Resolution for 2007: Be a VERB
I want to send out a quick welcome to new Mojo Mom blog visitors. Today I was a featured expert in the MSNBC.com article Baby Makes 3: How Kids Rattle Friendships by Sue Kidd, which has brought a lot of new traffic to my site. So if this is your first time reading my blog, welcome. I had a great interview with Sue for the article and I recommend it to all my blog readers.
I'd like to propose a New Year's Resolution for all Moms, which is to resolve to take action in our lives. Growig up from a girl to a woman, we are socialized in so many ways to be passive rather than active. We wait, we hope, we dream. Then one day we wake up and wonder why we have been waiting for life to come to us rather than going out to get it. We might think we came up with this idea on our own and blame ourselves for being so passive. If we're lucky, we realize that we were taught to be this way and that we can also come to a new understanding of ourselves as actors in our lives.
I saw actress Helen Mirren on 60 Minutes last Sunday, and at age 61, she is as thoughtful, courageous and well-spoken as anyone could be. She told the story of growing up in a working-class seaside town, sitting on a park bench looking pretty, hoping a producer would walk by and discover her.
But now, years later, she is in the driver's seat of her life. She is still growing into herself. I remember seeing Mirren win her Emmy last summer, and during the award show the original Charlie's Angels actresses also made a reunion appearance. Remarkably, the "Angels" are almost the same age as Dame Helen. But while Kate, Farrah and Jaclyn were trying desperately to look like they were frozen in time in their 1977 beauty, Helen was saucy, sexy and gorgeous--silver hair, eye-smile lines and all. She's the one I who inspires me when I think about being 60.
So let's all resolve to live as VERBS this year. What can we do to take charge of life, to find our voices, and make ourselves heard? What important changes do we want to make happen in the world?
Are you looking for inspiration? Right now I am working on a "curriculum for life" for Class of 2007 college graduates, and I've been thinking about 5 books I'd wished I'd had in college...but are never too late to discover. These are books that you most likely won't find on a college syllabus but will give you vital information that will help you in life:
The Motherhood Manifestso: What America's Moms Want--and What To Do About It by Joan Blades and Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner
How to Avoid the Mommy Trap: A Roadmap for Sharing Parenting and Making it Work by Julie Shields
The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker
Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1000 a Minute by Jack Chapman
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Feel free to post your resolution in the comments section. Sharing your goals with the world makes them real!
I'd like to propose a New Year's Resolution for all Moms, which is to resolve to take action in our lives. Growig up from a girl to a woman, we are socialized in so many ways to be passive rather than active. We wait, we hope, we dream. Then one day we wake up and wonder why we have been waiting for life to come to us rather than going out to get it. We might think we came up with this idea on our own and blame ourselves for being so passive. If we're lucky, we realize that we were taught to be this way and that we can also come to a new understanding of ourselves as actors in our lives.
I saw actress Helen Mirren on 60 Minutes last Sunday, and at age 61, she is as thoughtful, courageous and well-spoken as anyone could be. She told the story of growing up in a working-class seaside town, sitting on a park bench looking pretty, hoping a producer would walk by and discover her.
But now, years later, she is in the driver's seat of her life. She is still growing into herself. I remember seeing Mirren win her Emmy last summer, and during the award show the original Charlie's Angels actresses also made a reunion appearance. Remarkably, the "Angels" are almost the same age as Dame Helen. But while Kate, Farrah and Jaclyn were trying desperately to look like they were frozen in time in their 1977 beauty, Helen was saucy, sexy and gorgeous--silver hair, eye-smile lines and all. She's the one I who inspires me when I think about being 60. So let's all resolve to live as VERBS this year. What can we do to take charge of life, to find our voices, and make ourselves heard? What important changes do we want to make happen in the world?
Are you looking for inspiration? Right now I am working on a "curriculum for life" for Class of 2007 college graduates, and I've been thinking about 5 books I'd wished I'd had in college...but are never too late to discover. These are books that you most likely won't find on a college syllabus but will give you vital information that will help you in life:
The Motherhood Manifestso: What America's Moms Want--and What To Do About It by Joan Blades and Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner
How to Avoid the Mommy Trap: A Roadmap for Sharing Parenting and Making it Work by Julie Shields
The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals that Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker
Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1000 a Minute by Jack Chapman
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Feel free to post your resolution in the comments section. Sharing your goals with the world makes them real!
Labels: books, Helen Mirren, New Year Resolution
posted by MojoMom at 2:24 PM
3 Comments:
MojoMom, First, congrats on the MSNBC mention! That's terrific!
I love the idea of this post -- be a verb! It really is so simple and sums up a great way to approach life in such a succinct way! Thanks, as always, for the inpspiration!
It reminds me of Schoolhouse Rock:
"Verb! that's what's happening."
I really like your idea about being a verb. It's very inspiring. I recently posted my 2007 Resolutions and when I look at them in print, none of them speak VERB to me. Something to think about and something to work on. Thanks!
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