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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 2 – Food Is Life
April 18, 2020 I skipped Days 1, 2 & 3 from Fiona’s Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days, when I started blogging each day of Paris’s CoVid-19 lockdown. (I started writing on Day 4 of Paris’s lockdown so wanted to start on Day 4 of Fiona’s book.) When I went back and reread those days in the book, however, I found too much valuable insight in each day to just cavalierly skip them. Let’s take a look at those first three days of 30 Chic Days before we close the book. Fiona Ferris calls Day 2 “Eat Real Food” in her book 30 Chic Days. In this chapter, she writes about…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 3 – We Are What We Talk About
April 17, 2020 I skipped Days 1, 2 & 3 from Fiona’s Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days, when I started blogging each day of Paris’s CoVid-19 lockdown. (I started writing on Day 4 of Paris’s lockdown so wanted to start on Day 4 of Fiona’s book.) When I went back and reread those days in the book, however, I found too much valuable insight in each day to just cavalierly skip them. Let’s take a look at those first three days of 30 Chic Days before we close the book. In Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days, Day 3 is titled “Bathe Yourself in Mystique”. In this chapter, Fiona is…
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 30 – A Feast of the Senses
“Immerse Yourself In Sensuous Beauty” is Day 30 in Fiona Ferris’s book, 30 Chic Days. In this final day of the book, Fiona asks us to mentally step out of our preoccupations and step into the physical world. By paying attention to our senses, we become more appreciative of the world around us and feel happier and more connected to our lives. We accomplish this by focusing on our individual senses. Fiona gives examples of different ways we can enjoy our different senses in our everyday life. She lists beautiful ways we can provoke a sensory moment through sight, sound, feel, smell, and taste. She introduces two more senses: intuition…
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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 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 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. …
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A Chic Paris Lockdown – Day 17 – Self-Care, Community & Video Conferencing
In Fiona Ferris’s Book, 30 Chic Days, the title of Day 17 is “Take Exquisite Care of Your Grooming.” In this chapter, Fiona discusses some ideas and tips on skincare. An interesting point that she makes is that when we take a few moments each day for simple acts of self-care, we reinforce our own knowledge that we are worth spending time on. The meaning behind the few moments in the morning to reach for the skin lotion which also contains SPF, or, in the evening, to apply the night-time extra moisturizing cream not only enriches and protects our skin but also enriches and protects our self-view. So, whatever…