Hope Edelman

Motherless daughters are nothing if not resilient. And adaptable. And often wise and capable beyond our years.
Still — if we become mothers ourselves — a jumble of mixed emotions can result: joy, pain, gratitude, anger, fear. We need a space that’s separate from our kids to process these big, vulnerable feelings.
A Motherless Mothers Circle is that kind of place.

For more than a year we’ve offered a series of virtual support groups just for motherless mothers. These Circles are led by Christine Meyer, founder of She Climbs Mountains, in partnership with Motherless Daughters.

Our next session starts this month! Choose either Monday at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET or Friday at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET.

Each session is virtual and lasts 90 minutes, which includes an hour of thoughtful discussion on relevant topics followed by a half-hour of free-flowing conversation exclusively among members.

We hope you’ll join us for another empowering 8-week Motherless Mothers Circle, as we share our experiences, offer support, and connect with women who understand what it means to mother without a living maternal figure to guide us.
Click here: https://rfr.bz/f8ulcf9

And just like that, we’re wrapping up 2023 💫

We’re so incredibly grateful for your continued presence and participation this year! It’s truly been an honor to listen to your stories and experiences and to support all of you on your personal journey this year. We really look forward to seeing you more – and maybe even in person – in 2024. Happy New Year, friends!

All of us here at Motherless Daughters are sending our very best wishes for a peaceful holiday season and a gentle start to your new year. So many exciting things are coming. We hope to see you either in person or online in 2024!

Have your fingers ever grazed a small medal from your illustrious first grade swimming career — or grasped your mother’s high school ring at the back of a drawer — and, suddenly, a story came pouring out of you?

Want to work the story into a polished piece AND explore the larger, poignant message of that particular moment holds?

We just posted a prompt about this for everyone who's signed up for Writing With Hope, all of whom are gearing up for our new session starting in January. We can’t wait to read the next round of writing!

There’s still time to join this next cohort — up to 21 writers with two seasoned facilitators. We'll meet virtually for eight consecutive Sundays, starting on January 14th at 3 pm PT / 6 pm ET.

During our time together, your writing will be workshopped twice for 25 - 30 minutes. You'll also collect writing tips as you witness and discuss other writers’ work. WWH is a generous group that positions the author as the expert of her own story — and always aims to help an author move her story forward with integrity.

Would you like to join us?

Your stories matter. We'll be there right next to you, offering support and feedback as you craft them.

Click here: https://rfr.bz/f8uakeh

Skidding onto FB this evening from Lexington, Kentucky, to wish a very Merry Christmas to all who celebrate today. Hoping your day was warm, and gentle, and bright, and that the joy of the season surrounds you in the weeks and months to come. 🌟❣️

What comes to mind immediately when you think about the word “Home”?

For me, "Home" always brings up images of the house where I grew up. From age 4 to age 18, I lived in a split-level ranch in suburban New York, and I can still picture the interior of each of those rooms in meticulous detail.

The home I see in my mind was the last one where my mom was alive in the rooms, instead of a memory I try to keep alive.

What about you? Let us know in the comments down below👇

This time of year can be difficult for all of us. 📖 Please take a moment to read my new blog post "Grieving Through the Holidays: Moving Forward into the New Year After Losing a Mom," in which I share my thoughts about navigating the holiday season. 💜
Click here: https://rfr.bz/f8sxuf4

Please know you’re not alone if you’re missing your mom right now. ❤️

Millions of other daughters are missing their moms this time of year, too. You can meet them to both give and receive support on this page, as well as on our monthly Motherless Daughters Community Calls 👭

Hoping you're able to see this without a firewall...I read it this morning and just loved it. Emily Flake so captures what moving to New York was like back in the 1990s for me, a time and place that no longer exists except in memory. The kindness of strangers, the quirky encounters that took place every day, living right on the edge of, well, everything (it felt like).

Dumb Luck, by Emily Flake A new transplant to New York City encounters omens, good and bad.

Swipe right ➡️ to read our 6 tips for coping with mother loss grief. We hope these insights bring some comfort and light your path toward healing. We’re here for you 💕

🌸 Calling all resilient mothers who are navigating the unique journey of motherhood without the guidance of their own moms! 🌺

Are you facing the familiar challenges, joys, and triggers that come with the mother-child relationship? The highs and lows that make motherhood a universal experience?

