Wow, it's been one month since I started this delightful blog. With few exceptions, I have blogged every single day for a month (exceptions include a few days I didn't publish the blog entry until the next day). But I have successfully formed a habit of writing (I sit down every morning with my coffee and eggs and write this blog), and I am delighted. It is also fascinating to see how my outlook on life has changed in just this one month. I think my hope and optimism are returning. I have regained a glimmer of the passion I once had for trying to change the world. I see again one of the messages I used to preach, not did not really practice well- finding joy in the little things, living in the moment, delighting in the moment. You don't need to have or to experience big momentous occasions to feel delight. You can see the beauty in the microscopic and marvel in the mundane. Because of the pandemic, quarantine, and my chosen unemployment, I spend a lot of time at home, doing a lot of the same things, not experiencing many big momentous occasions. No awesome concerts to attend, no traveling to exotic far off places, no meeting new people, no attending energetic events. It is super interesting to me to consider how different this blog would have been had we not been in a pandemic. How different the moments of delight would be. I have had to discover great joy in the small things in my life and I really think it has changed me. And I also really do believe that if more people did this, the world really would change.
I find it interesting that while I have often preached about finding delight in the small things, I so rarely experienced it until now. (Gives new meaning to practice what you preach). One of my favorite poems is At The River Clarion by Mary Oliver, which I've used often in sermons and meditations. She writes about being thankful for not only a ripe melon, but also the knife used to cut it open. Delight leads to gratitude. Gratitude can lead to change. She writes:
of his intention and his hope.
Which is a delight beyond measure.
Of course for each of us, there is the daily life.
Let us live it, gesture by gesture.
When we cut the ripe melon, should we not give it thanks?
And should we not thank the knife also?
Finding delight in the small things also reminds me that taking even small steps can eventually accomplish a journey. Like Benjamin Franklin once said, "Little strokes fell great oaks." I used to say to myself that even if I made one person smile, it would mean that I made a difference in the world. But I grew pessimistic with this outlook after discovering how big, complicated, and broken the world is, and how impossible it would be for me, just one person, to make any kind of difference. This experiment in delight has given me back a bit of my hope for change, and ironically, one of the ways I feel I can make a difference is by leading other people to this place of meditation on delight, to encourage the evolution of humanity, through delight in the small things.
I take heart in this quote by Turkish novelist Mehmet Murat Ildan: " If you can see the little things and the small details around you as big things, you're enlightened." Enlightenment is my new goal, not just for me, but for humanity.
I also found a bunch of other quotes that really speak to me regarding this idea of delighting in the small things.
"Little things seem nothing, but they give peace, like those meadow flowers which individually seem odorless but all together perfume the air." - Georges Bernanos
"You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you." - Andy Warhol
"Big things are often just small things that are noticed." - Markus Zusak
"Sometimes, little things make a big difference." - Nino Varsimashvili
"Everyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realizing that life is made up of little things." - Frank A. Clark
"We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love." - Mother Teresa
With delight,
♥Jamie
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