Sparkling water freely flows from public fountains in Paris, France.
The Parisians believe that accessible and clean water is a basic human right.
This spirited passion for optimal and healthy hydration drives their high-tech purification process that then propels quality water to river through the tap system of Paris. Neighborhood watering holes boast boards displaying the water’s mineral content information. Nearby vending machines conveniently sell empty reusable bottles.
Throughout the City of Lights, from the people who sleep on park benches to the tourists wandering down the Champs Elysees, drinkable and exceptional water is easily available to ALL.
And in a fancy twist that’s truly French, there’s even a sparkling water option, too.
I marvel at this fact as I move through my morning routine of preparing hot water spiked with freshly squeezed lemon.
I boil water on the stove, slice organically grown lemons and linger over my coffee cups before choosing a blush-pink mug featuring a hummingbird.
Hot water with lemon comes first – before breakfast, and especially before a craved slurp of coffee.
This elixir alkalizes my tummy, jumpstarts my metabolism and instantly rejuvenates my mind. This ritual includes a prayer, palms momentarily hovering over the water’s surface to give thanks for fresh water, to drink to my nourished health and wellbeing.
This ritual is a decade-or-so old. This ritual travels with me. This ritual reminds me that caring for myself can be this simple, intentional and beautiful.
I sip, and marvel at the French.
As a Topo-Chico fan, I am enchanted by Parisian water fountains spewing sparkling water, but I’m also more intrigued about how the French embrace and elevate living as a human.
I’ve resisted being human. I’ve squandered precious energy by trying to over-ride and squash my very human needs, like deep rest, nutrition that works for my body, companionship that is naturally balanced in give and take, and a lifestyle that’s compatible with my high sensitivity.
“Let yourself be human. That’s all.” Cleo Wade, the activist poetess, extends a life-giving line to me.
Letting myself be human frees me to befriend my body, and actualize the befriending choice that arises from and is aligned with my cosmically intelligent body.
My spirit-word of “water” assists in these breath-expansive decisions, too. Water reassures me that the pathway of ease is one to trust, and to meet the stagnation and dissolve the blockages that make me think that I am unworthy of ease, of deeply trusting myself, and that caring for myself needs to be difficult and hard.
Water detoxifies that belief, pours me back into enlivened exuberance.
When I shift from a DOING human to a human BEING, I find that I can approach my wellbeing like the French – with crystalline clarity and nourishing elegance.
So let’s generously fill wine glasses with fresh water and raise a toast.
May there be hot water with lemon.
May there be dance parties to my 90s playlist, so exercise is not punitive but gloriously fun (Backstreet Boys anyone?!), and my body can strengthen and stretch by moving joyously.
May there be daily doses of zinc and magnesium popped in with a lunch that when eaten keeps my gut happy, my mind clear, and my body sustained and nutritiously satisfied.
May there be the re-remembering to practice Emotional Freedom Technique when my emotions speak to me in wave-like intensity, so I may navigate, understand and respond with compassion and grace.
May there be moments of stillness, a returning home to inner spaciousness reflected in the vastness of a starlit sky. May I drink in the tonic of nature to hydrate the truth that I am nature.
May there be embodiment, freedom, an embodied freedom that replenishes and revitalizes like those sparkling water fountains in Paris, France.
Muse & Move
“Down To Earth With Zac Efron” : Season 1. Episode: France. Available on Netflix.
Heart-Talk: Poetic Wisdom For A Better Life by Cleo Wade Free-Spirited Dance
Dance & Dazzle : https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0DDZpF9Rd1C5hMlfnw79iZ?si=KpWoDTW-QaCA1t_WwFOUaw