Yet, there's a distinct moment when your children reach the age you were when your own mother passed away—a moment of reflection and a yearning for maternal wisdom.

If you've ever felt pushed to your limits, wishing for the kind of motherly advice that only a mom can provide, you're not alone.

Join us for an empowering 8-week Motherless Mothers Circle, a virtual space where you can share your experiences, offer support, and connect with women who understand what it means to mother without a guiding maternal figure.

This Circle is led by Christine Meyer, founder of She Climbs Mountains, in partnership with Motherless Daughters. Choose either Monday at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET or Friday at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET.

Each session lasts 90 minutes, which includes an hour of thoughtful discussion on relevant topics followed by a half-hour of free-flowing conversation exclusively among members.

Let's build a community where we lift each other up and celebrate the strengths that come from navigating the rewarding, challenging path of mothering without a mother.
Click here to sign up: https://www.hopeedelman.com/motherless-mothers-circle

🌸 Calling all resilient mothers who are navigating the unique journey of motherhood without the guidance of their own moms! 🌺

Are you facing the familiar challenges, joys, and triggers that come with the mother-child relationship? The highs and lows that make motherhood a universal experience?

Yet, there’s a distinct moment when your children reach the age you were when your own mother passed away—a moment of reflection and a yearning for maternal wisdom.

If you’ve ever felt pushed to your limits, wishing for the kind of motherly advice that only a mom can provide, you’re not alone.

Join us for an empowering 8-week Motherless Mothers Circle, a virtual space where you can share your experiences, offer support, and connect with women who understand what it means to mother without a guiding maternal figure.

This Circle is led by Christine Meyer, founder of She Climbs Mountains, in partnership with Motherless Daughters. Choose either Monday at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET or Friday at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET. 

Each session lasts 90 minutes, which includes an hour of thoughtful discussion on relevant topics followed by a half-hour of free-flowing conversation exclusively among members.

Let’s build a community where we lift each other up and celebrate the strengths that come from navigating the rewarding, challenging path of mothering without a mother.

Every step forward – no matter how small – is a testament to our courage and our ability to heal. 💫

Exciting news for 2024!

Next year marks the 30th anniversary of Motherless Daughters, and we'll be hosting a pre-Mother's Day weekend event in Los Angeles to bring the community together to celebrate. 🥳

We'll hold it at a hotel near the airport for anyone who'd like to fly in ... for sure there will be a daylong event on Saturday, including a luncheon, speakers, and interactive activities, and add-on some special workshops on Sunday.

It'll be a terrific way for retreat groups to reunite, for members of the MDCCs and Mothering Circles to meet in real life, and for anyone to experience the larger community.

We're choosing a venue and figuring out pricing right now.

But first, a big question: If you'd consider coming, which weekend would you prefer?

First choice: April 27-28, 2024
Second choice: May 4-5, 2024

FB won't let me create a poll here (not sure why) so please drop your first choice in the comments below! We want to choose a date that the majority prefer.

Thanks so much -- can't wait!!

xo Hope

Motherless Daughters Support Group Metro Detroit Motherless Daughters Motherless Daughters/ back up. Motherless Daughters NYC Motherless Daughters Daughters Who Have Lost Mothers Happiness, Hope & Harsh Realities

📣 Calling all writers! 🖋️ "Writing With Hope 2" is back! 🎉

Join a supportive workshop group that meets every Sunday at 3 pm PT / 6 pm ET, from 1/14 to 3/3 and dive into your writing. 🤗

Share your pages, receive helpful and constructive feedback, and connect with fellow writers who are passionate about their craft. 📚

✨ Let's make this writing journey unforgettable! Click the link below and join your facilitator, Melissa Vincel, plus an incredible group of fellow writers for 120 minutes of creativity and collaboration for 8 weeks in a row!

** You don’t need to have taken Writing With Hope 1 to join this course – all writers are welcome! Read more at the link below.
https://rfr.bz/f8r9a4w

Remember, it's okay to feel grief amidst the joy 🎄

Shoutout to all motherless daughters for whom the holiday season can be particularly challenging, especially ones who are looking for ways to honor their mother’s memory, carry forward the traditions she cherished, and create new ones that bring you joy.

