Laura Dern encourages daughter to find herself in touching letter

Actress Laura Dern has encouraged her preteen daughter to follow her own path in a touching note.

The Twin Peaks star published an open letter to 12-year-old Jaya, one of two children she shares with ex-husband Ben Harper, in a bid to help the preteen find her unique voice in the world.

"The beauty of being a woman today is in savoring the minutiae of life, all the moments that add up to you," Dern wrote in the September (17) issue of America's InStyle. "The joy you’ll find in being in your body, in sexuality and sensuality, in service, in art, in mothering.

"You have to get out of your own way and write your own story -- and not be forced into the narrative that you think will give you the easiest path to success or the most likes. I want you to live in the space that’s your own, your own delicious mess. The story comes from within you."

The Fault in our Stars actress revealed she often struggled with identity issues in the past because she was too hard on herself.

"I’ve spent a lot of my life going, 'OK, I’m going to be an actress, but I have to give it everything, so I probably won’t be able to also have a successful relationship,' or 'I’m about to be a mother, so I’ll give up my acting,' or 'I’m married, so I’m going to put my career on hold and be ‘a good wife’ and support him'," the 50-year-old confessed before encouraging Jaya to hold success and failure in equal measure. "I want you to have faith and hear yourself when you’re just barely holding it together. I want you to be able to talk to friends about their gray areas and be open about your own without judgment. You will succeed and fail in equal measure. Both experiences are worthwhile."