Since her debut in the 1976 film Lipstick, Hemingway’s movie credits have included Manhattan, Personal Best, The Mean Season, Delirious, and Deconstructing Harry. Besides her busy acting career, she’s also the mother of two girls, a director and producer, and the proprietor of a West Coast yoga studio. The granddaughter of author Ernest Hemingway, this accomplished multi-tasker has produced two popular books of her own, including the recently released Mariel Hemingway’s Healthy Living from the Inside Out: Every Woman’s Guide to Real Beauty, Renewed Energy, and a Radiant Life, (HarperOne Reprint, 2007).
What lesson have you shared with your daughters about the importance of not losing sight of one’s self, and one’s own needs, amidst the multitude of tasks you’re asked to perform?
My girls are clear about the importance of taking care of themselves, and understand that they are worthless to help others unless they are clear and healthy in themselves. I’ve always made it clear that you must be good to yourself in order to live a happy and balanced life.
We know the importance of providing our bodies with proper nutrition. What about nourishing our creative spirits?
Nothing is more important than your spirit and your connection to the Divine. I regularly use silence to connect with spirit and with the Divine, and this is completely what motivates my life. I believe that the more we connect deeply to God, the more we become our true selves and can live from a place of calm and power in the truth of who we are.
Where does balance enter the equation? Assuming that it looks different for every woman, are there any markers that help define it?
Everyone has different schedules and needs. Make time for yourself, for experiencing silence, and for connection even if it’s only a small amount of time. It’s the attention and quality of the time you take to be inside, connected to that which is greater than we are, that counts. That’s how we grow and heal, and that’s how we find out who we are by slowing down, and making ourselves more aware of who we are within our day-to-day existence.
Has your definition of wellness changed over the past 20 years?
There is nothing about the way I feel about wellness and well-being that’s the same as it was 20 years ago, but I know that I’m here because of where I’ve been in the past. I needed those [past]misconceptions of health and well-being, because they’ve taught me the most. I am here, in a place of deeper awareness of myself, because of my life journey.
What do you believe are the two most important changes every woman can make to help ensure her own future health, balance, and well-being?
Again, I would say slow down and breathe. Learn to see what you are doing when you are doing it. That is what being present means and when you can be present, you can feel; and when you can feel inside yourself, that’s when you become aware of your health and how you feel about everything in your life.
You’re working on a new book. What is the focus?
My new book is about greening your kitchen, and the journey of becoming more green from appliances to what you eat and how you choose your food, and the rituals involved in how we cook and make choices for ourselves and our families.
by Debra Bokur
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