A cartoon
A thought
My friend
recommended an On-Being podcast a few weeks ago, she was right. It was wonderful: Ross Gay on the Insistence of Joy.Listening to Krista Tippet speak with Ross Gay for an hour is a treat well worth the time. His life’s work is in exploring delight, joy and tenderness in a wholehearted way - he is attuned to delights and unabashed gratitudes.
I am fascinated that a deliberate focus on joy and delight is the thing that many of us are reaching for at this liminal point in time. A deep noticing that seems to balance the cosmic scales of chaos.
My gut says practices like glimmers and delight go far deeper than whitewashing our pain and confusion, Ross says (paraphrased by Krista)
“We are good at fighting but not as good at holding in our imaginations what is to be adored and preserved and exalted — advocating for what we love, for what we find beautiful and necessary.”
He sees joy as a calling at a moment like this because :
“sometimes I think there’s a conception of joy as meaning something like — like something easy. And to me, joy has nothing to do with ease. And joy has everything to do with the fact that we’re all going to die. That’s actually — when I’m thinking about joy, I’m thinking about that at the same time as something wonderful is happening, some connection is being made in my life, we are also in the process of dying.
That is every moment. That is every moment…
I have really been thinking that joy is the moments — for me, the moments when my alienation from people — but not just people, from the whole thing — it goes away, and it shrinks… And that — that’s a joining, a joy-ning.”
To me, Ross is saying that joy is the key that opens our connection to everything. To each other and to the more-than-human-world. The exact place we need to be to dream and build different ways of doing life in the future.
Ross has written a number of books about delight such as The Book Of Delights. They are going on my to-read list but I am already loving the concept of delight as an addition to glimmers. Glimmers is a noticing of the beauty, love and joy that is all around. Delight is something more, a personal choice to undertake a thing that delights you. His books were born from a decision to commit to a practice of daily delight: “Oh, it’d be a neat thing, to write essays every day for a year about something that delighted me.” He says that the most wonderful thing about this practice was “how quickly the study of delight made delight more evident.” I’ve noticed that with glimmers, the more you notice, the more you see.
This episode leaves me wondering, what would a daily practice of delight look like for me? It would have to be around art marking and mark making but I’m not sure what yet - I will keep you posted. What would a daily practice of delight look like for you?
Glimmers and sparks*
My glimmers for today are:
This whole episode was a glimmer for me, but particularly Ross reading his poem “Loitering” a delightful, powerful wander with the word and her synonyms: linger, loaf, laze, lounge, lollygag, dawdle, amble, saunter, meander, putter, dillydally, and mosey. I’ve set this link up so it starts at his poetry reading:
Seeing empty bird nests exposed in skeleton trees holding the promise of spring.
Full full moon in the deep dark of winter.
Li’l bean is your reminder to pause and ask: What are your glimmers for today?
From your friend and your small, steadfast companion,
*Drawing Li’l Bean helped me navigate out of a period of depression in 2023. A good friend 13, 595km away, helped, too, through a ritual of swapping daily glimmers via text.
A glimmer is a tiny spark of hope, enthusiasm or joy that lifts your heart. By helping me find three glimmers each day, she gently helped me see the joy and beauty already around me.
I’d like to share this practice with you and invite you to reflect on your glimmers for the day when you read this. Think of Li’l Bean as a reminder to notice the glimmers and sparks in your life. We’d love it if you would like to share your glimmers in the comments or by hitting reply (if you don’t like sharing publicly).
I love the idea of. Delight practice! I have recently reduced my coffee intake but every few days I really enjoy going for a walk on the beach, getting a takeaway coffee, and sitting in the dunes just enjoying looking at the waves. I find it so delightful because it’s now a special treat and with the sunshine and just all that nervous system regulation with the sound of Surf and my bare feet in the sand… ❤️
Dear Gillian, I am delighted you enjoyed this podcast and got so much from it. You have done a brilliant job of capturing the essence of the talk and selecting highlights. May this bring more delights in all our lives.
Mine today are your article & Julien Assange being free and back in Australia 💗