Emo-Shopping
Emo-shopping is a term invented by one of my family members around the time my mother was gravely ill and later indeed succumbed to old age and complications of several illnesses. Two of my three sisters and I had promised our mother to stay with her as long as she needed us. But when after a few days she became much weaker and less conscious of our presence, and we realised that we actually lived in a nursing home, we took off that same afternoon and went emo-shopping.
I’ll never forget that mad rush into shoe shops and department stores, cute boutiques and after noticing that none of us really fitted cute boutique style clothing, we hurtled ourselves into shops more tailored to the middle aged wider kind of body type, and for honesty’s sake, we also frequented a jeweler. I was surprised by this maybe understandable but none the less not very spiritual reaction to the emotional strain we had been in in the previous weeks.
My mother lived in The Netherlands, in a mostly late medieval small town, surrounded by water, with beautiful trees, not so wild nature, ancient churches and chapels galore. It gave enough opportunity for me to be spiritual in and I didn’t. My sisters and I off-loaded our emotions by pressing our hot-flushed bodies into too small a size cute clothes. I have to say, finding a garment suiting our body types caused much excitement and satisfaction, albeit short lived.
By the time my eldest sister had arrived from South-America, our rush was over and hers had yet to begin. We assisted her in the end in making some good choices. She was the one who found the best shop to buy the champagne in we would drink while we were dealing with our mother’s estate. We had locked ourselves into the office of the sister in whose house we all stayed, and within two days we had harmoniously divided my parents’ lives.
After that initial emo-shopping rush, we found our inner resources again. We talked to Spirit, we talked to our father who had “gone” before. We did a big ceremony with all our husbands and much of our children to help our mother get into the flow of her transition. We drummed to our ancestors, we sang, we meditated. We offered food to the waters surrounding this lovely small town and talked to the spirit of water, and how she, through her flowing and streaming could be a help for our mother and for us as well, so we could fully understand how life goes on in endless loops of arriving and leaving, of change and pain and joy and acceptance of what is and will be.
I wonder if the seemingly endless consumer-rush the world seems to go through (maybe a bit hampered for some due to changing economic circumstances) is the equivalent of my emo-shopping, to still the heartache and the emotional pain of the loss of our natural (inner) resources and the loss of our Mother, the planet. If that is the case, there must be a happy ending/beginning for us, humans too. We will come to our senses again and will look inside us, into our hearts and we will look again to our family and friends and neighbours and use and re-use our own resources without over-using those of others.
Love,
- Karin Schluter Lonegren
karin@sunnybankglastonbury.co.uk
www.sunnybankglastonbury.co.uk/psychic
Tags: Earth, Mother, psychic, shopping, SunnyBank Center
May 18th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Thank you for sharing this. I’m not sure what my sisters and I will do when we are in the same situation but it’s wonderful to hear that both the secular coping mechanisms and the sacred have a place.
I know my family emo-shops all the time to deal with stress, especially when we are trying not to emo-eat.
I wish you the best in your healing journey and appreciate you sharing your wisdom.
Hugs!
-Kiarna
May 18th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Ahhh, yes I did not address (yet?) the emo-eating part of that particular journey…better not maybe…….
Karin
May 19th, 2010 at 10:23 am
It was a special time, and yes, we ate …a lot!!! Not to mention the wine (all sorts) we drank. When I look back I feel warmth, love and surrender. Surrender to who we were at that time, surrender to what we felt we had to do to cope with our new state, being orphans now. I am proud of our sisterhood and I know that, no matter what, we will be together when it matters. And then we will buy, eat and drink and whoever is ‘gone’ will be present from the other side.
Agnès
May 19th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Hurraaayyy! Yes, I love that sense of connection. I Know our ancestors are there too when we celebrate our sister/family hood!
May 30th, 2010 at 10:50 am
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June 5th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
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