The Delight Challenge | A small tweak in your life for big, positive impact
More delight. More enchantment. More joy. More beauty. Everyone wants more of these things in their lives. And here’s the good news. You’re in control. You absolutely can have more of these things with only a tiny tweak in your day to day life.
In 2020 I heard an interview with Ross Gay, American poet, essayist, professor and author of the book Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. He was interviewed by the incredible Krista Tippett on her podcast, On Being (please give yourself the gift of listening to this podcast - it’s so good).
In the podcast, he told the story of his year of making an intentional effort, every day, to find things to delight in and then to chronicle them.
The results were surprising to him - as he focused his attention to finding things that delighted him, as time went on, he found more and more to be delighted in. He found delight even on days that were hard. Overtime, he realized his overall perspective changed to more gratitude and feelings of wellbeing.
Since then, a new term has emerged, glimmers. Glimmers are small moments that spark joy or peace, which can help cue our nervous system to feel safe or calm.
When we put Ross Gay's work together with the concept of glimmers, we understand that when we’re putting our intention and attention on delight - we’re not only going to notice more delight in our lives, we’re also going to be taking care of our nervous system, and our overall health and wellness. Big impact for a small tweak.
Through my Life Design work with people since I heard that interview, I have created the Delight Challenge for my clients. Here’s some of their feedback on what they notice after just 10 days of putting their intention and attention on delight.
‘I’m starting to catch little glimmers everywhere. I’ve been having a hard time lately, but now I have my antenna up for delight and joy… and I’m seeing it in the most unexpected places.’
‘I didn’t know. I simply didn’t know. Delight is all over the place. In my home, on my walks, on my drive to work. Even at work (the biggest miracle of all.’
I feel better. I feel lighter. I feel more in tune with the natural rhythm of me.’
Here’s your mission, if you choose to accept it.
10 days
The intention to focus your attention and intention onto joy/delight/wonder/awe/delight (choose one or mix them together)
Commit to
Journal about what you observe every day
OR create a photo journey of what you notice for every day
OR create a little piece of art that expresses what you’ve noticed each day
Day one: observe - how are you feeling overall?
Day 14: observe - what are you noticing as a change in your overall feeling?
If you do this, let me know what you observe as the impact in your life of focusing your attention and intention on delight.
You can do this solo, or you can bring a friend, your partner, your kids, or anyone who seems right. I know when I do it every year, it’s fun to do it with a friend so we can catch up every couple of days to report in especially awesome glimmers of delight.
Good luck! Let me know how it goes. Here are some of my moments of delight from the last while.