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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 27 – Create!
Fiona Ferris, in her book, 30 Chic Days, labels Day 27 “Embrace Creativity and Enjoy the Benefits.” In this chapter, Fiona writes about the fun and freedom that she experiences when she loses herself in her creative crafting hobbies. She finds that she feels better – both calmer and more resilient – when she keeps her creative time a high priority in her schedule. Fiona asks us to think back to when we were about 10 or 12 years old – what did we love to do? Whatever it was, the key parts of it are probably the things that we still enjoy doing today. When I was around 10-11…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 26 – Making Magic in Ordinary
“Make Every Day Magical” is the title for Day 26 in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days. Fiona encourages us to notice this day and this moment. There is some part of today that is special right now. She writes that sometimes we can become so “big occasion” focused that we miss out on the many magical moments that are happening all around us. Fiona writes that paying attention to the little good things in her day as well as having small and medium-sized occasions to look forward to increases her overall enjoyment of life. Fiona’s experience is echoed by Gretchen Rubin in her book, The Happiness Project. Gretchen writes…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 25 – Dancing to Our Own Music
Day 25 is “Collect Contentment in Petite Measures” in Fiona Ferris’s book 30 Chic Days. Fiona writes about that slippery-sly thief of joy – jealous comparison. It rears it’s ugly head whenever we compare something in our lives to someone else’s and feel a sense of bitter dissatisfaction. For example, comparing our car with our neighbors brand-new, shiny, luxury car. Suddenly our wonderful, reliable, completely paid for (!) darling car seems, well, somewhat less than wonderful and darling. Or what about when we run into an acquaintance and admire her latest designer gazillion-dollar handbag? Or the pristine, sparkling new renovated kitchen across the way? And all those spiffy, high-end appliances?…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 24 – Feeling Luxurious in Everyday Life
“Live a Life of Luxury” is the title for Day 24 in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days. Fiona writes about how she brainstormed a list of what she considered her dreamiest “luxurious life” features. As she looked at her list, she realized that many of them she could implement right then – she didn’t have to wait for that someday, one day winning lottery ticket! In Fiona’s experiment, she saw that time to devote to her favorite pursuits was one of her most luxurious-feeling treats. Well, we all get 24 hours (1440 minutes) in a day. Nothing more, nothing less. Fiona saw where she could modify a few of…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 23 – Money Sense
Day 23 is “Be Financially Chic ” in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days. In this chapter, Fiona explores how money, life and freedom intersect. She has a very thoughtful discussion on how she is working to achieve a life full of daily beauty and ease, with a future of prosperity and freedom. The underpinning of it all, of course, is our perspective of ourselves. At first, I was about to write “..the underpinning of our present and future life is our perspective on money…” But before we get to money, we need to know ourselves and what we want in our life. Fiona goes on to discuss the things…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 22 – Beauty Sleep
“Build Rest and Repose Into Your Daily Routine” is the title for Day 22 in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days. Fiona writes about how she has recognized the importance of rest as a healthy cornerstone in a beautiful life. She takes that recognition a step further and creates wonderful rituals to help her enjoy the whole process of rest. I love her discussion of a lovely “wind down” time after dinner and before lights-out. She retreats to the bedroom and has a beautiful routine of self-care that both nurtures the soul and ensures a relaxed, healthful sleep. Since I, too, get up early so that I can have my…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 21 – Inspiration
“Inspire Yourself” is the title for Day 21 in Fiona Ferris’s book 30 Chic Days. It’s a tough topic to evaluate today because I was feeling the very opposite of “inspired.” The words “stir-crazy” and “cranky” were more accurate adverbs. Fiona approaches the subject with a lighter heart. She keeps a notebook with ideas and words and questions that point her mind to chic and upbeat ideas. By directing her thoughts to positive-focused questions like “how can I keep a lovely and tidy desk?” (as opposed to negatively based questions like “why am I such a slob?”), she can inspire herself to actions that are more closely aligned with her…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 20 – Dinner as the Main Event
Fiona Ferris titled Day 19 “Be Your Own Chef” in her book, 30 Chic Days. In this chapter, Fiona writes about how to take the stressful decision making out of mealtimes. Many of us can relate to her comment that it’s not actually preparing a meal that is so exhausting, it’s the actual deciding about what to prepare. She shares her approach to make mealtime easier: keep a “family favorites menu.” Just like restaurants list what dishes are available, we can keep a list of our favorite meals (and/or dishes) conveniently located in the kitchen. Whenever we are stuck trying to think of what to make, we can pull out…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 19 – Social Generosity
“Socialize in a Relaxed Manner” is title of Day 19 in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days. In this chapter, Fiona discusses how to feel comfortable and comport oneself elegantly in social situations. The key, according to Fiona, is to focus more on others than on ourselves. Living in Paris and participating in a multi-cultural environment, I find Fiona’s advice to be spot-on. The secrets to moving comfortably through a variety of social situations are: “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything.” The advice given by Thumper’s mother in the movie, Bambi, is just as wise today as it was when the movie was made in…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 18 – We Are Our Habits
Fiona Ferris calls Day 18, “Little and Often” in her book 30 Chic Days. In this chapter, Fiona discusses how our habits, in effect, create our future. She gives a very thoughtful discussion on how we can gently modify our habits so that they are in alignment with our vision of our future. Fiona is not alone in recognizing the astonishing power of our habits to make or break our lives. Almost 300 years ago, Benjamin Franklin spent a great deal of his life thinking about habits. For a lovely introduction to the charming and brilliant Ben Franklin, check out Benjamin Franklin, An American Life, by Walter Isaacson. reviewed here. …