A grieving heart & a hug from Motherwort.

As some of you may know, I recently lost my furry best friend. When my father passed away my Bo came into my life and lifted so much grief from my heart. I’m pretty sure he was handpicked straight from my dad, as my dad was a jokester. Bo was VERY funny. I should also introduce his friend Robert. Robert was his tail that he chased all….day…..long… he chased it so much, we nicknamed it “Robert”. I’d say, “get Robert, Bo!” and there he would go in circles until he captured Robert and he would stand there with his tail in his mouth and stare at me like I got him! What do you want me to do now, mom? So, at least he had a name for his connected friend that he liked to chase for minutes on end.

If you have ever had a Golden Retriever, I’m sure you get it because they are naturally funny pups and a joy to have around.

Bo liked to be by my side…. at all times. One time he heard me laughing with the neighbor across the street and he managed to lock himself in a bedroom aaaand also managed to chew a hole in the door the size of his head. There were a lot of those mishaps over the years that Bo graced us with. But, when my husband went to fix whatever Bo broke or chewed through Bo was right there next to my husband for emotional support (we’ll just call it that), wagging his tail, licking him like he had done a good thing. Bo also liked to stop walking in front of my husband and make him stumble. This was only something they shared together as Bo liked to keep him on his toes or maybe not keep him on his toes.

 They had a very funny relationship. As much as my husband would like to get mad (and he did in his own way) he misses the presence of our beloved Bo as well. He sure pulled a lot of shenanigans (oopsie).

But, I’m sure my dad was laughing from afar because like I said he was a trickster. Bo came here to mend my heart and he did just that.  

Bo sure did do a good job of giving us laughs and uplifting my spirit, daily. But, when he crossed the rainbow bridge my body felt a different grief than when I lost my father. Was it worse?

No, just different. I believe some of that is because Bo came to mend my heart and fill a void in me when my dad had passed and now that void sits empty from the very one that helped heal my heart in the first place. But, as Bo was sent for a reason. I believe he also departed at the time he did for a reason just as powerful. Our first grandchild was just born a few weeks prior and that as you can imagine helps with some of the grief. But, sometimes we need to learn to stand on our own to know that we can and to be “independent” so we can recognize our own strength.

That is where I believe I am at, as difficult as this has been, I got this.

Bo passing left me in shambles. Literally it felt like I had to pick pieces of myself up but couldn’t, there were too many to piece back together. My arms were too heavy to move and my whole body was weak and tired from all the crying. I literally had nothing to give to my family but rest for myself. That’s literally all I could do…. and it was ok.

I laid in bed except for showering and the times I tried to get up, interact and cook. I couldn’t eat, I was overwhelmed with sorrow. It was only a few minutes of being up that I found myself walking back to bed. My family, thank God was very supportive as they missed and loved Bo to but his and my connection was that of a soul connection.

If I didn’t have them to cover my lack of literally everything, I wouldn’t have made it through the first week.

A few days after Bo crossing over, I began to have heart palpitations. This went on for a few days, quite frequently and started to become a bit concerning. One day, I sat up and realized I had to GET UP and I did. I said out loud (to myself) “this is not going to keep being beneficial if I don’t get up”. I walked to the door of my room and wanted to go back to my bed but I forced myself to take a few more steps to get a book to read, something, anything just to get up and do something different.

 I needed time of rest and to revamp and recoup indeed. But, I had recognized it was time to take step 2 toward healing. For me that meant getting back to normal as normal as I could, baby steps. I have children that need me and although my husband managed to pull through making the entire thanksgiving dinner (Bo passed unexpectedly the night before) I’m pretty sure he would be happy to have me back per say as his cape was wearing thin.

 I decided to take motherwort for my palpitations, but you see, I failed to realize that I was taking this plant medicine for a far greater need that was causing my palpitations. Grief.

Grief had stricken my heart, and it was showing the symptoms throughout my body but in one area that can be scary, my heart. I have had palpitations in the past, but it was usually a few times a month when my iron would drop during my cycle.

This was different. My heart was palpitating more frequently, and I was getting nervous.

I’ve taken motherwort plenty of times. This plant also happens to be my first love in the plant world. Motherwort a beautiful plant, its known as the “lion-hearted herb” as it’s known to fill your heart with courage and strength to face challenges and soothes its inner wounds. One of my absolute favorite herbalists was Nicholas Culpepper. He always had a poetic way of describing plants and their medicine they grace us with. Culpepper said, “There is no better herb to drive melancholy vapors from the heart, to strengthen it, and make a merry cheerful blithe soul, than this herb…therefore the Latins called it Cardiaca”.

This is such a great heart support plant whether it’s for your physical, spiritual or emotional need. I have taken Motherwort during bigger anxiety moments in my life. I used to be terrified to drive through the mountains, like if my car drove itself, I’d be on the floor under a blanket in the back seat until we got through it. But I don’t yet have that as an option. But there was good ole Motherwort and she helped lessen my fear. My daughter took some in tincture form to calm her nerves when she had to take her drivers test. It worked like a champ, and she was able to take her drivers test without the added physical symptoms of worry and anxiety and indeed, she passed! There are countless examples of how this amazing plant has been there for me or my kiddos and like I said above, she remains one of my all-time favorites, my first love. Motherwort can help us navigate through difficult transitions. Grief can make us feel like we lost a part of oneself, in which we did. But it is said that Motherwort helps us return to our sense of self and re-ignites our sense of self.  Motherwort seems to be a good companion to us who are hurting, grieving, have anxious tendencies etc. to help give us support along our way, through any grief stages we happen to encounter on our journey called life.

Motherwort is not just for the grieving or palpitating heart. It has many other medicinal properties so let’s discuss them!

Motherwort is a nervine which means it calms and soothes the nervous system which helps regulate mental distress caused by anxiety, depression and some sleep disorders.

Motherwort is antispasmodic which means it prevents or relieves spasms or contractions of muscles.  Its Cardiotonic as well and that builds the contraction of the heart muscle which will lead to improved blood circulation throughout the body. Since we are speaking of the heart, motherwort also helps with tachycardia and a rapid heartbeat.

So, to me it sounds like this is YET another powerhouse of a plant that was given to us to help our health but especially heart health.

There are other attributes that Motherwort offers us such as….

 It’s a diuretic, an astringent and a hypotensive. Its also an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and helps with other women issues. Hence the name MOTHERwort.

It can help with menstrual irregularities and other menstrual symptoms such as uterine cramps, mood swings and even beyond the years of childbearing into menopausal type issues like hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms.

All that Motherwort has to offer makes her a pretty important plant if you ask me.  I have found her amazing in the past but most recently, lifesaving.

But let’s not forget one thing that most won’t take her for and that is this amazing plant can be used to expel roundworms and threadworms.

Obviously, if you’re taking motherwort to expel worms listed above you will need to take a bigger dosage than just for something like anxiety.

Well, if you find yourself needing a hug or a healing from some sort of trauma, like the loss of a loved one, this is one plant Id recommend. Motherwort can be great for all the above listed issues but for me personally I feel like it was a huge blessing to have motherwort on my side during one of the most difficult times of my life. So, for this reason I am writing my first blog to give gratitude to motherwort for her splendid help on my path.