Poor Martha. For five long months she will be forced to leave all her “good things” behind as she serves her sentence in federal prison for obstruction of justice. While Martha Stewart's recent run-in with law is nothing to gloat about, it can be seen as a kind of vindication for mothers everywhere. It demonstrates in a rather spectacular fashion that while maintaining perfection at work and at home is a commendable goal, it is about as realistic as wanting a toddler who changes his own diapers.

While they grew up with mantra "You can have it all," many women are realizing that being a loving wife, a wise and gentle mother, and successful business woman is more than they can handle. Unlike their mother's who struck a blow for feminism by joining work force, most recent generation of mothers finds itself trapped in a web of feminist ideals and feminine pursuits.

Old-fashioned values are all rage with countless magazines and television programs detailing how to make absolutely everything from scratch. Gone are days when a working mother could pat herself on back for managing to get a TV dinner on table to feed her hungry brood. If it isn't a gourmet meal made from organic vegetables grown in her garden, today's working mom feels strangely inadequate. If Martha can make her own Christmas ornaments, and seventeen kinds of cookies while running a business empire, underlying sentiment seems to be, why can't I?

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Parents Dealing with Worry and Fear

by Lawrence Vijay Girard

Dear Vijay,

I worry about not being a good parent. My daughter Tracy is six and my son Michael is four. They seem happy. Our family does things together. It is just that with so much that seems to be going wrong in world, I fear that something will go wrong at home.

Hope you can help me, M.J.

Dear M.J.,

This really isn’t a parenting question. It is a question about your own self and how you relate to life. Your children are simply catalyst for energizing these issues for you. The fact that your feelings of unrest are manifesting in guise of concern for your children just proves that negative energies don’t play fair. They go for our soft spots, and they have no mercy.

You told me your story perfectly. But, you only needed to use two of words you wrote: Worry and Fear. These are words that become self-fulfilling. The more you use them, more powerful they become.

Whenever you have reoccurring feelings or emotions that get in way of your personal sense of internal balance you are doing yourself and your whole family a favor by doing something to improve your mental/emotional landscape.

You have taken first big step by recognizing that this area of your life is out of balance. Observation is key to knowing what is going on in life. Next you want to come up with creative solutions to your situation. Remember, you aren’t trying to go to war with yourself over this issue. What you are trying to do is redirect energy that is heading in what you would consider to be a negative direction, and turn it towards a positive direction.

Here is an idea to show you how this works: