The French word "eveiller" & how to wake up and become more lively

Smell the roses, see the butterfly's wings... slow to a snail's pace but not so slow as to sleepwalk through the day.

éveiller (ay-veh-yay) verb
 
       : to wake up, to excite... "to pull from sleep" (tirer du sommeil)


A Day in a French Life... by Kristin Espinasse

"Présent!" It is what my son replies when his teacher reads aloud his name for roll call. Every French child answers the same life-affirming way: "Présent!"*

The affirmative "Présent!" is so much more lively than bland ol' "Here!" don't you think? And did you ever notice the word's dual meaning: present/present which, whether in French or English, hints that when we are "here," present in the moment, we receive the "gift" of clarity -- where even the mundane takes on magnificence.

I would like to shout "Présente!" to somebody each day or, better yet, each hour!--if only to remind myself that I am truly awake. An hourly roll call might pull me out of this mental slumber. Lately, fueled by caffeine and routine, I manage to get by on automatic. The not-so-sensational sensation could be compared to sleepwalking through sauerkraut, though my mother-in-law would call it "pedaling through choucroute." The vivid imagery that her words call forth is enough to wake my senses--if only that of sight, and if only in the mind's eye--otherwise, it's the same old grind, day after day, though it be a Gallic one and who am I to complain?

Recently, I decided to throw that old foe "Predictable Routine" for a loop. I began by tying my shoes. Next, I headed for the door, instead of the coffee pot, and so marched, one foot after the other, out of the house and into the countryside's "classroom".

"Présente! Présente! Présente!" I affirmed, to the whispering reeds and leaf-chattering trees that agreed, enthusiastically, to take roll call for sluggish ol' me.
 

:: Le Coin Commentaires ::

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 French Vocabulary & Audio File Hear my daughter pronounce today's word and quote: 

 On ne force pas une curiosité, on l'éveille.  We don't force curiosity, we awaken it.  --Daniel Pennac

 Download mp3 or WAV    

présent(e) = here, present
la choucroute = sauerkraut

 

Comments

[Laura]

A thoughtful post! Yes, one must break the routine once in a while. A new type of breakfast for instance - Vietnamese Noodle Soup (Pho Ga for instance) will get you going quickly and for many hours as we found out during our recent 4-week trip to Viet Nam. Why not? Such breaks with routinely followed habits and processes give life a new zest and your "présent" will resound loud and clear!

[Marika Ujvari]

"Whispering reeds and leaf-chattering trees" - beautifully put! That vivid imagery urged me to do the same and headed out with my dog in tow. Kristin, I will send you an interesting article about the science of the yawn, which at this early hour I do very enthusiastically.

[gail bingenheimer]

I recently returned from a year teaching in South Korea and now live back home in Chicago. I presently substitute teach for CPS so every morning I get up at a six heures du matin pour l'ecole appeler. However, usually the call does not come. I am "present" ou "tiens" for the call. gail

[la voisine]

magnifique photo, bisous <3

[candy]

Hi Kristin,
How does your mother-in-law say this completely in French?
"my mother-in-law would call it "pedaling through choucroute"

[Cheryl in STL]

Kristin,
What a lovely post! I, too, have always appreciated the French response of "présent(e)". Spring here in STL is in full bloom and unusually warm. The woods behind my house are carpeted in white and blue wildflowers. Every morning (with coffee in hand!) I sit out on the deck and savor the moment. Today I will greet the day with "présente"! Merci!

[Herm Meyer]

Salut Kristin,

Arizona est présent!

Currently, the weather is great here in the Phoenix area with the temperature in the upper 80's F. and rising. Soon it will be summer with temperatures in the 105 to 110 degree range.

Besides being refreshing and helping get your head screwed on straight, walks are very healthy.

J'ai pris mon nouveau genou d'un an et mon corps de 79 ans pour une marche de trois mile dans le désert d'Arizona hier. C'était génial!

à bientôt,

Herm in Phoenix, AZ

[Kathy Mathews]

Kristin,

At 56 and after 35 years of teaching Spanish and French, I am about to retire. Your post this morning helped inspire me to be more in the moment, even as I grow impatient and wish to fast forward to the finish. I need to be more present and soon, I will be able to wake up with a walk instead of a drive.

