Helen Mirren’s Top 5 Rules For A Happy Life

By MiNDFOOD

Catherine the Great dame helen mirren mindfood

Dame Helen Mirren shares a “few rules she’d picked up during her life of disasters and triumphs” that she affectionately calls, “Helen’s Top Five Rules For A Happy Life”.

Still relevant, the rules were:

1. On marriage

“Don’t be in a rush to get married.”

2. How to treat others

“Treat people just like people – every single person, whether they have dominion over your life or not, deserves equal respect and generosity.”

3. Cut out judgement

“Ignore anyone who judges the way you look, especially if it’s some anonymous creep lurking on the internet. If you are that person lurking on the internet, stop it.”

4. Embrace fear

“Don’t be afraid of fear. Throw caution to the winds. Look fear straightaway in its ugly face and barge forward. And when you get past it, turn around and give it a good, swift kick in the ass.”

5. Keep it simple

“Don’t overcomplicate things.”

Helen Mirren and feminism

The Dame then got to matters of importance, such as how she came to feminism.

“I always believed in the obvious: that women were as capable and as energetic and as inspiring as men, but to join a movement called feminism just seemed too didactic, too political for me.

Helen Mirren and Jane Fonda on a giant catwalk on the Champs Elysees avenue during a public event organised by L’Oreal as part of Paris Fashion Week

“However, I have come to understand that feminism is not an abstract idea but it’s a necessity if we—and really by ‘we,’ I mean you guys—are to move us forward and not backward into ignorance and fearful jealousy.

“So now, I am a declared feminist and I would encourage you to be the same.”

She quickly added an addendum to that rule: “Never again allow a group of old, rich, white men to define the health care of a country” whose majority is women.

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