INDEX

ALL ABOUT JANE
Meet Jane
Jane's Filmography
Vital Statistics
Secrets to Staying Fit
Charities
Alternative Medicine
St. Catherine's Court
Meet James Keach
James' Filmography

ARTISTIC VENUES
Jane as Artist
Jane Seymour Handbags
Signature Collection
Household Collection
Children's Clothing

BOOKS
Making Yourself at Home
Remarkable Changes
Romantic Living
This One & That One
Two at a Time

MISCELLANEOUS
Voting Polls
Trivia
Tic Tac Toe
Rosie's Mom Squad

PHOTO ALBUM
Just Jane

GUIDE TO ROMANTIC LIVING

Chapter One | Chapter Three

Chapter Two: Finding Your Romantic Self

Too many people treat life as though it's the dress rehearsal for some big show. It's not. This is it. You're onstage now. Stop preparing to live---start living.

You can be romantic on your own---by reacting to life in a way that is both vulnerable and individualistic. It is romantic to dress in your own way, to behave in your own way, to become yourself, not somebody else's idea of what you should be, not what someone told you to be. It is romantic to want to live in beautiful surroundings, to watch the birds, to keep your mystery. Whether or not you share all this with a husband or lover is hardly relevant to whether you are romantic or not.

I like to turn life into drama. I like to be the heroine of my own life---to be vulnerable, soft, mysterious, and yet strong and individualistic too. I like to be different people on different days, to keep everyone guessing.

We are all too used to being passive. We accept too much. We look to movies and television for the excitement and drama in our lives. Take your life in hand and be your own heroine. Become Scarlett O'Hara (a successful businesswoman too, remember?), be the mysterious heroine of contemporary romantic novels. Don't stride around in identical business clothes, like all the other women: be yourself. Don't try to be a man. Don't accept-create.

Your image of yourself can encompass many different people. I can be a wild sexy creature but I'm also the Victorian lady who can sit and do needlepoint for hours on end, covered in lace, with my feet on a little cushion. I can also be the eighties woman who loves to work out in a gym and lift weights and sweat and feel the muscles burn. I am a lot of different women in one-I think everyone is. Use your imagination. Be the person you want to be, be all the different women you think you are, make life what you want it to be.

As I've said before, and will say many times-because to me it's one of the most important things in the world-romance is an attitude of mind. It's treating ordinary life and convention as merely the raw material for your own life.

Think freshly. Don't be weighed down by what has been done, by what is usually done. On the other hand, just because no one dresses for dinner or the theater or sends thank-you notes after a party anymore doesn't mean you can't. Make you own romantic gestures.

What everyone should remember is that you can do anything, try any role. There are no rules. The only way you can discover how best to live your life is to try out new ideas.

As an actress I'm used to playing different roles and of course I enjoy it. And that is one of the things I want to pass on to other people: the pleasures of being creative with your life, of stepping out of your usual routines and becoming someone or something else, even if only for a short time. Anything can be changed, even your name. A new name can make all the difference in the world to your life. It did to mine.

Change your name, change the color of your hair, change your habits, experiment in order to discover who you are. Don't just think, I am this person who has dark hair and is called such and such and lives at such and such an address. Your real self, who is perhaps waiting for you to discover her, might have blond hair or bright red hair, she might wear glasses or own a pair of frivolous shoes or go out on blind dates. Try something different.

Dressing, loving, cooking-everything can be different, enhanced, if you only experiment. Even something as mundane as bathing can be transformed into an exquisite experience.

But you can be a romantic when you're alone. There's nothing quite as heavenly as a big old-fashioned bubble bath, in which you can lounge and dream for an hour or more, topping it up with hot water, while listening to your favorite romantic music by candlelight.

If you think positively and romantically, the miracle is that people will be attracted to you and the presence around you. They will want to be near you. If you think negatively and drearily, people will stay away in droves. Make an event out of everything you do. Remember life isn't something you just have to get through: it's here for you to enjoy.