What do you seek out when you need to see something beautiful?
Jean: I go outside. There is always beauty and complexity and meaning outside. The fractal nature of everything never fails to blow my mind. Nature’s enormity is deeply comforting, and its specifics are just as spectacular: the perfection of my cat’s ears, for example, or the grace of a leaf falling from a tree—all of it is incredible.
To of course a much lesser degree, I love decor. The World of Interiors always enchants me. The pictures and the writing embody a charming, intriguing, unusual sort of curiosity.
Where does your gaze linger when you need grounding?
Jean: I look at pictures of my children. Their beauty and the fact of their existence astounds me.
What is your favorite scent memory?
I spent a great portion of my childhood out in the wilderness, so the scent of a campfire brings back the feeling of: civilization, safety, shared experience, of course warmth but also the promise of dinner or breakfast or whatever was being cooked over it, conviviality—even difficult people soften up around a campfire—and that gorgeous meditative state watching a fire can put you in.
If your favorite season had a scent, what would it be?
Jean: People have attempted to capture the feeling of snow in a scent to no avail, but someone, someday, has to succeed.
What sound quiets your mind instantly?
Jean: People talking. If it can’t be my family or my friends, Esther Perel, Chelsea Handler, Howard Stern, Dax Shepard and Monica Padman, Huberman.What do you hear when you’re fully present?
Jean: My feelings.
Is your mind quiet or loud?
Jean: Incredibly loud. My mind wants to strategize endlessly, rather than feel feelings. Learning to sit with feelings—to let my mind quiet so my body can feel, without editorializing or strategizing—is a very difficult but beautiful struggle.
![]()
What textures or materials bring you back to your body?
Jean: Water—cold or hot—brings me right back.
The French skier-turned-pedicurist Bastien Gonzalez (he was famous for exfoliating feet with a dentist’s drill, which is much more pleasant than it sounds) once told me to massage my feet every night right before bed. “Everything ze next day will go better,” he said. It’s true, I swear. You don’t need a technique, just a nice cream (the body cream in Lavender By the Sea is always on my nightstand) and less than a minute to smooth it into your feet. Do it the last thing before you turn out the light.
Related: A homeopath took one look at my then-5-year-old daughter (now 28) and said: “She’s too much in her head. Massage her feet to bring her back into her body.” Aren’t we all too much in our heads? And don’t we all love a foot massage? I made a foot massage part of the nighttime routine for both kids, and I cannot recommend it more highly. Even when they were teenagers full of rage, they’d always accept that moment of connection. Now when they come home to visit, they always demand a foot massage.
What’s the most indulgent thing you’ve tasted lately?
Jean: Mix an egg, a cup of avocado oil, and half a teaspoon of both dijon mustard and salt together in an immersion blender for mayonnaise that is pure HEAVEN. It makes just about anything more delicious: dip roasted sweet potatoes in it, mix it with any vegetable to make incredible salad, and maybe my favorite is to make crab toast with it.
What do you savor when you need to feel nourished—body or soul?
Jean: There is nothing like shaved-fresh-artichoke salad with lemon and parmesan. I don’t know how to shave a fresh artichoke, but when someone (aka an Italian restaurant, usually in Italy) does it for me, I am beyond grateful.
Discover more about Jean
