A little Parisian joie d’ vivre family style

This blog is dedicated to finding the joy in LIVING.  Before I can get into that, I want to preface this blog by offering a statistic on depression.  The USA was ranked in the top 10 countries with Depressed population at 6% in 2023.  I tend to believe the numbers are higher than the WHO states.  I see it in my private practice…..people coming in with a general lack of pleasure in moments, a growing emptiness that they feel can only be filled with things or substances, and a general lack of contentment in the everyday routines that they themselves created.  Where is the passion and purpose in LIVING? I capitalize LIFE  and LIVING for the emphasis I believe we should all give this wonderful gift that we can often times take for granted.  This brings me to the travel portion of this blog:  France 🇫🇷

The French are famous or infamous (depending on who you ask) for their passionate nature.  They are known for savoring food, smells, touch, sound.  If there is a culture that embodies my mindfulness term of “living sensually”, it’s the French.  In France, life doesn't revolve around work, money, or having the nicest things even though they do have nice things and their appearance reflects that.  The French lifestyle is all about savoring moments, being in the moment, choosing quality over quantity, and truly enjoying the sensual pleasures and beauty their country has to offer.  They are sooooo sensual.  When I am in Paris and observe her people, I see how they move and how they don’t move.  Really, what they do is they languish.  There’s no other term that embodies their slow determinative walk towards a cafe, their sips of wine and slow draw of a cigarette.  When they eat, they eat with the purpose of tasting their food and conversing over a table for hours.  Their philosophy on life is captured with the well known phrase:

joie de vi·vre

/ˌZHwä də ˈvēvrə/

noun

1. exuberant enjoyment of life.”they seem to be filled with joie de vivre”

I’ve come to embrace this philosophy in my own life and it is one of the main reasons I invest in myself and my love of traveling.  If I have to be exuberant over anything, I want it to be about traveling and family.  I am well known for it.  I feel like maybe when I die, my epitaph will read:  here lies Soraya, exuberant passion for knowing the world, it’s people and missing connections”.  Why do I miss so many connections? I can only answer that I’m greedy to see the world. 🫣. If there’s 5 hours or more of a layover and an opportunity to see, taste, smell, touch and hear a place….I’m going for it.  I feel it’s my personal legend to experience the World and to try and understand it’s people.  Ever since I was a child, I was eager to Know people.  Perhaps it was being raised by the East and the West and navigating its opposing traditions and expectations, but I have always been eager to see people and taste their foods, and see their buildings and smell their smells.  Living sensually or living connected to my sensory experiences has always been what life is all about for me.  I see my children enjoying it too and deep down I feel I am giving them a gift that surpasses getting good grades or learning how to make their beds.  It’s the gift of learning to live a life with purpose and passion.  I am teaching them that they are not the World, even though they mean the world to me.  It’s the gift that parents who live with joy and passion give their kids and it’s effortless because it’s just teaching them by example.

People have priorities in life:  mine is KNOWING  the world and helping others tap into what activates them.  It’s the cure for depression and anxiety.  It’s the only way to have joie de vivre!  Let’s try to be a little more French in America.  If we can bring their fries here, why not their philosophy on life.

Lastly and most importantly, I want to leave you with one call to action and it goes something like this:  If we only live once and you know what activates your soul, then do the things that make you feel like you’re actually LIVING. It’s the best way you can raise your children to have a passionate and authentic life and future….by example.   If not for you, do it for them!