When you were growing up, did you feel like your mother was there to help meet your needs or did you feel like you were there to meet hers? (After all, it can’t be a coincidence that the word “smother” has “mother” all over it. ) The way you answer this question probably says a lot about your current relationships with women, be they your spouse, partner, daughter, sister, friend, co-worker, or boss.
Author and poet Rick Belden – who previously talked with Dan about The Father Wound on Episode 014 – is back to talk about The Mother Wound, one of the most profound and often overlooked issues that impacts men’s mental health and relationships. Many men feel naturally protective of their mothers, which can make addressing her shortcomings feel like a betrayal. Rick and Dan share some helpful tips on how men can safely begin to unpack the baggage left behind by their mothers, find peace in their relationships with their mothers, learn how to separate their own needs from those of the women in their lives, and start to build more peaceful, intimate, and rewarding relationships with women.
SUBSCRIBE on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcasting app. And please leave us a review, if you haven’t already!
[iframe style=”border:none” src=”//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5608133/height/90/width/480/thumbnail/yes/render-playlist/no/theme/custom/tdest_id/515453/custom-color/#87A93A” height=”90″ width=”480″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen]And P.S.: We have to give credit where it’s due. We borrowed the title for this episode from the late, great Robin Williams!
About Our Guest
Rick Belden is a respected explorer and chronicler of the psychology and inner lives of men. He has been writing for most of his life and has been using creative expression, dreamwork, personal mythology, and listening to the body as tools for self-healing since 1989.
His book, Iron Man Family Outing: Poems about Transition into a More Conscious Manhood, is widely used in the United States and internationally by therapists, counselors, and men’s groups as an aid in the exploration of masculine psychology and men’s issues, and as a resource for men who grew up in dysfunctional, abusive, or neglectful family systems.
Rick’s poetry and essays have appeared in multiple books and on numerous websites around the world, reaching an international audience of many thousands of men and women. He helps men who are feeling stuck get their lives moving again by drawing on over 25 years of experience exploring men’s issues, masculine psychology, and recovery from abuse.
He lives in Austin, Texas.
About The Man Rules Podcast Host, Dan Griffin
Dan Griffin, M.A., is an internationally recognized author, thought leader, and expert on men’s relationships and masculinity. His work and life is dedicated to exploring and redefining what it means to be a man in the 21st century. Dan is dedicated to helping men be better men by understanding the impact of the Man Rules on their lives and finding the success in their personal lives they are striving for in the professional lives. His professional background includes over two decades in the mental health and addictions field. Dan earned a Master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Kansas where his graduate work was the first qualitative study centered on the social construction of masculinity in the culture of Alcoholics Anonymous. Dan grew up in the DC area and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Nancy, and his daughter, Grace, and has been in long-term recovery from addiction since he graduated college in May of 1994.
Mentioned in This Episode
Rick Belden on The Huffington Post
Terry Real (See also: Episode 4)
