minutes and days and months, our Moms were the ones who hard-wired our brains and built a framework there for all our future security, learning, social interactions, trust, confidence, and even identity. With good bonding, curiosity, creativity, and spiritual perceptions are ignited and negative inherited traits are negated.
Our Moms were the architects of our brains! How did they do this? By doing the things that come natural to mothers. When they nursed us, cooed to us, sang lullabies and rocked us to sleep; when they played peek-a-boo, and “This Little Piggy,” and “Where is Thumbkin;” when they took us outside to feel grass on our toes or sand running through our fingers or let us scrunch the fall leaves or stomp through a rain puddle, they were wiring up our brains. When Mom let us “help” her wash the dishes or the car or the dog, when she showed us a sunset or let us smell a pretty flower, our Mom added to the framework of our brains that became the permanent grid for the rest of our lives.
It’s called Attachment. When a baby is born, only 25% of it’s brain is fully developed. The other 75% begins to wire up through our senses. So when Mom looked into our eyes, or sang, or touched, or fed, or held us close so we could smell her own smell, she was forming our very brains. She was giving us a grid, so to speak, as a foundation for the rest of our lives’ experiences. The optimal time for all this to occur is between birth and 14 months. And she was the very best one to do it. Thanks to mom, we grew well-adjusted and capable in so many areas.
(For more, see https://theanswerismorelove.com/2014/09/the-godly-power-of-attachment/)
God the Father above gave us each a mother. He gave her mother-love to fill her with affection and the urge to coo and ooze over us. He designed us that we could not physically walk alone until somewhere around 12 months old, so that she would have to carry us. What a wonderful plan to have each of us need her so much, that with her service she grew to love us more and more. Most of our mothers did all this spot on. It was not easy. But they gave and gave—what we don’t remember and can’t ever know.
But we can give thanks. Maybe this Mother’s Day, we can—certainly I need to—take a little more effort to make sure Mom knows how grateful we are for such a great jump-start she gave us for life. The Master Architect trusted Mom to be in the trenches as the journeyman architect of our bodies and souls.
Thanks, Mom! I truly owe you Bigtime! Love, Me.