May is a wonderful month! It's a month that women, not just mothers in my opinion, are honored for our amazing capacity to nurture. The nurturing we provide to the people around us, whether at work, at home, to our own children or someone else's - is truly the source of amazing energy in the world. You may recall that I refer to this as "the life source". In some ways we are like the sun, with everyone circling around us depending upon our source of energy and light. Another analogy may be a battery charger. With our life source, we recharge the batteries of the people who surround us.

What a gift we are to others! Today I acknowledge all the women in my life that are a life source to me- my mother and mother-in-law, my daughters, the surrogate mothers, and my girlfriends, professional colleagues and clients too. Can you think of all the women that are life sources to you? Perhaps you can acknowledge many of them this month.

Now- here's my big question for all of us, including myself, to ponder this Mother's Day week: How much does your nurturing actually cost the loved ones in your life? How much does it cost you? The reason I ask - we are divinely, so genetically programmed to nurture, that we often default to nurturer and forget to take care of ourselves. A woman shared with me last week that she takes time for herself once every 2 months. It brought me back to days (and years) when my life looked like this too!!

I was running on empty, at mach one speed, nurturing wherever I went (once a nurse always a nurse) producing amazing professional results, on community and national committees to make a difference and forgot myself. The cost was enormous!!! Not only did I almost completely destroy my health, but I was not giving my best self to the most important ones in my life!!