Je pense donc, je suis...

I think, therefore I am

Or, Cogito, ergo, sum as my Latin-learning homeschooling friends would say.

But I have a hard enough time with French so I’ll leave the Latin to a few favorite catchphrases:

In vino veritas - that’s Ceasar speak for don’t ask me how I feel about your

eyebrow shape after two glasses of wine.

Solvitur ambulando - that’s my sanity and solutions found on my morning walks

and my personally coined spin of Veni, vidi, vici:

Veni, vidi, cupri…which is what we've done on our ‘Paris with Angela’ Paris flea market tours. “We came, we saw, we coppered.”

oh, brother, I super digress.

That’s not why you’re here (nor I, for that matter).

If this is the year I turn fifty, then I’m happy to admit that these days, though I do bound of out of bed every morning, I’m not sweating during my workout seven minutes later.

No, in fact, recently, I’ve found pleasure in a slower start to the morning. The morning will end in a rocking workout, no worries there, but do I need to roll out and be lifting within the first six minutes of coherence?

Mais, non.

I am a type-A driven person. I get that. I love that. But I also love the laid-back café society mindset of the French. In my effort to embrace the French culture I adore, I’ve discovered a voice inside that reminds me to ‘calm the heck down.’ Lately, I honor that advice every morning. For me, this means a bullet-proof coffee, and quiet. I get my own, uninterrupted thoughts for about 45 minutes. I may sit in silence or pray… I may even scroll Instagram or read the news, because, you know what? I’m a grown-a$$ woman and if I want to laugh at a few reels or get caught up on a few current events before my family and obligations take over my day - that’s OK. I’m SUPER tired of culture telling me that I’m ‘less than’ if I want to scroll for a little bit or read a headline.

Est modus in rebus.

Or even better…

In medio stat virtus.

Now, I’m no Latin expert, but I think those two phrases intimate something about “everything in moderation”.

After prayer, the majority of my quiet morning time is spent in silence. It’s just me, letting my normally disciplined mind WANDER freely. There is no goal. There is no to-do list. I just pense and then je suis.

Perhaps your mornings need a little French touch; a little more grace before you hit the ground running? Perhaps you need a little more thinking and a little more being to start your day before the demands of being a grown-up hit hard.

I can’t think of a pop culture word that annoys me more than ‘mindfulness’ but perhaps our mornings could use some French-inspired mindfulness; a favorite cup of coffee, a quiet observation of nature, a prayer, and a few funny reels before the bills, commute and monotony?

Mais pourquoi pas? Just a thought.