Bodhisattvas

My mom is why I’m here.

That statement is a pretty loaded one for me, one soaked with tears, lit with beaming smiles, and held together by a hug. My mom is why I’m an intern here at Thistle Farms. She’s the one I called when I was in the depths and needed to leave university to find a place to heal. In this community of redemptive love, I’ve found a group of mother figures, guardians to shepherd me back to my sense of self-worth.

In Buddhism, there exist enlightened beings known as Bodhisattvas. Known as “wisdom-beings”, I have come to know Bodhisattvas as undercover angels, people with indelible goodness and patience they share with the world. In my experience these past 6 months, Bodhisattvas have been everywhere. My various guardians and friends at Thistle Farms have been Bodhisattvas each and every day, shedding light on the truth, beauty, and hope in the darkness of this world.

This Mother’s Day, I want to celebrate the Bodhisattvas. The undercover angels that help us be that which we would become. These undercover angels, these “wisdom-beings”, they are moms, sisters, friends, daughters. They are everyday people doing their best to be for the next generation, which their moms, sisters, and grandmothers were for them.

How will you celebrate the mothers in your life? I suggest buying one of Thistle Farms Mother’s Day Kits to share the gift of healing love with your mother, sister, or friend while simultaneously supporting a community of recovery here in Nashville. Every purchase you make directly benefits the mothers, grandmothers, sisters and friends that made the product with love. This May 13^th, let’s do our best to proclaim the power of love to change the world with our families, friends, and those we may never meet, but who we love all the same. 

By Maddie, Thistle Farms intern