CAREGIVING, Finding Peace & ALWAYS GROWING with award-winning actress and author MARCIA GAY HARDEN

AS A WOMAN WHO WEARS MANY HATS personally and professionally, Marcia Gay Harden, 64, is no stranger to life's obstacles-and she's learned to handle any difficulty that comes her way. Although, the Oscarand Tony-winning actress and mom of three reveals that she does have one Achilles' heel: "Patience is always my biggest challenge," Marcia shares with FIRST on set while filming the last episodes of her CBS sitcom So Help Me Todd. "I'm impatient with ignorance, the unknown, with slow responses from texts, lack of logic...but I try to be better."

- BONNIE SIEGLER

In fact, Marcia has been a fountain of grace during life's hardest moments, including after her mother, Beverly, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2009. "I learned quickly how each moment is so valuable, and so I spent time with my mom baking, cooking, doing flower arrangements and writing stories. By doing things together, you can imbue time with a kind of purposeful and familiar loving activity." Though her mother passed away in 2018, Marcia still treasures those memories and shares what she's learned with other women. Here, how she seizes all of life's moments with joy, confidence and an open heart.

MY TRUE ESCAPE

Find your inner artist

Pottery is one of the creative indulgences that helps ground Marcia-a passion that began in the 1990s while she was performing on Broadway. "I'm a practical potter; I just finished a wedding present for my co-star Skylar Astin and his bride, Chloe," Marcia shares of the dinner set she created. "Pottery is a meditation on shape and color, and usually I'm pushing myself to do something I haven't mastered. So the results can be glorious...or disastrous."

MY REJUVENATION SECRET

Nesting getaways

So where does Marcia find happiness and peace? "Oy! Within, of course," she says without any hesitation. "But I am a definite nester. I love a wood-burning fireplace, flowers, nature...I try to find them wherever I am. In my home in Upstate New York, I will often jump in my kayak and paddle down to the marsh where the call of a heron and eagle, the splash of a fish or the thwack of a beaver tail are all the music I need to recharge."