This past Sunday we celebrated the lives of the women that have nurtured and cultivated the hearts and minds and spirits of a nation—Mothers!  Happy Mother’s Day!  In as much as Mother’s Day is a celebration of the role, it is also a celebration of the woman, mind, body and soul. Since the beginning of time, women have been trying to carve out a special niche in a world too consumed with trying to orchestrate our every move and our inner-most thoughts. Too often, it appears as if women are subjects learning how to do the simple, everyday, human things to meet demands that have been structured by men—and it feels weird.

Out of this awkwardly contrived existence come frustration, panic, and ultimately, the unhappiness of how to fit beautifully shaped creatures into jagged and uncomfortable spaces that compliment none of us.  When we reach a certain age, most of us are bombarded with getting married and having children. The bludgeoning gong of our biological clocks keeps us in an unnatural perspiring pace to fit into a world that many of us are okay with never championing, but society wouldn’t dare allow us to traverse the path of being unmarried, childless, career women without the chagrin of being told of the regrets this decision would bring as we become seasoned women—and so we jump into the race for the ring [wedding], the babies, and the life that keeps most of us away from the journey to happy into the journey of obligation.

In time for Mother’s Day, Jada Pinkett-Smith, joined by her mother Adrienne and her daughter Willow, released the ‘Red Table Talks’ in which they discussed love, life and regrets. One of the most poignant moments in the series premier is when Pinkett-Smith is asked by her daughter about the challenges of being a wife and mother.  In Jada’s lofty but reflective response, the takeaways were:

* The more balance we have, the happier we are.
* We are responsible for our own happiness.
* Women have to create new message-ing. We have a right to be happy.
* Meditation helps women to get focused.
* Women have to learn to take care of ourselves first and foremost.
* Communication creates partnership.

As women, we have so much responsibility but our first responsibility must be to ourselves. There is an African proverb that says, “We begin by being foolish and we become wise by experience.” ~Maasai Proverb (@africanproverbs).  The hope is that the longer we’re on this journey of life, the wiser and the happier we become.

To view the entire ‘Red Table Talks’ video, click on the link below:

http://www.5min.com/Video/Red-Table-Talks-Jada-Pinkett-Smith-Willow-Smith-Talk-Love-Family-517362771

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