400: What I've Learned in French Class, So Far . . . : Part Neuf
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
Release Date: 03/19/2025
No. 4 Un Moment de Méditation — Less Thinking, Deeper Breathing
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
Find the text for this mini-episode on The Simply Luxurious Life -
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418: Neighboring — How to Do It and Why It Will Enhance the Quality of Your Everydays
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
"There's a sense of comfort and safety that can come with knowing [our neighbors] — and building a safe and caring community is a valuable way to stay connected to the place you live." —Diana Opong and Janet W. Lee, in their article "" Being a good neighbor is a daily practice in awareness. Both in what and who surrounds us, as well as how our own choices might affect others. Tune in to episode to discover 7 ways to strengthen your neighboring skills and also discover three significant life benefits when we put them to practice. Find the Show Notes for the episode on The SImply Luxurious...
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No. 3: Un Moment de Méditation — An Ease in Everyday Life
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
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No. 2: Un Moment de Méditation — How to Heal
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417: How Our Relationship with Ourselves Sets the Tone for the Health of All Relationships
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
“The relationship we have with ourselves is the most important relationship we will ever have, and we will have to continuously work on that relationship to break through the barriers that prevent us from true emotional intimacy with another person.” —Jillian Turecki With a new year's beginning, the idea of love may be dancing about on our intentions list. But in order to successfully experience real love, we need to build a foundation to be able to identify it, choose it, and then nurture it. Jillian Turecki's successful podcast shares advice on how to build healthy and...
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No. 1 Un Moment de Méditation — Courage and the Mind
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
Welcome to the first mini-episode of TSLL's new limited series, Un Moment de Méditation/Moment of Meditation. Find the complete text on The Simply Luxurious Life blog -
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Introduction to New Mini Series - Un Moment de Méditation/Meditation Moments
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
A new limited series begins in 2026, offering guided meditation to help listeners deepen their mindfulness practice. Learn more by listening to this trailer. Un Moment de Méditation is a weekly limited series that will run for one year, sharing one mini-episode each Sunday afternoon, about 5 minutes in length. This new mini series is in addition to the regular episodes of The Simple Sophisticate podcast that will continue to be available on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month. I invite you to enjoy me when we begin on Sunday, January 4th, both here, where you enjoy your...
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416: How to Find Peace — The Joy and Necessity of Solitude
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"The moment being alone stops bothering you, your whole life levels up." With the holidays upon us, I have come to discover an unexpected gift of enjoying my own company during this time of year - the realization of what I most enjoy about the holidays. And here's the catch: when it is chosen, it is liberating. It's clarifying, and as the quote above acknowledges, it is life-elevating. This doesn't mean we are alone 24 hours a day, or even live alone. What solitude, regularly savored, gives us is the life we say we want, but either haven't yet realized or haven't yet trusted to be dependable...
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415: The Life Nourishing Benefits of Welcoming Art into Our Sanctuary (and how to curate your own collection)
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"Art is a language without words." —Kate Bryan, author of Why art? Why bring it into our lives? Why spend our hard-earned money on it? We often hear about the skyrocketing headline-making prices of paintings being sold at auction, but what's the point of purchasing something if the entire reason is to accrue value to sell later? The primary objective, Bryan shares, in writing this book, is to remove the assumed 'closed doors' or air of snobbery about art that she admits the art world itself has constructed. But, and she makes a strong argument, art, seeing it, appreciating it, making it, is...
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414: The Art of Trusting Yourself (And Why It's the Key to a Joyful Life Journey)
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"The more you practice reflection and appreciation, the more you build a reservoir of evidence that you can draw from in difficult times. You start ot see patterns. You start to recognize that while life has its ups and downs, you have consistently found a way to navigate them. You start to trust yourself more deeply. And that trust—that bone-deep knowing that you can handle whatever comes—is the foundation of true inner peace." —Daniel Chidiac, author of What if I told you that your inner compass knows the way to your most fulfilling way of living is as certain as the sun rising...
info_outlineWhen beginning this journey back in September 2022, I never imagined I would feel comfortable speaking French without thinking too far ahead of myself nor caring if I spoke incorrectly (which is still quite often), but two and a half years later, it has happened!
Imperfect French is being spoken and the fundamentals are more confidently understood than ever before. Wahoo!
While having attempted to take a French language class here and there over the past two years beginning when I was 20 back in college, I never made it past the 103. It took me three attempts, but finally, I made it all the way to completing FR 204 with the instruction of Washington D.C.'s Alliance de Française.
Back in September 2022 I enrolled at the very beginning yet again, and told myself that B1 completion was my goal, so finishing FR 204. As I shared in episode #349, in part four of this series, “On ne comprend jamais tout à fait une langue avant d’en comprendre au moins deux.” And finally, the phrase rings more true than ever. To learn a second language, if one doesn't know well their first, is to more fully know their primary language well. And appreciate their knowledge of it as well. Humility is a muscle strengthened while stumbling over the rules of a new language and not being able to speak near as well as a toddler in the language you wish to know.
So with my humility taken to the workout gym regularly twice a week, every week (minus the two week and annual four-week break between courses), attempting to speak French is no longer fearful, but absolutely not perfect. However, as my instructor for the past three courses reminded us repeatedly, practice, practice, practice. That is how we acquire into our long-term memory a language, by using, however, imperfectly from time to time.
And so on February 13th, just over a month ago, I celebrating concluding FR 204.
What I would like to share with you today are the key lessons learned during FR 203 and FR 204 as our last part of this series - part huit - covered up through my FR 202 class conclusion.
Tune in to the episode to discover the 12 things I Learned in French Class So Far . . . , Part Neuf.
Explore the detailed Show Notes on The Simply Luxurious Life blog - https://thesimplyluxuriouslife.com/podcast400