3 Pearls of Wisdom I Learned From My Mother

My mother is a wise woman. She doesn’t miss an opportunity to impart her pearls of wisdom. In this article, I will share with you three pearls of wisdom I learned from my mother.

She has been a teacher, principal, and rabbi’s wife for 40 years ( and counting!).

But if you know my mother, she is more than a rabbi’s wife.

My parents have dedicated their lives to serving their community for over four decades. They created a beautiful space that houses a synagogue, a school, a store, and a community center.

No important decision is made before checking in with the boss.

And the boss is my mom.

Like every mother, my mom had things she often mentioned.

Like every girl, I was listening.

Those things stayed with me, and I am writing about them decades later.

Those pearls of wisdom are more precious than pearls.

Pearl of Wisdom Number 1.

In the late 80s — early 90s, words like self-care, self-love, and self-awareness were not part of our lexicon.

But my mom, ahead of her time, would proclaim loud and clear,

“Eu me amo!”

Try to hear it in Portuguese with a Spanish accent. Oh… the sweet sound of childhood (for me!).

Oh, by the way, it means, I love myself.

I will be honest, at first, it sounded a little crazy.

In my young mind, sometimes I thought it was arrogant, and sometimes it was plain weird.

Isn’t love something we receive from others?

Isn’t love something quiet and abstract we can’t quite put into words?

How does it even feel to love yourself?

I am not sure if she said it often at all, but the depth and wisdom of those words seeped through me.

When my mother declared her love for herself, she allowed me to love myself.

When she said ‘ I love myself’, she showed me that I should love myself first.

When my mom expressed self-love, she taught me it is ok to express positive feelings about yourself.

It’s not craziness, it’s not arrogance.

It’s love, in its most essential and foundational way.

Pearl of Wisdom Number 2.

This one is closely related to self-love and I believe it stemmed from it.

When someone mentioned something negative about her, most often as a tease or a joke, she would say, in her usual way, loud and clear, at times also laughing, but we all knew she meant it.

“You won’t traumatize me!”

That simple phrase is so powerful and profound, it’s hard to put into words.

In her Spanish-thinking mind, she meant to say, or at least that is how I understood and internalized that she was saying that…

• I know how I am, I am confident in myself, and your little joke won’t make me feel bad about myself.
• I love myself too much, to let anyone else ruin it for me.
• I can control what gets to me, and I won’t let any silly joke or comment bring me down.

I wrote an article with a similar lesson over here.

I am not saying there is no place for self-reflection, learning from constructive criticism, and admitting mistakes. Those are all crucial in life.

However, what I learned from my mama was to be unshakable, because people will try to shake you. To be strong, because sometimes people want to point out your weakness. And to be confident, because to think positively ( heck, not only positively, but awesomely!) about yourself is the best thing you can do for your mental and emotional well—being.

Pearl of Wisdom Number 3.

We are often inspired by things we see, hear, and the people we meet.

Inspiration makes us want to be the best version of ourselves.

But when the going gets tough, and all that beautiful inspiration has vanished into thin air, I hear my mother saying it.

“Don’t think about it. Just do it!”

What I heard and internalized and it stayed with me forever is that:

• To do anything, even if it is something small, imperfect or without motivation, beats inaction every time.
• When you act, you feel more confident, productive, and happier.
• Almost every action will lead to more actions and more progress.
• Action is the most important thing. All the thinking, planning, talking, debating, calculating, and learning, is useless if it doesn’t bring to action.

I wrote about this topic as well. Hop on to read it by clicking here.

These are the pearls of wisdom I carry from my mother and I am sure you carry yours too. Would love to hear about them in the comment section below.