Living A Simple Life!

Living in the countryside of the Pays-Basque, France

As mentioned in my previous post, Going on a Home Exchange, we are in the midst of a summer adventure. After flying from Paris to Biarritz airport, we found our home exchange partner’s car and thanks to their GPS, we found our way to their small village of 350 people in the beautiful French countryside (au Pays-Basque). It was a two hour car ride and at times we wondered where we might end up! However, the journey was worth it.

Here is a picture of our beautiful home-exchange, complete with 12 chickens and a field of cows next door.

The chickens have been laying fresh eggs for us and the grandparents, who live just a few minutes away, have been by with homemade wine, home-grown vegetables, cake, fresh croissants and pain chocolat! We also arrived to a beautiful gift basket from our home exchange family containing wine and a variety of local duck Foie Gras.

Our children have been enjoying the trampoline, the swings and the freedom to ride the bikes and scooter along the quiet, country lane just in front of the house. The joy of summer holidays means there is no schedule. We can have quiet, leisurely days, going at our own pace. Being away from the city is refreshing. We all seem to be enjoying the tranquility that surrounds us. It is a good reminder, that during the school year, we tend to spend so much time rushing around, that it does not serve ourselves or our children well.

The prefrontal cortex area of the brain that enables one to experience mixed emotions and self-regulate, does not develop until age 5-7 years. For more intense children, this may only begin to develop at age seven. Therefore, when we rush our children, it puts them into a heightened state of emotion that can be too much for them to manage. Intuitively, we know this, but we often get so caught up on the fast-paced “tread-mill of life”, that we push our children at a pace that is not in-sync with their natural rhythm.

Living in the French countryside, we are reminded of the simple pleasures. We are living in a lovely home yet it is so simple with not many belongings. The bedrooms are small, by North American standards, but we don’t need more space. The lights are all home-made with an artistic flair. The main floor is open with a small but modern kitchen, a small toy area, one couch and a large homemade table, bench and chairs – perfect for entertaining or casual eating as a family. We don’t have many clothes with us and we don’t speak French fluently, but we have all we need to enjoy every moment.

Being somewhere new, reminds one to take time and “smell the roses”. The goal will be to internalize this pace of life and bring it back to Vancouver. Of course this will be more difficult once we are back in the routine of school and work, but if we become more mindful we can live more simply and more in tune with our natural rhythm.

Wherever you are this summer, I hope you have a chance to slow down, spend quality family time and enjoy each day.

Warmly,