In the cold of Edinburgh January, cooped up in my flat, I decided that it was about time I visited my friends in Paris. I was right. By the time my excursion rolled around at the end of February, it was exactly what I needed.
At university I learned that it is essential to get away from my beloved city sometimes. Have other adventures in other lands, to appreciate where I have chosen as home. Flying involves a certain amount of preparation and definitiveness too – packing with care reveals much about the things we need and want.
Paris reminds me to take time. Walk, look around, because it is all beautiful. Meals are events, not just sustenance shoveled down throats. Quality matters: as I sat down to my first cup of Parisian tea at
Mariage Frères I felt the fine china, appreciated the sleekly tea-cosied pot of a specific blend (I had chosen the Paris-London; seemed appropriate), selected from a menu of literally hundreds. Precision.
The French have an appreciation for life, beauty, and art that I have hardly experienced elsewhere. They understand what rung true for me in my latest reread of The Happiness Project: that we humans are happiest when we are growing. Not just career climbing and rigorous self improvement, but learning in the smallest ways, growing in new experiences.
Find a way to invite some Paris into your life, and share your wisdom in the comments. Even if you can’t jet to the City of Light itself, put on my favourite
Parisian Morning playlist, pick up a copy of
Lessons from Madame Chic, and most of all, take time to insert fabulousness and intention.
