PETITES PENSÉES LUNDI:

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 paragraphs, with an introduction sharing from where the post was written or conceptualized wherever in the world I might find myself to offer a glimpse into one of the numerous and unique ways to live a life of contentment. 

“Inactivity and silence, listening to music, reading poetry, contemplating nature and works of art: these are all valuable ways of fortifying our inner lives. Usually . . . it is by relaxing our minds that we can enable the solutions to our problems to suddenly pop up, and find the brightest ideas, the intuitions that will help us advance further down a road that had been blocked before.” —Frédéric Lenoir, author of Happiness: A Philosopher’s Guide

The Setting:

• Lieu: Sitting upon the grass on the banks of the upper Deschutes River with the aspens on the other side capturing my awe with their autumnal colors
• Thé: (while writing) Palais des Thés’ Montaigne Bleue
• Des Sons: The rustling of aspens leaves tickling each other in a gentle breeze, the pups’ steps through the long grass letting their curiosity guide them, bird chirping and the lapping of water as an occasional paddle boarder floated past.

Whenever the world – grand or individual – seems too much, I remind myself to place myself amongst Mother Nature. Upon doing so, immediately the stimuli from our modern world ceases, my attention comes to the present and my blood pressure drops. In these moments, mental space has been created as I settle into my own private inner space.

Sevim Riedinger, clinical psychologist and author of Le Monde Secrete de L’infant writes in reference to children, but we too as adults would be wise to heed the same insight, “Too [much] stimuli from the outside world inhibits the creative impulse . . . preventing [children] from expressing themselves, finding their own words and making innovations.” She goes on to share that when a child’s world has a healthy balance of external stimuli and respite from it, “they can savor an inner space that belongs to them. This enables them to make and unmake and remake their reality, and to absorb its challenges. They can then seek solutions from further away and from higher levels, when they’ve reached a dead end. They can put things in perspective and view things with fresh vigor.”

In other words, when we step away regularly and consciously from external stimuli, we create space for creativity and our innate unique self has its own ‘playground’ of sorts to romp and wander without judgment or limitation so that we can then discover the solutions, inventions, ideas that are waiting for us to make space for them to introduce themselves to us.

This playground is our personal Inner Space, and we are the only person who is permitted entry. However, we must not forget to frequent this space not only for our well-being and mental clarity, but to enable ourselves to know how to live a life of contentment, discovering how to live a fulfilling life that is “in accordance with our deeper nature”. French philosopher Frédéric Lenoir underscores that “people can never be happy if they go against their deeper natures”. And it is nearly, if not entirely, impossible to know our deeper nature if we never visit our Inner Space.

One more quote to ponder on this topic of Happiness and Savoring Our Inner Space when it comes to utilizing the tools, applying them to our unique selves and trusting we will figure out our own ‘recipe’ should we have the courage to get to know ourselves and then take action accordingly:

“We really can be happier if we think about our lives, if we work on ourselves, if we learn to make more sensible decisions, or indeed if we alter our thoughts, our beliefs, or the way we imagine ourselves and the world. The great paradox of happiness is that it can be tamed while still remaining essentially beyond our control . . . This is one of the reasons why there is no ‘recipe’ for happiness that would work for everyone . . . The laws of life and the way human beings function also have a major impact on happiness, and these can be grasped both through traditional philosophical reflection and through several scientific approaches: psychology, sociology, biology and the cognitive sciences.” —Frédéric Lenoir, author of Happiness: A Philosopher’s Guide

SIMILAR POSTS FROM THE ARCHIVES YOU MIGHT ENJOY

The Priceless Gifts from the Ocean: Solitude and Comfort

Why Not . . . Welcome More High Quality Leisure Pastimes into Your Daily Life?

An Everyday Necessity: Deliberate Rest

episode #352, How to Experience More Aha Moments in Your Life

~Learn more about TSLL’s Contentment Masterclass here.