What you seek, you shall find.
So very true.
If you seek negativity and things you hate, that is what you will see. If you seek things that bring joy and delight - that is what you will see.
It has taken me a while to really hone in on this.
Have you ever noticed how your body feels when you are delighted by something? It engages your senses and ignites pleasure as you're marveling in the experience. Seeing a pasture full of yellow flowers, a dog with a funny vest on, having a conversation with a stranger at a coffee shop. You may feel a lift in your spirit, that's certainly how I feel - sort of a gushy warm ohhh feeling. These moments that you are noticing, can bring a sense of delight, long after the actual experience.
I love this insert from the movie The Color Purple.
“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.' 'What it do when it pissed off?' I ast. 'Oh, it make something else. People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.' 'Yeah?' I say. 'Yeah,' she say. 'It always making little surprises and springing them on us when us least expect.' 'You mean it want to be loved, just like the bible say.' 'Yes, Celie,' she say. 'Everything want to be loved.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Travelling my daily 30 minutes into the office, I sometimes arrive but have forgotten the drive, my mind was elsewhere. "Did I unplug the flat iron? Make sure to pick up bread. Am I ready for the presentation?" The normal summer construction had me re-routed taking this new detour into my office. I was noticing new things like the potholed and worn pavement roads, houses in need of repair, weedy lawns, and vacant buildings. Accelerating slowly through the green light, I saw a lady standing along the side of the river. She was wearing a long, flowy white dress with its hem softly lifting in the wind, her blond hair tied back in a carefree pony-tail. She was holding a paint brush reproducing the beauty of the city landscape in front of her, touching down on her canvas supported by an easel. I felt this moment of delight when I saw her. I surely didn't expect to see her, never mind seeing anyone standing at the river's edge, but she was so carefree and beautiful. She saw something that perhaps others may never see when looking at a city landscape of gray buildings and pavement. She is captivated by the moment, was it the way the sun was just peaking around the buildings, or perhaps the pedestrians on their morning strolls to their offices. The joy she was feeling in the moment was captured by her strokes of paint. I was delighted that, even with the noisy traffic behind her, she couldn't hear it. She was absorbed by the beauty of the landscape in front of her. I am reminded again, that everything wants to be loved, we just have to notice.
I have started a journal, writing down 3 daily delights that I feel, experience or see, everyday.
Todays entry was:
The smell of the coffee brewing, before I get out of bed.
Laying on the floor with Bear (my dog), for belly rubs.
Listening to the quiet, and the birds chirping with Sean in our backyard, after our busy work day.
Delights in your day could be:
Listening to the birds at dusk.
Singing loud to your favorite song that just came on the radio
Connecting with a perfect stranger over a coffee
The feel of opening a new book
Climbing into fresh sheets at night.
Identifying daily delights can require some effort, as we choose to seek out and acknowledge these little miracles. Noticing these ordinary joys are done by choice on how you spend your time and energy, everyday.
Find magic in the mundane everyday, delights are right in front of you.
Love to all
Tracy
xx
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