PETITES PENSÉES

A new addition to TSLL's regular postings, available to all readers, non and Basic and TOP Tier members. Enjoy the Petites Pensées Lundi post each and every Monday as you begin the week, a shorter post replacing the Monday Motivational post, as I dive into completing TSLL's 4th book. This post, sharing thoughts to ponder, or as I am choosing to title them, Petites Pensées, 'small thoughts', while not small in depth of content, but rather small in length - no more than 1-3 3-5 paragraphs, with an introduction sharing from where the post was written or conceptualized wherever in the world I might find myself will offer a glimpse into one of the numerous and unique ways to live a life of contentment. 

The Setting:

• Lieu: sitting near the just-finished-being-decorated Christmas tree at home
• Thé/drink: Yorkshire Gold
• Des Sons: TSLL’s holiday playlist (and here is one more)

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” —Edward de Bono

This year, after living in Le Papillon for four previous Christmas seasons, the holiday tree finally found its official home. It only took two previous placements in the living room – sometimes a full-size tree (6-7′) placed in the reading snug in the living room, and sometimes a petite tree (3-4′) the latter being placed on a table near the fireplace, before it dawned on me this past Saturday just prior to dashing out to pick out our tree that the ideal place would be in front of the dining room window. The near floor-to-ceiling window begged to be utilized since the garden it looks out upon is hibernating for its winter nap. Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner?

I didn’t linger too long on that last question because the past is the past, so I quickly scooted the dining room table further away from the window, temporarily placed two of its chairs in the guest bedroom and voila! space for the tree to be centered between the two curtain panels that frame the window.

While an ordinary example of discovering something that upon reflection appears plain-as-day to be discovered years ago, it often isn’t until other pieces of the puzzle are found, placed and utilized that we see with clarity the best choice. Much like working on a crossword puzzle, when a hint we have no clue as what the answer might be cannot be pinpointed, the more adjacent hints we correctly fill in, the closer and more obvious the difficult question we seek will be found.

What helped in my instance was the gradual customization of the décor throughout the open-living plan. First, the sofa, then the moving of the chandelier over the dining table, and finally the curtains in the dining room. Slowly but surely, and after placing the tree in other areas of the home that proved to be jarring or awkward, the tree eventually found its home. Essential in this process? Continuing to keep an open-mind and being ‘unsuccessful’ in previous attempts. Notice that I placed the initial attempt(s) in parenthesis because each provided information about the importance of what we were trying to find, and thus what was lacking.

From trying to find a career path that energizes our being, to finding a life rhythm and approach that nourishes who we are, while the example I share today of the tree’s placement is of little import compared to long-lasting life decisions, the approach to finding what we seek is quite similar: It takes time to ‘see’ what all of a sudden fits effortlessly into place at a future unspecified time along our life journey. But so long as we keep ahold of the helm that guides the rudder of our life ship. In other words, so long as we remain clear about our intention of what we are looking for, while understanding that we may have to navigate through storms or take detours before we arrive, we will know what we are seeking when it crosses our path. Why? Because those ‘detours’ or unsuccessful attempts will gift us with essential pieces of information that had we not gathered them, we would have missed or not appreciated what we eventually discover to be our endpoint.

So whether you are trying to figure out new holiday traditions that create the festive feeling you’ve never quite felt before, or are pondering where you would like to settle down and build your life because for some reason where and how you live at the moment just doesn’t feel as though it is your ‘home’, keep trying new approaches and stepping out of your regular approach while heeding your curiosity, and eventually, it will all seem to magically fall into place.

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