HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Blessings and love to all the wonderful moms out there, and gratitude to the precious ones who have gone, leaving only their teachings behind.

I am so grateful to my beautiful, strong, capable, funny mother for all she has given, and still gives me — and for making simple my answer whenever I am asked, "Who is the most influential person in your life?"

Today I will share this one example from her mighty arsenal of wisdom: "You made the best decision you could at the time, given the limits of what you knew back then."

This is what my mother always told me whenever she caught me looking back in anguish over a decision I'd come to regret, and those words have always comforted me.

Likewise, if I was ever struggling in a moment of decision, she would say, "Make your choice and then forgive yourself in advance if it turns out to have been the wrong one. Keep in mind that you are making the best decision you can, with the information you've got right now…"

She taught me how to make choices, in other words, and then how live with them — and with myself. She still teaches me that, because she's still incredibly good at it.

She taught me to be bold by being bold herself, and I love her forever for it. To decide, to forgive, to move on, and to decide again — this has been the pattern of the life she showed me how to live.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! And THANK YOU.

Blessings to all,
LG

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall