How to Root

The root of the word mother is matr.

Matr is the root of several important and related concepts. Material is the source from which other things are made of. Matter gives shape to the material world in which we live in. Matrix is where things develop or originate from.

When I take a moment to pause and reflect on the root of the creation in my life, I begin to discover mother everywhere.

My breakfast is often granola with fruits. The apples and pears were grown on a farm somewhere. The farmer is a mother to my breakfast. The fruits were transported from the farm to my local grocery store. The people involved in packaging, transporting and unpacking the fruits are all mothers to my breakfast.

Many people helped create the roads, trucks and buildings that were needed to get the fruit from the farm to me. They are all mothers to my breakfast.

Yesterday I spoke with a close friend. We connect over many shared interests. Many people were involved in helping inspire each of those interests in us. They are all mothers to our friendship. We have shared many experiences together, including travel, yoga and volunteer work.

Many more people were involved in creating the space for each of those experiences to happen, each of them mothers to our friendship. My friend and I have only a small role to play in the friendship that we enjoy when I reflect about how many mothers had a role to play.

And finally, where do my ideas come from? Are they even mine? They may appear in my mind but after I take a moment to pause and reflect, I again discover the many people and circumstances that led to the creation of these ideas that surface in my mind.

Every idea is grown from a seed that was planted thanks to some other person or experience. Every idea in my mind has a mother. Or several. My mind is like a gardener that cultivates the soil so that even a few of the seeds that have been planted by the many mothers may sprout.

As I become aware of the infinite sources of creation that have influenced the food that I taste, the company that I enjoy and the ideas that I cultivate, my understanding grows that I alone cannot take credit for any of it. A level of humility arises which manifests as gratitude in my heart towards all of the mothers who have and continue to contribute to my life.

And that is how I learned to root.