Welcome back!
I had an extraordinary interview last week with philosopher Tom V. Morris on Your Guide to Living an Extraordinary Life. We opened with this listener question: “Christy, you’re a Mommy-Muse. This is a show about empowering moms. What are you doing bringing a philosopher on the air? How can this do anything to help my life?”
You’ll enjoy Tom’s delightful response:
“That’s a very good question. Interestingly enough, all the great philosophers had moms. The way they got their wisdom about life was by observing what they saw around them. Think about this; as Socrates was growing up, as Plato was growing up, as Aristotle was growing up, and St. Thomas Aquinas, they looked around and saw what their parents were going through. They knew what trouble they were causing as infants and children. You know what; it affected the way they thought.
I think we can derive from all the great philosophers, not just wisdom about some of the huge issues in life, the cosmic issues that have been debated for centuries; I think we can gain wisdom about the practical things of everyday life. We should never forget; these great minds of the century were ordinary people. They started out in life just like we do. They just thought long and hard about the things they were seeing. We can get a lot of wisdom to help us with the things we go through every day.
What I wanted to do for our time is to bring wisdom back into peoples’ lives in a way that can be fun, and in a way that can be useful. Yes, philosophy is serious, but serious isn’t the same thing as somber. We can have fun thinking about insights that can enliven our lives.
Every new parent has to adapt to a great new adventure. One of the things the philosophers have taught me is that life is supposed to be a series of adventures. The one you’re on now is preparing you for the next one. The one you were just on most recently was preparing you for this one.
The problem is; with a lot of new parents, I’ve known a lot of young mothers who have thought, “I’ll never be able to go out with my friends again, I’ll never be able to go to the gym again, I’ll never be in shape again, I’ll never be able to shop with my buddies again,” and they don’t realize parenting is very intensive in the early stages, but new adventures are yet to come. Hang in there with this one. Learn to adapt to what you’re going through right now, and you can actually adapt in very positive ways so you will make the most of the adventure you’re on.
However difficult and stressful it might seem, the philosophers gave us tremendous advice about how to take charge of the things that are within our control. There is a lot that is not within our control in life. There are things that come upon us. There are necessities. There are these emergencies, and when the kids are crying in the middle of the night, and when you need to take care of this problem or that problem, you don’t always have total control, but the philosophers have helped us figure out how to be calm, how to be peaceful, how to be powerful, how to take control of the things that are within our control, and to make positive results happen.”
-
Parenting and the Art of Change: Step Three Grandparent (and remarkable philosopher!) Tom V. Morris, is overflowing with great ideas for creative adaptation in our lives. On a recent interview on The Mommy-Muse Is In: Empowering Your Journey into Motherhood, Tom shared essential elements on the Art of Change. Today's focus is on the third aspect, the Art...... -
Sweeping Life Changes Sweeping changes are moving through my life, and I have been unable to keep up with my much loved blogging schedule. Please know I'll be picking up speed again as my life comes back into order. In the meantime, consider this interview excerpt from Martha beck on a Steering by...... -
Bringing Peace to the Mommy Wars This week on The Mommy-Muse Is In, I asked Leslie Morgan Steiner, the editor of Mommy Wars, what she thinks the essential tension between stay-at-home and career moms is really about. Leslie: I just think it's really simple. I think every mom out there wants reassurance that she's doing a...... -
The Seven Cs of Parenting Success: Part Two Do you think you need to be "on course" most of the time to succeed in your life? Did you know that airplanes are off course most of the time, but consistently arrive at their destinations thanks to fine adjustments the pilots make? It's O.K. if we're off course in...... -
Guest Blogger Mara Maroney: Essential Tips for Connecting Stay-at-Home-Moms I am delighted to introduce you to Guest Blogger Mara Maroney. When Mara approached me, asking to share her top tips for helping Stay-at-Home-Moms meet other Stay-at-Home Moms, I jumped at the chance. This is a crucial area in need of increased conversation and solutions. When Mara graduated with her Master's......
