On his birthday, American writer and poet Ross Gay set himself the challenge of writing every day about something that delighted him. He compiled his writings in 'The Book of Delights' wherein he explores the delights that can be found in the every day, if we only remember to look around.
His rules were simple:
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Write a delight every day for year
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Draft them quickly
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Write them by hand
Gay discovered that, whilst challenging at first, his mind quickly adjusted to be trained to look for and therefore more easily see the ‘delightful’ surrounding him. He was drawn to things that brought him joy, made him laugh, inspired him, presented beauty and the self-imposed filter of seeking out the positive became his instinctive and disciplined way of seeing the world. He called this his “delight radar” – the more delight he looked for, the more delightful things there seemed to be.
If we look for negatives, we will find them. If we look for reasons to be upset, we will find them. If we look for things to find joy in, we will find them… how delightful.
So, grab a notebook and look around; the world will almost certainly present you with something wonderful of which to take notice.
