Everything I learned about life I learned from my Mom

Ma fille Ada me souhaite joyeuse fête des mères sur son blog...

This year Mother’s Day is falling so early in May, I am remiss in shopping for a gift. Somehow I thought I had at least two more weeks. So I thought I would gift my Mom this blog (and my arrival in Geneva Monday morning, and our Alchimie Forever mother's day gift set!). Typically, if I were to have a conversation with you about pretty much any topic eventually I would say something like “Well, as my Mom always told me…”. Here are her top rules to live by, which I try to live by too (although she would never call them rules - she is not much of a rule person).

1. Choose to be happy. Happiness is a conscious choice. If something doesn’t go your way, just believe that the way it is going is the better way (and that you wanted it that way all along).
2. Force a smile. If you force it long enough, it will end up coming naturally. Start your day by smiling to yourself (even if forced) in the mirror. (This is actually such a funny thing to do it ends up making me laugh!). Smiling will help you succeed in choosing happiness.
3. Guilt is a feeling made up by men to upset women. Don’t feel guilty. Ever. Just remove that feeling from your feeling repertoire.
4. Spend time daydreaming - not working, not reading (not sleeping either). Just thinking, brainstorming without speaking, alone. You will be surprised where your thoughts take you.
5. When you are done daydreaming, spend time writing. A published author (fiction, essays, novels, and more), she has always encouraged me to put pen to paper – she suggested I start blogging years ago!
6. Spend lots of time in your bathroom, looking at yourself in the mirror (smiling of course), and applying lotions and potions. Apparently massaging creams into your face and body helps to release oxytocin and enhances your mood. She of course uses every single Alchimie Forever product, twice daily.
7. Extra tired (or grumpy, or ill, or heartbroken, the list goes on) = extra cute outfit and extra red lipstick. People will then compliment you on how you look all day – and your day will get better.
8. Champagne makes everything better. The bubbles make victories sweeter, and problems smaller. The colder the better; the pinker the better too!
9. Be a loyalist in your spending habits. Always shop at the same boutiques. Always stay at the same hotels. Always fly the same airlines. Always go to the same hair dresser. Amazing the perks you get after a while.
10. And my personal favorite: if you stay true to yourself, you will be happy. No matter what happens.

Happy mother’s day Mom! And thanks for the pearls of wisdom!

A lire: "Nous sommes toutes de mauvaises mères", in Le Matin, 8 mai 2010