When I first heard Mia Farrow — who in recent years I’ve pretty much only thought of as the mousy, long-suffering actress who lost a daughter to the SHORT EYES of her then-boyfriend, Woody Allen — say this aloud on some cheesy, late-night biography show called “Intimate Portrait” about five years ago, I immediately felt the earth shift on its axis and my life was forever changed. In the middle of the night, right there on the couch, wearing my favorite Target schmata, the now FAR from mousy mother of a dozen mostly disabled children and FIERCE political activist and champion for the people of Darfur passed along to me the lesson that it had taken her a goddamned lifetime to learn…and for me, it was The Answer to all things, a way to move through this world both FULLY ARMED and FULLY OPEN…and for that, Miss Farrow, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

So, my own advice to you? Keep your own heart wide open at ALL times — wisdom and enlightenment often come from unlikely sources — even cheeseball shows on The Lifetime Channel at 3 o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday. You just never know when your own mantra will drift down as a gift from She Who Hears The Cries Of The World. It is, of course, deceptively simple — as are almost all of life’s most valuable lessons:

“I get it now; I didn’t get it then. That life is about losing and about doing it as gracefully as possible…and enjoying everything in between.” — Mia Farrow