In search of Delight

I’ve been doing a variation on gratitude journal.  I’ve been blogging about things that delight me.  I started doing it just before the world began to implode.

It’s an interesting thing because it requires attention.  Delight I find to be a fleeting thing.  A quick moment that makes me smile, or a moment where the brain grenades recede because I found some sensation that overwhelmed them, like the soft fur on my cat or the smell of bread baking.

I think the attentiveness of it is part of it’s therapy.  Of trying to notice those tiny moments of delight that exist but are often as quickly forgotten or not given the importance they deserve.

It’s becoming a bit harder as the numbers of infected increase.  I have a tendency toward hypochondria, so I’m just waiting for the symptoms.  No.  I’m looking for the symptoms.  When I’m home I take my temp 5 or 6 times a day.  I’m not helped by having spring hay fever.

But as I look at how my brain has been dealing with this pandemic, I’m fairly pleased.  I have not fallen into a stillness.  The brain grenades have stayed mostly at a distance.  The worst part is the hypochondria.  And I am wondering if some of it is my attention to delights.  Of course Spring is here and that presents me with lots of moments of delight.  Walking outside to sunny skies and 60 degrees is just a rush of delight.  Seeing flowers growing all over the place when I take my walk is lovely.

I have had times in my life where I went through the whole spring without paying the slightest bit of attention to the white puffs of pear trees and cheerful dandelions and laughing daffodils.  And I think it’s not good for me.  I’m glad I’m noticing the delights of life.