In which I learn a new and useful happiness term: mis-en-place.

One of the fun things about law school (and you thought there wasn’t anything fun about law school!) was the new vocabulary we all picked up.

A new word lets me have a new idea. I remember learning the concept of “acting in reliance,” and suddenly, I saw people acting in reliance all over the place.

I just picked up a useful word from a field I know nothing about—cooking.

Cooks, it turns out, talk about mis-en-place (MEEZ ahn plahs), which is French for “put in place” or “everything in its place.” Mis-en-place describes the preparation done before starting the actual cooking: gathering ingredients and implements, chopping, measuring, and all the rest.

Mis-en-place is preparation, but it’s also a state of mind; mis-en-place means you have everything at the ready, with no need to run out to the store or begin a frantic search for a sifter. You’re truly ready to begin to work.

I’ve been thinking about mis-en-place in my own life. Do I have the tools I need? Am I able to proceed in an orderly, serene way?

Nothing is more satisfying than working easily and well, and I’ve found that mis-en-place helps me achieve that state of flow. In particular, my most important equipment is my own head, so I’ve been paying more attention to my frame of mind. I also like the feeling of having an orderly collection of the tools that help me in my pursuit of happiness: my scoring charts, my list of Twelve Commandments, my pads of sticky notes, my garbage bags, my happiness box, my favorite pens, etc.

Now that I’ve learned the term mis-en-place, I’m more deliberate about composing myself to begin work—whether at my desk at home, on the long table at the library, or in a coffee shop.

For some reason, a phrase from high school, which I also made the last sentence in my college essay (how do I remember these things?) also seems related to this idea and keeps reverberating in my head...

"Read all instructions carefully. Turn over your test papers and begin."

Comments

[Mad William Flint]

I came across this term when I was teaching myself how to bake bread (takes a long time from books, but it's far from impossible.)

The first few times I read about it, it seemed ridiculous.

But after doing it 3 or 4 times it, like so much else that came from baking bread, absolutely changed my life.

You're going do to something. Lay it all out in front of you. Do all the prep work first. Don't put the cart before the horse. Then all you have left over is to bolt it together.

It's far more satisfying than it seems.

[Alex Fayle]

It does seem much more fun to just dive in and get going, but I'm the sort who likes to have everything laid out in front of me. People wonder why I do that, because it seems like the task at hand will take more time to prepare first, but then I don't miss anything and I approach the task serenely.

I especially like to do it when I'm cooking, but that's only because I like to pretend I'm on a cooking show.

[Matt]

Great post, but now I'm curious. What does "acting in reliance" mean?

[Gretchen Rubin]

Ah, "acting in reliance." I'm not going to get this exactly right, but I'll try. (All you active lawyers out there, correct me if I get this wrong.) Even in a situation where two people don't actually have a contract, if one person does something so that the other person "acts in reliance" -- i.e., takes action relying on the fact that there will be a contract -- a sort of contractual relationship springs up. So, say I tell a painter that I'm going to hire him to paint my house, so he goes out and buys $500 worth of paint. He's acted in reliance, so I can't just so "Well, nope, sorry, you don't get the job after all." Or, in the kind of situation we saw in law school, if Friend #1 says to Friend #2, "Let's room together off campus next year," so Friend #2 doesn't sign up for a dorm room, the fact that Friend #2 has acted in reliance means that Friend #1 has some obligation.

[sunny]

I JUST read a blog entry on this same phrase yesterday right here...

http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/posie_gets_cozy/2007/02/mise_en_place.html

how fun that we're all thinking alike! There must be a reason this is being brought to my attention this week.

Thank you so much for writing about it!

[Lise Breakey JD]

"Acting in reliance" -- Somebody makes you a promise, say, to sell you a house. In reliance upon that promise, you go and sell your own house so that you can buy his. He knows that you are selling your house in reliance upon his promise to sell you his house. He gets a better offer for his house. If he sells to the other person, he's breaking the implied contract between you and him because you acted in reliance upon his promise and now you don't have a house to live in.

Something like that, anyway.

[Matt]

Thanks! I'm sure I will start noticing examples of it everywhere now..

[Michael]

Res ipsa loquitur.

Or, as they say on talk shows, "Ummm hmmm!"

[TillCyncinody]

hi,
good site :) Whish you good luck!

[Nika]

Good site! I'll stay reading! Keep improving!

[Michele Moore]

Greetings Gretchen,
Love your site! How about adding HappinessBlog.com to your blog roll?
I'll add you to mine as well!
Michele Moore
http://HappinessBlog.com
http://HappinessHabit.com

[SND]

You might be even more satisfied by the phrase "mise en scène," a film term (theater folks might use it as well) that describes everything that is before the camera at one time. This includes the actors, the props, the costumes, lights, etc. As a viewer, you see it when you look at a shot in a film .The mise en sène must be in order before the camera rolls.

It seems like this is much more in keeping with what you seem to mean than the specifically culinary term you refer to.

Incidentally, in French, the director is referred to as the metteur de scène," which I think is funny. A "metteur" is a person who putters.

[Y. Kang]

VALID HAPPINESS (including love, sense of beauty, symbiosis (good conscience, upholding justice, moral couraging, helping others, teaching…) bravery, etc.) must be the feeling of things being a step better for our propagation. Otherwise, human being can not survive.

Right?

http://blog.sina.com.cn/happywellness

[Alexandra]

Hi. As a chef, the first thing I learned the importance of mis-en-place. Now, it's the first thing I teach anyone wanting to learn to do just about anything. It's the a pro-active choice, like many good habits, and it stops you from being so reactive.

We can learn to help ourselves be happy, just as we can learn to do mis-en-place. Check out my blog on the subject: "On Being Happy When Life Sucks." : blog.grant-paul.com.

[Annaly]

Preparation for happiness? I like the concept. Implies that happiness just doesn't happen, you have to set it up.