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Monday, June 13, 2011

The Joie de Vivre

The link I'm going to share below is a wikihow piece on 'Joie-de-Vivre', the iconic French phrase that strolls hand-in-hand with true happiness down the banks of the Seine and gives us a simple and elegant lens through-which to view the world around us. Despite it's pollyannish and often rosy-coloured rap, Joie-de-Vivre (or the 'joy of living')  speaks to a way of finding simple pleasure in the things, people and places around us--a skill that's becoming ever more difficult in a world where we only realize the beauty of 3 dimensions when that third one is added to our TV sets. Am I the only one who sees the irony in adding this type of 'depth' to our lives?

I've sort of always followed these tenants and and lived my life in this way because it seemed like the sensible thing to do in order to be happy, but seeing it written down kind of reaffirms it--and to an extent cheapens it I must say--but I wanted to share this take on a classic philosophy of happiness.

I've been trying to follow through on these sorts of things recently; like sending someone a message when I think about them. I think it's nice to let someone know you're thinking about them, whatever the reason. Many great conversations have been had because of a random text, email or wall post that arrives at just the right time. In this way we can use technology to tease the simple pleasures out of life and share them with others while at the same time being careful not to "over-share"; a classic and insidious result of the global connected consciousness.

Coincidence and immaculate timing are some of my favourite things in the world, so when I have a chance, I play a serendipity card and see what happens! Give it a try and see if your hand is a winner, you just might be pleasantly surprised.

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