“C’est la vie”...that’s a French expression that more or less translates into “that’s life” or “such is life”...or if you’re familiar with the song of the same name…’that’s just the way it goes’...sometimes it is said after a particularly discouraging event happens...other times it is used in a humorous manner...either way, it seems to a particularly good outlook on things...we want so much control in our lives...we want everything to go as planned, to go our way...and we are quite surprised and maybe even angry when they don’t...how could we possibly think they would...if we adopted an attitude of c’est la vie, we could lower our blood pressure and our high expectations of things...life isn’t ‘fair’ nor should we expect as much...bad things happen to good people...or strange things...we just have to shrug it off and move on...the term laissez-faire is similar to the Daoist idea of wu-wei...that is leave things alone and stop interfering...wu-wei is a fundamental belief among most people who follow the Daoist way...there’s an old saying: “Many things can get done by doing nothing”...that seems oxymoronish (if there is such a word, if not I’m going to make it up and pretend it is) in nature, but it is so often the case...that doesn’t apply to everything of course, but it’s amazing to think that it is the truth so often...these are just a couple of French sayings and little philosophies that have made their way across the Atlantic and found their way into the American lexicon… and if you don’t believe in these principles, I say “sacrebleu”!
