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
410: What True Compassion Is and How to Employ It By Default, part Cinq/Five of "What Lies at the Heart of Living Simply Luxuriously"
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
"Just as we are wired to be in connection with each other, we are wired with an impulse to help, with an instinct for compassion." —Deb Dana, author of Empathy in action. While to empathize with another is a good step, a step that acknowledges our shared humanity, it is when we are motivated to act to alleviate the suffering that it becomes compassion. This compassion we are going to talk about today is a gift we give others as much as we need to give it to ourselves. Compassion is a choice, but it is a natural choice to choose and each time we do, along with being curious and honoring our...
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409: How to Make Living Itself An Art, Part Deux (Who is TSLL Written For?)
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
To look up the definition of art through an academic lens is to discover there is no one agreed upon definition of art, and to my eye that is what makes it all the more beautiful to cultivate in the way we live each of our lives if we are to heed the above quote's encouragement of action. Earlier this week, a new series began here on TSLL that will explore and share Who TSLL is Written For? And What Lies at the Heart of Living Simply Luxuriously. and how thinking works as a unit with being compassionate, something we will talk about in-depth in episode #410. The foundational premise is yep,...
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408: How 3-Years of French Language Classes Elevated My Experience While Visiting France
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
The journey of learning anything new, putting in the hours, the practice, and progressing in a controlled environment eventually must make its way into the real-world to ensure any confidence we have gained is sound. Over the past three years, as many TSLL riders and listeners of the podcast know, I enrolled in French language classes (12 in total) with Washington D.C.'s Alliance de Français through their online classes. Completing through FR 204 (B 1.3) in February of this year, I had met my goal and set about heading to France in March, not having been there since 2022 when upon returning...
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407: The Joys of Living Alone —By Choice or Circumstance
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
“'I think that’s just how life panned out. I had children and it was difficult to have a relationship with a man who was not the father. And I started thinking, OK, I’ll take care of the children and then when they’re grown up, I’ll be available for a partner. But then I found, I have to say, the great serenity of being single.'” She pauses, as if to savour the words. “'And if I hadn’t, I don’t think I would have been able to do all that I’ve done. I have freedom of movement.'”—Isabella Rossellini When I recently shared above about why she, initially...
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406: How The Essence of French Cooking Elevates the Everyday and is Simple to Learn (even if you don't like cooking!)
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
"Food need not be extravagant, complicated, or mysterious to be good. Quite the contrary." —Patricia Wells in her Introduction to Robert Olney's cookbook Whether you love cooking, loathe cooking or fall anywhere in between, we all need to eat. And if we eat well - a marriage of nutritive and delicious - we give ourself a very good shot at living a long and wonderful life. But we aren't born knowing how to cook. We have to choose to learn it, and depending upon our experience with food and the approach others took in how meals came together, we may have a whole host of beliefs about what...
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405: How to Be Loving to Ourselves which Allows Us to Heal
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
"Love has the shape and feel of water. It is simultaneously flexible and powerful. It can adapt and roar; it can also be silently nourishing." –Yung Pueblo, We know we need to heal when we slip into being defensive, reactive or regress into any self-protecting behavior - anger, aggressiveness - passive or active. When we cling to perfection at all costs, avoid emotions especially during difficult times, have co-dependent relationships (i.e are unable to be alone for any duration of time), agree to whatever is asked of us whether we are truly able to or not, crave external validation, are...
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404: 11 Classic British Wardrobe Details for Effortless Style
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
As we are in the middle of TSLL's 7th Annual British Week, I wanted to share with you 11 classic contemporary British wardrobe details for achieving effortless style. Each item and outfit shared below is not dependent on trends of the season, of which London is definitely at the forefront when it comes to embracing new and setting new trends. Rather, whether you live or simply visit Britain, whether you are staying in the city of London or stepping out into the countryside, these outfits and items can be relied upon to come together for a dependable style that will enable you to simply enjoy...
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403: 10 Ways Integrating Buddhist Psychology into Your Everyday Life Cultivates Contentment
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
"Buddhism is not a belief system. It's not about accepting certain tenets or believing a set of claims or principles. In fact, it's quite the opposite. It's about examining the world clearly and carefully, about testing everything and every idea. Buddhism is about seeing. It's about knowing rather than believing or hoping or wishing. It's also about not being afraid to examine anything and everything, including our own personal agendas . . . The message is always to examine and see for yourself. When you see for yourself what is true—and that's really the only way that you can genuinely...
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402: How to Keep Ourselves Healthy - Mind and Body - for the Rest of Our Lives (specifically for perimenopausal and beyond, but for all ages too)
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
"With the right training, nutrition, lifestyle strategies, and the power of the mind, women in their fifties and beyond can still [accomplish amazing feats] . . . women prove every day that our best years can be ahead of us no matter how old we are now . . . you've accumulated hard-earned wisdom and power over the years. You're higher on the totem pole of life. There are countless opportunities that lie ahead." —Dr. Stacy Sims, phD, International exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist The beautiful gift of stepping into another year of life is that we have the opportunity, but...
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401: What France Continues to Teach Me About Living Well
The Simple Sophisticate - Intelligent Living Paired with Signature Style
“France is Europe’s most diverse, tasty, and exciting country to explore. It’s a cultural bouillabaisse that surprises travelers with its varied, complex flavors.” —Rick Steves The rain in Bretagne/Brittany. The dry hot heat in Provence. The bustle of Paris. The butter in Normandy (and Brittany). I could go on and on about the specialty delights and signature details in each of the many regions of France because as many of you know who have had the special opportunity to spend time on the terra firma of France, France is full of wonder and deliciousness to savor. To have only...
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