I was re-reading one of the French Women books the other day. Author Mireille uses the term, petits riens, which means little nothings that bring pleasure to life. When I looked it up on Google translate, I inadvertently spelled riens, reins, which means ‘little kidneys’. Who knew what a difference transcribing a letter could make in French!
I also came across this blog post where the author describes her 8 Simple Pleasures to Enjoy After (or before) Age 60. I am totally with her about a trip to Trader Joes.
Both of these inspired me to create my own list of simple and essential pleasures. In addition to TJ’s,, my list includes:
- A tea latte made with soy and a piece of toast with organic butter in the morning
- Wine (organic) @ 5 with my husband
- Grayling stud earrings in aurora borealis (no longer available) and my Allbirds shoes
- A mystery book and a mystery on TV (Acorn, PBS, Amazon Prime, or Netflix – I’m not picky)
- A knitting project
- A Zoom date with friends
- A walk outside (providing it isn’t too cold, windy, or rainy)
- A card or letter waiting for me in the mail
- A Pentel Energel pen and a Paper Mate Sharpwriter #2 pencil
- A trip in the offing to see family or friends, or a jaunt to Europe in the works
- Blogging
As I came up with this list, two things struck me. The first is that, except for #10, all of these simple and essential pleasures are doable even in a pandemic. The second is that any diet that doesn’t include a soy latte, toast with butter and wine @ 5 is a non-starter!
When it comes to our petits riens we don’t need to know exactly what they add to the fullness of our experience; we need only to be open to the possibility that seeming trivialities may play a significant role in how we feel overall.
Mirelle Guiliano, French Women for All Seasons
What are your petis riens?
I will be back on Wednesday.
Allene
Travels with Allene 