STUMBLING INTO DELIGHT
I was at a restaurant with my two grandchildren ages 3 and 6 and I had given them a quarter to put in the gumball machine which actually held peanut M&Ms and not gumballs. I was sitting at the table when I heard a screech of delight - in fact everyone in the restaurant heard that screech of delight. I looked up and the two of them had their hands under the machine catching their M&Ms, laughing and screaming, simply delighted!
My grandchildren got me to thinking about delight. Not so much because they ARE a delight but because they often experience delight. When Finn (the 3 year old) sits at the kitchen and sings just for the delight of singing. When Effie (the 6 year old) receives a gift that is pink and squeals, actually squeals with delight. The look on their faces with that first bite of ice cream, or when they stomp in a puddle or see a huge pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. Finn was delighted to find a caterpillar on his Mom’s milkweed and Effie looked to me with delight when a horse let her pet his long black muzzle. They are such naturals at experiencing delight.
We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children
that makes the heart too big for the body.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have thought a lot about joy but not so much about delight. I think of joy as being a large emotion - that you are overtaken with joy. Joy is the big, bold, and boisterous party – it's the grand celebration, the overwhelming feeling of appreciation or achievement. Where delight is a smaller emotion, just as largely felt. Delight is the charming, quiet but playful surprise party – it's the thrill of discovery or the pleasure we get from experiencing something new and enchanting.
Rapper’s Delight
Afternoon Delight
Turkish Delight
I recently went to Tahoe with some friends and we took a hike on a trail that was known for its gnome forest. We weren’t sure if we were on the right path until sitting on a fallen log we noticed a very small and quite charming gnome. We continued on and as we rounded a corner we were met by four or five more gnomes sitting under a bush smiling up at us.
Wandering through the bushes and trees, across the creek and over the fallen logs we discovered groups of gnomes everywhere! Gnomes sitting in a circle around a mushroom, gnomes hanging from the branches, tucked under the ferns, sitting on top of the fallen logs. I wondered at this emotion I felt as I wandered around the gnome forest but now recognize it as pure delight.
The smallest things give me delight and ever since I started being more conscious of it I have noticed how easily I can be delighted if I just pay attention. The longer I look, the more I see - a praying mantis on my tomato plants, a personal letter in my mailbox, a purple flower on the trail, the unexpected sound of a baby chuckling, finding the queen in my beehive, a full rainbow out my kitchen window, my son and his daughter walking to school side by side, her pigtails bouncing. Such delights!!
Sometimes when I feel delight I think surely people can see me glow for just that moment. I get a sense of warmth and light inside of me and my mouth goes into an effortless smile. It’s usually short lived but if I experience enough delights in a day it becomes a source of considerable joy.
Delights to Joy - recipe for a happy life.