Grief expert (and legend!) and I have both lived in Los Angeles for more than 25 years, and never met in person until this past weekend, when clairebidwellsmith threw the most incredible party to celebrate .riordan.jarvis’s new memoir, End of the Hour. A 🤯 list of people in the bereavement world showed up. What an experience, to meet in person so many people I’ve worked with virtually over the past few years — therapists, spiritual leaders, podcasters, authors, death doulas, filmmakers, community builders. Instead of existing in our individual silos, knowing each other IRL inspires us to do even more together for people in grief.

And David is just as warm and generous in real life as he is online! (Did you know he lost his mom when he was 13? It affects sons for the rest of their life just as much as it does daughters. Check out his most recent book, Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief.

Many more party photos in my Story!

.forneret

A very Happy Hanukah to friends far and wide -- may your entire year to come shine as brightly as the candles lit over the next eight nights.

The holiday season isn’t always all merry and bright 🎄

This time of the year is the most difficult time of the year for some of us — and that’s okay. If it’s hard for you, you’re definitely not alone.

Here are some fast and easy tips for calming down your nervous system if you feel emotionally dysregulated. Have other tips that work for you? Let us know in the comments below. ❤️

Dear Ones,

In times like these, when the world feels caught in cycles of fight, flight, or freeze, Motherless Daughters is both honored and humbled to be partnering with our friends at Reimagine and other leaders in the grief space to co-host a special "Gathering of Grief" this Tuesday, November 28.

My god, there is SO MUCH loss and fear on the planet right now. Many of us have been uncertain about how to address it in a way that feels inclusive, humanistic, and compassionate to everyone. And most of all, to do no further harm.

We are supremely grateful to our friends at Reimagine, who've held online vigils on many occasions before. This Tuesday they'll hold their 100th vigil, The Gathering of Grief, to unite organizations and individuals of all backgrounds in a shared space where we can process our collective grief.

On this Giving Tuesday, let’s give the world and each other the gift of showing up with love in our hearts for what matters most. Please join individuals from all over the world as we come together to find strength and solace in community.

xo Hope

The details:

📅 Date: Tuesday, November 28th
⏰ Time: 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET
Discover more and join us at http://www.bit.ly/gatheringofgrief

Motherless Daughters Support Group Metro Detroit Motherless Daughters Motherless Daughters/ back up. Motherless Daughters Motherless Daughters Australia Daughters Who Have Lost Mothers We are Motherless Daughters

Gathering of Grief: Reimagine's 100th Virtual Vigil | 11.28.2023 On Giving Tuesday, give yourself and others a gift: join us for a very special event to mourn all that is disconnected from love and find some healin… | 11.28.2023

We’re excited for the amazing Sundari Malcolm, BIPOC Grief Educator and Care Curator for The Dinner Party, to be our special guest on Week 3 of our Motherless Daughters Community Calls in December ✨

A yoga and meditation teacher, Sundari is the founder of “A Healing Doula,” a multi-platform initiative offering birth, death, and grief doula services. She is also the author of Grief Gems, a book that offers journal prompts and action steps to help readers navigate loss.

Save your spot for the December 2023 Motherless Daughters Community Calls through the link below!
https://www.hopeedelman.com/motherless-daughters-community-calls

Absent, but not forgotten. Never forgotten.

Comment below with a memory or a way you’d like to celebrate your mom this Thanksgiving.

I’ll start us off:

I celebrate my mother by putting a bouquet of day lilies in the crystal vase that was one of her wedding gifts in 1960. I place it in the middle of the table.

Your turn!👇

Really good article here about setting boundaries with family members, especially at holiday time.

“Healthy boundaries…are beneficial for both the person setting them and whoever’s on the receiving end. They can boost self-esteem and help people feel safe, reducing conflict and even bringing family members closer together. “It really helps develop the kinds of relationships where you can enjoy people’s presence more and be present in the moment with them,” says (Marriage and Family therapist Angela) Sitka, who’s based in Santa Rosa, Calif. “A lot of us have these events where we see family—and we either don’t want to or can’t cut them off—so at least we can enjoy it a bit more if we feel in control of the situation.”

Boundaries don’t have to be fair or accommodating, she says; they’re meant to acknowledge your own needs, and in some cases—especially if someone is emotionally abusive or mocking or stonewalling you—the boundary needs to be firm. But in many circumstances, there’s room for some negotiation and grace if someone doesn’t fulfill their end of the bargain.”