I haven't taught French for 16 years so I use your posts to keep my toe in it!

Merci bien,

Kathy Mathews

[Fred Caswell]

Short, sweet, insightful, and inspiring!

Being present to every moment of wakefulness is living fully in each and every moment of eternity to which we can respond, "Present!".
-- aussi "Grazie!"

Encore, merci beaucoup, chere Kristi.

[Julie]

Lovely visions you conjure up Kristin. I am present here in Edinburgh Scotland where we are experiencing the sunshine for probably the first time this year. What a beautiful present it is too. I have spent the morning in my garden trying to clear away the debris of winter and let the new season in. Hard work but much more preferable than trying to clear the dust from inside the house which seems to have appeared in abundance with the sunshine. I am working my way through your 2 books trying to make sure the words and phrases sink in so that I can sound a little more knowledgeable when we return to France next week. Many thanks for your wonderful blog.Julie (56) 18 at heart

[Pamela Hutchings]

"Presente" - from Southern California!Always a pleasure to read your writing - a great way to start my day and refresh my French - (will need to work more before our trip to Aix in July). Also, my family enjoys seeing photos of your dogs - we, too, are lovers of Goldens and have a young lad, Jesse.
Pamela (53; and weather here is rainy)

[Missy]

Cheerful way to start the day!
How true it is to become to automatic in our routines-thank's for the reminder to shake things up a little!

[Julie]

Presente in St. Louis on this beautiful spring morning!

What a marvelous photograph to greet us on this Monday morning. I'm especially drawn to it because yesterday my husband and I went hiking in a local state park and I spent half the trip (when I wasn't actually tripping . . . over rocks and roots) trying to get a picture of a butterfly I had never seen before. It would not sit and pose like yours did.

And with a bit of a guilty feeling after reading your post I will now get my dog's leash and take her out. She always jumps up in the morning, "presente," but she depends on me to take her out to explore the world. So off we go. The park beckons.

[Nijole L]

I often used the line "You must be PRESENT TO win" in my lectures about awareness, presence and energy healing work. Simply showing up, that is being PRESENT is the first step to conscious awareness to life force. Truly a great word- and also- being "present" in each moment is why life is such a 'gift'!
From: Key West, FL and Paris in summer.

[Marianne Rankin]

What a magnificent photo! It would be great hanging on a wall. Do you ever give photos as gifts?

There is something about spring that is rejuvenating, regardless of one's age. Every year, flowers and other plants blossom anew. We can again feel "present" as the season unfolds. And as someone has said, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life," a new chance to be "present" even if we have been distracted and busy in the past.

[Julie]

Didn't Woody Allen say something like "80% of success is showing up"?

[Ahulani]

Dearest Kristin,
Thank you once again for awakening me to that "Yes!" "Saying 'Yes' to life", choosing to be alive, that awareness that yup, I am here right now and that is all there really is. It does seem to me to be a practice, "tying my shoes" and choosing to move.

I had a Sufi teacher years ago who would call me on the phone every once in awhile and ask in his heavily accented English, "Arrrre you awaaaaake or asleeeeep?" And I would answer "Oh. I've been up since 6" or some nonsense like that. He was so patient! Now I could say, "Well, I am remembering to tie my shoes and step into the moment a bit more often! That's all. I am beginning to see the dream for what it is."

Maybe boredom and routine and "pedaling through the choucroute" are just the numbness we need to choose something else? Do you think that the contrast between what we are living and what we would like to experience finally becomes so great that we jump up and say "No more! I'm going for feeling good"?

Much love,
Ahulani

[Pat Cargill]

"Presente!" After returning from vacation/holiday, it can take a few days to get back into the groove. It'll all be groovey before you know it. Somedays not so groovey, to be sure - this I know. Have been going through a Spring slump and ask myself how, when the world is transforming in such a magnificently beautiful way, could I possible be sad, blue, not groovey? No answer. It is exactly like it is and I am trying not to feel too desperate about it. Sometimes all I can do is sit in the swing and breathe. Other times I have the chain saw in hand and am trimming the big branches...go figure. Margaritas were a temporary and disastrous fix. (I know better.) So, day by day, jour a jour (?), minute by minute. Your blog helps so much--reading your stories, seeing French come alive, connecting w/people all over the world and realizing we are all in it together. Merci, K.

