11 Words my Mother Said to Me

“YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON WHO HAS TO LIVE WITH YOU.”  Those eleven words I have heard directly from my amazing mother about a bazillion times in my almost forty years as a person.  Unless you have some sort of abnormal ability to have out of body experiences, this is true for you, as well as every other living soul in existence.  “YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON WHO HAS TO LIVE WITH YOU.” 

No, my mom is not a spirituality guru.  She hasn’t researched or written a selfhelp book.  She hasn’t studied any new aged awakening theories or fandangle mystologies.  What she is, is a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, an aunt, a friend, a companion, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a lay minister, a teacher, a woman, a person, a soul. 

 

So what allows her to make such a conclusion?  What allows her to have such insight?  The answer is as simple as the statement.  It’s because she has lived just this sort of life thus far.  In a way, it’s a sort of motto or life covenant. 

OK, so what does she mean?  How can an eleven word sentence create a life’s work?  Make choices you can live with.  Be a good person.  Step away from prejudice, inequality, and persecution and into love, acceptance, and tolerance.  Do your absolute best to love yourself, truly love yourself (now that one takes a great deal of strength).  Take charge of yourself, your world, and your life.  Encourage good living.  Take care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Finding happiness is your responsibility.  Finding a compliment to YOU (meaning a partner, a friend, a fur baby) is a gift to cherish and nurture.  Incidentally, she also says, “It takes two to be in a relationship.”  Allow yourself to feel, whether it is anger, upset, happiness, hurt, love, gratitude, passion… allow yourself to experience it.  Don’t hold onto pessimism or resentment too long, and stop poisoning your life with negativity.  It all amounts to the fact, you can’t get away from yourself; you’re stuck with you.  Other people can come and go on their own accord; they have choices of their own to make.  Nevertheless, at the end of the day, YOU still remain. 

So, make it all worthwhile, meaningful, significant.  Live life to the fullest, completely, wholeheartedly.  You don’t have to be perfect.  You don’t have to be right 100% of the time.  You will most definitely trip and fall.  But if you live by these eleven words you can’t go wrong.  It’s foolproof.  And you will ultimately find peace of mind.