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The French Art of Not Trying Too Hard

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Noah is lost in the deliciousness of the memory too, and his conclusion is the same as Zidane’s: there just aren’t any words; “those moments really are rare.”

But let’s ask ourselves simply and honestly: if you really think about it, who actually believes, without doubting the virtue of trying, that with 10,000 hours they could, if not become world champion, then at least reach the top level in their discipline of choice? For anyone who’s hesitating about the answer, here’s another question, which we should all be able to agree on: Who thinks that 10,000 hours of training would give them the courage to walk on a wire 400 meters off the ground? Or, more modestly, just to start small, between the towers of Notre-Dame? Take cooking, for example. Think of the times you’ve been chatting away to a friend, enjoying yourself, and forgot to turn down the gas on the stove. Oh well, those onions will be nicely caramelized now. It even holds true for washing up: when you burn a pan the best thing is to let it soak, rather than to scrub at it like a maniac. I’m not saying you should never scrub, but that you need to know when there’s no point in scrubbing. Letting time do its work doesn’t mean you’ll never do any yourself. It just means working more efficiently. He was in a state of grace. I’ve tried to find that state, I’ve worked on it, I try to transmit it, to dissect it. There are days when all of a sudden you’ve got all the elements in place and it comes naturally, because you’ve been working at it for fifteen years, and suddenly for no obvious reason, you’re touched by grace. I remember various moves he made, I remember them winning, of course, but mostly his moves, and especially his face. His face, look, even while I’m telling you this, I’ve got goosebumps, it was just so extraordinary. And the way he just kept looking up at the sky. You know, it was . . .Evident - to see. What happens when you see something with the minds eye, to understand it. Attention should focus on only one point at a time. Consider a torch, with a narrow beam of light and limited 'illuminated' focus. To escape difficulty, you must stop resisting. Ease will come once you give it a chance. Being in a natural state, such as that of many greek statues, puts us in a natural state of ease, which enables us to stop resisting. Proper posture is important for a variety of reasons, as it helps to enable grace (or flow). Your imagination is at the heart of your life. If you can image something, you can create it; such is what is proven by the arts.

When we say “France,” France itself is no more than an idea—une certaine idée—which exists in the collective imagination in its condensed form of “Paris,” the international symbol of all forms of freedom, the dream of thinkers and artists. This Paris is evoked in the alluringly titled Le Rendez-vous des étrangers (Where Strangers Meet) by Elsa Triolet, Louis Aragon’s muse—a Paris in which the Spanish Picasso, Russian Chagall, and Italian Giacometti all felt at home, and with good reason: Through hard work, the pianist prepares for the moment of visitation. As I walk across the stage, I’m alone, and the moment I start playing, I cease to be. A presence is protecting me. Is it the presence of the music? Of the composers whose work I’m playing? It’s as though there are two of me and I can watch myself playing at the same time as continuing to play—sometimes I see a light come down that casts a halo around the piano and I know that that light is them. Originally published in French as Facile: L’art français de réussir sans forcer by Éditions Michel Lafon, Neuilly-sur-Seine. So grace is never guaranteed, and the very best, like the rest of us, are reduced just to hoping. But to know this kind of grace, to feel yourself king or queen of the earth, you don’t need to be a champion of anything: soccer, tennis, literature, or music simply serve here to underline the oneness of the experience, of the point of action, when “it takes,” when “it works,” when it’s “just great,” when “it” is impossible to express in words or transcribe with notes, because talking, like composing, means detaching yourself from what you’re experiencing, coming out of it and commenting on it, instead of staying “in it.” The best way of talking about the point of action, then, is through the dot dot dot of an ellipsis . . . Just one more moment before you step out. Be careful how you start. Even beyond the question of life or death, the style of your first step determines the style of the whole crossing.Here is an except that is reiterated by many of those who more through the world with understanding:

Even in 1806, I was waiting for the moment of genius to strike before starting writing . . . If I had talked about my writing plans in 1795, some reasonable man might have said to me: “Write every day for an hour or two. Genius or not.” With this piece of advice I could have put ten years of my life to good use, instead of foolishly waiting for the stroke of genius. I feel like this book is vaguely marketed in the same category as all the other ones that romanticize french culture. This is not a book that teaches you to be more french or argues that the french do things better than us anglo-saxons. It's more of a meditation on the french tendency to put in the effort to look effortless. The author cites french artists, athletes, philosophers, etc to build a case study. He offers advice based on the case study. He theorizes on the philosophy behind it all. A thought-provoking and delightful book. Pourriol dismisses it as an airport read. Yet somehow, apparently without effort, he has turned it into so much more. . . . [It is like] a pastry: rich and light rather than stuff to be endlessly chewed over.”― Daily Mail To put your whole foot on the wire all at once produces a sure though heavy kind of walking, but if you first slide your toes, then your sole, and finally your heel onto the wire, you will be able to experience the intoxicating lightness that is so magnificent at great heights. And then people will say of you: “He is strolling on his wire!” What can we learn from Stendhal’s example? Not everyone wants to become a writer. But “never make fun of the art of writing,” Alain says,

When we say "France," France itself is no more than an idea-une certaine idée-which exists in the collective imagination in its condensed form of "Paris," the international symbol of all forms of freedom, the dream of thinkers and artists. This Paris is evoked in the alluringly titled Le Rendez-vous des Étrangers (Where Strangers Meet) by Elsa Triolet, Louis Aragon's muse-a Paris in which the Spanish Picasso, Russian Chagall, and Italian Giacometti all felt at home, and with good reason: Despite the flaws of the 10,000 hours rule well documented, we are still bombarded with variations of the same. Through the example of a failed experiment and other references, the author drives home the point that working hard is not enough

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