The Joy We carry Forward

I run the New Mom’s Circle at my wellness club, Bian. Each month, we gather to talk about different aspects of motherhood — not to fix or solve, but simply to share, listen, and be held in each other’s presence. There’s something powerful about hearing another mother’s story. It reminds us we’re not alone, and helps us find strength, healing, and sometimes even clarity.

This month, our topic was Celebrating Tiny Joys — the joyful parts of motherhood, and the sweetness of our little ones. I chose it because it’s July, and with summer in full swing, I wanted us to have a light, heartwarming moment together.

It’s easy to focus on the hard stuff — and of course we should, because it’s real, and everything about this season is so new. But sometimes we forget to pause and notice how far we’ve come. How beautiful and meaningful the small moments can be.

To help guide our time together, I offered a few reflection questions:

We went around the circle, sharing stories. It was beautiful — so many smiles, so much laughter, and quiet nods of connection. Each mom’s joy reminded another of her own.

One moment really stayed with me. A mom shared how deeply she loves giving her daughter the freedom to be fully herself — silly, playful, expressive, and vibrant. She said she didn’t have that space growing up, and now she cherishes watching her daughter thrive in it.

That hit me in the heart.

It made me realize: so many of the things our parents did for us were things their parents never did for them. And they loved giving us what they didn’t have. My mom, for instance, was never allowed sleepovers. So when she became a mom, she gave us that freedom — safely, of course — because it brought her joy to give what she had once longed for.

In that moment, I saw how this cycle continues. We’re all rewriting parts of our stories through our children — giving them what we didn’t get, and doing our best with what we know. Our kids will have their own stories, their own challenges. What we’re doing for them now may become their baseline, and they’ll stretch even further.

That’s why I think of parenthood as a link in a long, beautiful chain — from generation to generation. Each of us trying, in our own way, to love better, to do better. Sometimes we fall short. Sometimes we soar. But it all comes from the heart.

It’s this exact feeling that inspired the CONNECT collection — a quiet tribute to the bonds between generations, and the love that carries us forward.

This realization made me feel softer, more human, more connected — to my own parents, to my daughter, and to every mom in that circle.