Motherhood is a miraculous thing - it requires compassion, patience, wisdom, intuition and strength. It requires giving so much of oneself to another being that it’s one of the most selfless ways a person can choose to live their life.

While hopefully we all express gratitude to and for our mothers on a regular basis, there is one special day dedicated to recognizing all that motherhood is, and it happens to be coming up. The commercialization of gift giving and the greeting card industry may have tainted this day of honor for some of you, and I get it. One more present to buy, another semi-funny card to sign, the third generic bouquet of roses to send this year.

It’s easy -- and understandable -- to feel demoralized by manipulative marketers and advertisers looking to capitalize on every little thing. If you want to boycott Christmas or Valentine’s Day, I don’t blame you, but please give Mother’s Day a second thought.

Please take some quiet time for yourself to think about your mother and her mother, think about your sister who is a new mom, your aunt who was like a mother to you, your dear friend raising two beautiful children, the single mother you always cross paths with at the grocery store. Take several moments to meditate on what it’s like to be them -- the love they give, the sacrifices they make, the tough decisions and the financial burdens and the emotional wonder and strain and all the things these incredible women feel and think.

In your ponderance of these women, envision their hopes and dreams for themselves and those they mother. Picture their lives as young girls -- what do you think they dreamt about then?

In a world where women, and mothers in particular, are enormously undervalued, send out your love and your light. Send these women your energy and your spirit to help them dance on in their miraculous journeys.

Use this day not only to express gratitude to the mothers in your life, but as a day to start a conversation -- a day to ignite a fire, perhaps in the bellies of lawmakers, bodies of government, advocacy groups, your friends and families. Make it known that women are not going anywhere. Make it clear that we are strong and powerful and confident and beautiful and intelligent and capable. That we will not only raise good, moral leaders, but that we will be those leaders, too.

This does not have to be another silly Hallmark holiday. This can be about change and progress and enlightenment. Will you join us in creating this new perspective?

It’s no secret that Ananda Soul worships all things motherhood. As a brand committed to purity and integrity and sustainability, Christina works with impoverished, undervalued Balinese mothers who want to build better lives for themselves and their children. We have started the conversation...can you continue it?

Giving meaning to this special day does not mean that you have to donate to a charity for poor mothers. You do not have to go volunteer anywhere or singlehandedly attempt to start a revolution. But you could give this day a second thought -- and a third, and a fourth, and fifth. Contemplate what motherhood truly means and all that it encompasses and express gratitude any way you see fit.

I so hope that Mother’s Day isn’t something you gloss over this year. I wish with my whole heart that you use this day and this month as an opportunity to shower those amazing women in your life with all the things they’ve given to you throughout your lifetime, and I wish that when our daughters become mothers that the world is a vastly different place, hopefully one we have helped to build.

Happy Mother’s Day to every one of you sensational women out there.

All my love,

Molly