A heart of gold. I’m sitting here watching a most delightful movie called, “Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris”. It was made in 1992 and stars Angela Lansbury and directed by her son, Anthony Shaw. It was nominated that year for an Emmy.
It’s the story about an elderly woman who works for a wealthy Lady in London. She notices that her employer received an invitation to attend a royal ball and then she notices two beautiful gowns hanging there. They talk about the dresses and she finds out that the beautiful pale blue one came from the house of Dior. Suddenly she wants one too.
Mrs. ‘Arris is a widowed housekeeper/maid and she latches onto that dream. She gives up smoking, taking the bus to and from work, and the nightly beer at the pub. She’s saving every penny. She’s going to Paris to buy that Dior dress. She’s got a plan and she executing it.
Money comes from all sources, including winning just under 200 British Pounds in a soccer pool to get her started. She even gets a reward for finding someone’s diamond broach. She scrimps and sacrifices for THREE YEARS before she has enough money but she finally saves enough. Her best friend discourages her from having this dream. What right do they have, she asks?
Mrs. ‘Arris makes it to Paris and pays for the dress in cash, but runs into problems. Her wonderful childlike wonder carries her on. People rally around her because of it.
Along the way, this sweet woman spreads her joy and love of life amongst her new French friends. Her heart of gold shines through!
This story illustrates what happens when the few hang on to their dreams or even have them! Keep your dreams. Hold onto them tight and don’t let anyone make you feel bad that you want what you want! Ever!
But just having them, isn’t good enough, is it? Create a plan and execute it. You CAN achieve anything you want. Just like in the movie, you’re going to have make sacrifices.
A sacrifice is made when you give up something of a lower order (in the movie, Mrs. ‘Arris gives up her evening beer in the pub, her smokes, etc) in order to gain something of a higher order (her love of beauty: the Dior custom made dress). If anything is worth doing, it’s worth doing intensely. And with a LOT of courage!
Cheers. Dr. Joanny
The Maverick’s Stress Relief Doctor
Dr. Joanny Liu, TCMD, RAc, P.Eng. Dr Joanny Liu “Best Selling Author and founder of Extraordinary Sports Medicine, where we help athletes reverse injury, get back in the game they love and improve their quality of life.” Best selling book at: Heal Your Concussion: How to Quickly and Effectively Get Back in the Game Remember, we’ve got two books about healing concussions in Amazon: Knock OUT Concussions, Heal Your Concussion: 21 Days to Brain Health, and Dr. Joanny’s new book, Heal Your Concussion: How to Quickly and Effectively Get Back in the Game is NOW live on Amazon!
