MOTHER’S DAY WARMTH OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE IS FOR ALL –
“Those who don’t
get unconditional love
from their families need
to find it someplace else,
and one of the ways this
can take place is through
Twelve Step programs,
sponsors, therapists
[ect].” (Sexual Ano-
rexia, p. 167)
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Question: On this Mother’s Day, how do you … GO where the Love is, lately?
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Summertime and I Feel Like a Motherless Child by Mahalia Jackson (4:36)
Motherlover feat. Justin Timberlake (3:10)
Walt Whitman Brief Bio (3:12)
Piano & Lovely Butterflies in Nature Meditation (4:19)
An Analysis of: For this Year’s Mother’s Day: ‘GO Where the Love Is’
Today’s SFZ, “Go Where the Love Is”, encourages seeking unconditional love when it is absent in our families. Psychologist John Bowlby, known for his work on attachment theory, emphasized that secure emotional bonds are essential for psychological well-being. When these bonds are broken or unavailable, finding supportive communities becomes vital. Twelve Step programs, therapy, and sponsorship offer surrogate spaces where empathy, presence, and consistency mirror the nurturing bonds many missed.
Patrick Carnes, who wrote Sexual Anorexia, argues that recovery requires more than abstaining—it demands connection. Those in recovery need emotional safety to heal. The quote from his book underscores the legitimacy of seeking love and belonging elsewhere when family falls short. Brené Brown echoes this in her work on vulnerability, stressing that people need to be seen, not fixed.
The call to “be the poet, not the judge” is grounded in humanistic psychology. Carl Rogers, the founder of person-centered therapy, believed that unconditional positive regard was the core of healing. Judging, by contrast, creates shame—a known barrier to growth. Walt Whitman’s image of the sun falling around a helpless thing evokes this idea powerfully. The poet sees, accepts, and illuminates without condemnation.
In recovery communities, acceptance is not passive. It is radical and intentional. The Basic Text of Narcotics Anonymous asserts that all who seek help deserve compassion, regardless of their past. This is love in action.
This Mother’s Day, the message is clear: seek warmth where it exists, give love without judgment, and become a source of light.
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