Sunday 1 February 2015

Quote of the Week - Colette



"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm."



I love Colette. She was certainly a distinct person, unafraid to shirk convention and make her own choices. Some of those choices were decimating, but some resulted in her having a remarkable life.

You can discover her story in this great biography by Judith Thurman: Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette (Ballantine Reader's Circle).

Full disclosure:  I haven't read the end of the book - I have a kind of biography problem. I read a lot of biographies about artists and trailblazers and, well, I often find it hard to finish them. The ends are usually a slow, sad descent into despair or poverty or isolation. I don't like to watch the suffering of people I love and admire.

So, in very Colette-like fashion - I just don't read that part.

We're all going to die. It's the living that's the point and no one knew that better than Colette. I'm working with the Anat Baniel Method right now and enthusiasm is one of her nine points for "moving into life."

Enthusiasm is only placing your energy in a positive direction, rather than misplacing it into the negative.

(Yes, that's Audrey Hepburn hich-kicking as Colette's heroine Gigi. Hepburn played her on Broadway; Leslie Caron played her in the film.)

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