Jane Fonda and Oprah; Master Class Podcast

I recently listened to Oprah Winfrey's Master Class podcast featuring Jane Fonda. This was such a rich listening experience, that I decided to quote her several times in this blog post. I certainly appreciated her wisdom gained from learned experiences: "In order to know where we're going, we have to know where we've been. And to know where we've been, we have to know who our parents were. Not who we think they were but who they were as free-standing, individual people." Jane speaks about the realizations she made as an adult in coming to terms with the very painful event of her mother's suicide when she was a teenager. "You are not meant to be perfect, you are meant to be whole."This realization came for Jane after what she termed as a "toxic quest for perfection." She shares a fascinating story of someone who gave her a more realistic example of what being comfortable in your own skin could be.

• "Look what scares you in the face and try to understand it. Empathy, I have learned, is revolutionary." This came for Jane after a controversial picture was printed during her years of protest to the Vietnam War.

I sat listening to this podcast with rapt attention. To listen to the podcast (it is well worth it!): https://podtail.com/podcast/oprah-s-master-class-the-podcast/jane-fonda/ Photo credit: http://Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash