5 Life Lessons From my Mother
How I Learned to Love Life
I introduced my parents and one important life lesson when I wrote about How a Childhood Lesson Taught Me to Be Cautious of the Narrative. I followed it up with life lessons from my awesome father; this time around, I want to talk about my equally awesome mother.
Here are 5 life lessons from my mother:
1. Smile: My mother always had a smile on and was one of the happiest people I have ever known. She was one of the best influences in my life through the power of positivity. She had bad days like anyone, but she let the good days shine through more often, and that is what anyone would remember of her.
2. Welcome People into Your Life: My mother made friends wherever she went. I remember her taking me places as a child; when I came back to meet up with her, she would have two or three strangers just talking with her. She had many diverse friends over the years. Her openness made her receptive to meeting people that someone more closed off would not have met.
3. Give Everyone a Second Chance (or Third): She believed in people, and even when they let her down, she always believed they could and would do better given time and support. My father believed she was too trusting, but I think this is how you can be with an open and loving heart and mind. People do have the ability for redemption and growth, if given an opportunity and support. We all have our limits, but if you write everyone off or keep yourself too guarded, you miss out on witnessing one of life’s greatest gifts: the ability to grow into better people.
4. Be Open to Different Ways of Thinking: The best way to describe my mother was a new-age hippie artist. She believed things some would consider weird, and that opened my eyes to a lot of things others are less open to. I consider myself an optimistic skeptic because of that. Learning how and why people believe what they believe, and how it shapes their worldview, gives you a greater insight into the motivations and interests of those around you.
5. Pursue Your Interests: Landscaping, interior decorating, graphic design, pottery, and the movements of our original ancestors across the globe were all things my mother studied over the years. She owned multiple businesses, to limited success, but as soon as one thing failed or lost its spark, she was on to the next thing that caught her imagination. She had an idea and she pursued it with all the gusto in the world. It inspired me to pursue all my interests, from philosophy, film, special effects makeup, and video games to virtual reality and leadership. Pursue your dreams because you never know what will fulfill your life.
Love life and people. Remove your limiting beliefs. Chase your dreams. You will live a life of no regrets and a whole lot of happiness. Those are my five life lessons from my mother. Let me know if you have any lessons from a maternal figure in your life in the comments below. Be sure to check out my podcast!
