Zen in Paris...
An old book (that will never get old) re-enters my life, my new red wallet (and why), a smattering of table tips, and more...
Funny how things can sometimes appear right when you need them. In my case, it was an out-of-the-blue memory of a book I’d read 20 years ago when it first came out, L’art de la simplicité (The Art of Simplicity). I didn’t have any recollection of what exactly was between the covers, I only remembered that it really spoke to me at the time, and a voice in my head was prodding me to find it and read it again.
Well, the book made an even greater impression the second time ’round; in fact, it might well become my new bible for living. The author, Dominique Loreau, is a Frenchwoman who has lived in Japan since the 70s, so her perspective is one that uniquely marries all the sensuous things I love about French art de vivre and the more minimalist Zen approach to daily life of the Japanese. It’s essentially a book about how to enrich your life by simplifying it, and by choosing quality over quantity at every turn. The arguments for doing so and the author’s advice on how to go about it are convincing.
Loreau covers everything from getting your house, clothes, money, and time in order, to taking charge of your health and beauty (her diet advice, some of which is coming up, is tip-top), to cleaning up mental and emotional messes. Her guidance is eye-opening, sound, simple, inspiring, and immediately actionable. The minute I put the book down I started making little changes, and every one of them has made a big difference to how I feel.
For example, I went out and bought cupboard knobs to replace a broken one in the bedroom. This had been a pain point since the day we moved into this rented apartment, and you can see why. Grim, what? (Thankfully not a reflection of the rest of the place.)
Next, I finally threw out a pouch that I’ve been using as a wallet for at least a year and bought a proper replacement. What a massive difference it has made to my state of mind! Having a wallet in your bag that you love is like having on nice underwear, or having a perfect pedicure inside your socks: nobody else has to see it, but you know it’s there, and it is astonishingly confidence-boosting. Let me show you my new wallet and explain my purchasing rationale, based on Loreau’s principles. (Video coming up!) I’m going to apply these to everything I buy from now on.