How to Set Boundaries With Relatives Four family therapists detail how setting healthy boundaries with your family members can lead to deeper relationships.

As the end of the year is around the corner and the holiday season starts… so are the painful reminders of our loss.

Here are a few things we like to remember as we navigate through this time. We hope they help you, too. 🤍

We’re here for you! If this resonates with you, leave a ❤️ in the comments below and share some love with other motherless daughters.

I can’t believe it’s already the last round of our November 2023 Motherless Daughters Community Calls!

Swipe right to explore our December discussion topics 💫

Join us by clicking the link below (your registration includes 4 monthly calls and ongoing support) and choose from either:

- Tuesdays at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET
OR
- Thursdays at 11am PT / 2 pm ET

We’re here to support you through what can feel like one of the hardest months of the year 💛

https://rfr.bz/f7kuw2x

Today is Children's Grief Awareness Day, when we acknowledge the importance of supporting children through their grief experiences at the time of loss.

Many of us know how crucial this intention and attention is. And how lucky were we to spend part of today with Brennan Wood, executive director of the Dougy Center in Portland, Oregon?

The Dougy Center is the premiere family grief center in the country and has served countless children since it started in the 1990s.

Brennan was a featured guest on this week's Motherless Daughters Community Calls, and we are so very grateful to her for her time, her work, and her commitment to the cause.

If you know a grieving child, please give them extra love today and every day. It really makes a difference. ❤️

I remember driving down a canyon road in Los Angeles a few years ago, thinking about what the long arc of grief should be called.

“Grief” seemed like a good term for the part that comes right after someone we love dies – the sorrow, the longing, the guilt, the relief, the regret.

“But what can we call the part that comes next and lasts for a lifetime?” I asked myself. “What comes after grief?”

By the time I reached the Pacific Coast Highway at the bottom of the canyon, I realized the best name for this phase was the Aftergrief. That became the title of my next book. If you haven’t read ‘The AfterGrief: Finding Your Way Along the Long Arc of Loss’, I hope you’ll check it out!

🌟 We are so excited that Brennan Wood, the incredible Executive Director of Dougy Center in Portland, Oregon, is our featured guest for Week 3 of our Motherless Daughters Community Calls! 🌸💫

Brennan will talk with us about her commitment and efforts to make the world into a place where grief is acknowledged as a natural response to loss. 💜

If the loss of your mom feels so big that it’s taken over your identity, and if that’s showing up in your life as a problem, here are three journal prompts that might be helpful:

I am a motherless daughter, and this means _______________________.
My superpowers – the things I can do better than most people I know – are ___________________. These are (or aren’t) linked to my loss in the following ways: ________________.
All of us have multiple personas or identities, meaning we wear many different hats in the course of a day. In addition to having a colorful and well-worn motherless daughter hat, I also have _________, __________, and _________ hats that I wear on a regular basis. (E.g. student, roommate, coworker, partner, spouse, mother, grandmother, reader, knitter, party girl, gardener, neighbor, etc.)

No matter how long ago a loved one died, we’ll still miss them at major life transitions.

Have you ever heard about “New Old Grief” before? It’s when an old loss shows up in a new way – and a fresh grief cycle begins.

But, then, we might be left wondering why this *still* affects us so profoundly after all this time. (Because New Old Grief. That’s why.)

Has this ever happened to you? Let us know in the comments below👇

I'm so excited to let you know about this new workbook by my dear friend and colleague, Claire Bidwell Smith. The Anxious Grief workbook is a fantastic resource for any therapist or coach who works with grieving clients. It's packed with exercises and activities, plus psychoeducation, to help clients whose grief and anxiety are intertwined.

Claire is one of the most knowledgeable and compassionate voices in the bereavement field, and a specialist on anxiety. The workbook is designed for clinicians to use with clients, but there's something in it for anyone who's struggling with this issue.

Brava, Claire! Your light illuminates so many paths.

Anxious Grief: A Clinician’s Guide to Supporting Grieving Clients Experiencing Anxiety, Panic, and Fear Anxious Grief: A Clinician’s Guide to Supporting Grieving Clients Experiencing Anxiety, Panic, and Fear