[Deborah]

"Presente!" Chere Kristin de San Jose, California.

Just a quick note to say I love your photo de Papillon, and today's quote.

Bon journee,
Deborah

[Deborah]

Oops, Where's the edit button? Should have been Bonne journee! My French is rusty.

[Stacy, Applegate, Oregon]

Kristi, lovely post, such vivid imagery! I love the idea of proclaiming one is Present! in the moment and that may translate into trading in one's routine, however comforting, for something new. I will put this into action tomorrow morning.

Pat: I am always inspired by your comments. As today, I find your words beautiful, wise and truthful. I have felt a bit blue and tired lately as well. I say to adopt the snail's pace, smell the blossoms, enjoy your time in the swing, take time to gracefully unfold your wings...

May the stirring Spring nourish our spirits with its sweet beauty and new life!

[Trish]

Kristin,
Your photo of the papillon is sublime. If ever again you're feeling "absente" from instead of "présente" in your Gallic Galaxy, know that you can easily transport yourself to the monde of your very own photographic making- and that really is a gift!
All the best,
Les New HautsSavoyards

[Jill in Sydney]

Kristin and fellow posters
Just taking your loverly post today very literally, I am interested to know what response others gave at school roll call. I was taught here in Australia by the Marist Sisters, originally a French order. At roll call we always had to answer "Present". I have never thought about it until now (left school nearly forty years ago)I wonder if it was because of their French origins, or just because we were learning to be very polite young ladies? Any one else with similar experiences?

[7jades]

thanks!
Bises,
jades

[Ophelia Paine]

What a lovely post... One of the gifts of a another language is a new way of experiencing the meaning of words. To be présent, yes, is a joy and a revelation when I remember/remind myself to practice it. And beautiful spring days make it a bit easier to remember.

Have you read anything by Pema Chodron?

Merci à toi, Krisin.

[Patricia Lynn]

Just what I needed to hear on this beautiful Spring morning! So much to be "present" for!
Thank you so much!

[Stacy, Applegate, Oregon]

Thank you for this present which continued into today, Kristi! I loved how "present" called my mind back from its wanderings to see the blossoms which had popped overnight on the plum tree, the lilac buds which I didn't notice yesterday and the cackling of the American kestrel who is nesting along the creek.

I learned (from Pema Chodron who Ophelia mentioned above) to use the word "thinking" as to pause the wheels of the mind, to reroute our thoughts from spinning into worry, shoulds, stories and bring ourselves back to the present. This morning I found the word present especially helpful as, also seemingly overnight, I am experiencing my first case of allergies. Better to focus on the beauty all around me then the misery in my head! Blessings!

[Robin C]

I loved your book A Day in a French Life. I wish you would do something similar with wine terminology: every chapter another another word and information about wine making.

[Pat Cargill]

Stacy, mille mercis for your thoughts. Sometimes all we can do is continue at a snail's pace. I have read and continue to read Pema Chodron and appreciate the reminder to pull her books out once more. Anchoring in the breath, helps me too, to stop that merry-go-round mindstuff. So sorry to hear you are having allergies! I am wanting to open the house to the fresh Spring air, but knowing it is laden w/pollen, I keep doors and windows closed.

May everyone breathe into their true essence--that marvelous conglomeration of Self, however confused and sneezy and goofy it may be at times.

[Marianne Rankin]

To Pat Cargill and Stacy,

You have probably heard of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), which can result from lack of sunlight, or light in general. In our area in 2003, there were sixty-some days in a row of cloudy weather- no wonder everyone was feeling kind of "down." As spring blossoms and the days get longer, I hope some of the blue-ness will vanish. Sometimes we wake up with no apparent reason to be feeling less than chipper, although occasionally other causes, such as lack of sleep, play a role. In any case, if you wait long enough, the mood should lift. There have been times in my life when I really wondered what the point was, but am glad I didn't throw in the towel. Lucy, in the old "Peanuts" comic strip, used to say she wanted only "Ups, ups, and ups!" For most of us, that's not possible, but the valleys we sometimes travel help us to see the peaks for what they are. I'm cheering for you!