Though I am highly spiritual, I am finding great difficulty freeing myself emotionally from my mother with whom I have a very toxic relationship. I understand this concept intellectually but struggling with it on an emotional level. It is partly cultural, partly guilt in thinking (as was heavily instilled in me) that I am responsible for my mother’s wellbeing, at the cost of my own.
It is only when I was able to distance myself from my family members/unit that I was able to regain myself and ‘rebuild’ a healthy and happy self, and live from my values and spirituality.
And yet I am now at a cross road where I must make a clear decision or I will always be attached negatively to a false notion that is blocking me and pulling me down. I know there is no possible healthy rapport with my mother going forward, and yet the thought of cutting her out of my life seems difficult. It sounds like a contradiction; if this were an acquaintance, I would separate immediately.
How do people who aren’t close to their families begin to create healthy boundaries in order to free themselves from guilt and suffering?