Flanerie Will Get You Nowhere

A dear friend of mine recently turned me onto a new word:

“flânerie = the act of strolling and doing nothing, of having no objective or destination. A person who practices this delightful-sounding act is called a flâneur.”

She was so taken with the meaning that after sharing it with me, she decided to do it herself.

I have not heard from her since.

In any event, we determined its status in English (noun) and in its original French (verb), and decided to try integrating it into our vernacular – not to mention our daily routines. Without realizing it, I’ve since learned that the policy of “be here now” is a perfect vehicle for the verb.

I had moments of savage purpose last weekend – laundry, baking, dusting that included the baseboards because springtime sun is brutal about busting the bunnies. I got a fair bit of work done with Jake, too, though, as usual, the characters are running the story so it’s not taking the expected route. But between those bursts of directed energy, there was flânerie. We packed a picnic lunch and carried it across the street to sit seaside as we ate. We wandered up to the summer market to stock up on fresh baby tomatoes and strawberry/vanilla bean jam, then meandered back home. I lay on the sofa and listened to an album all the way through, which I count as a mental flânerie.

The real world demands that we pay heed to the clock, but the New Age philosophy is true when you forget about it.

“You have all the time you need.”

Really. You do. Stay focused, stay in the moment, pay attention to what you’re doing. Indulge in the occasional flânerie. You’ll be amazed at how much you accomplish and how good it feels.