Seeking "Delightenment"

While listening to NPR this week, I caught a segment of This American Life*.  The piece was entitled “The Show Of Delights” and in the prologue, Ira Glass opens by saying,” In these dark, and confusing, and combative times, where in just one month-- and it's a month that doesn't feel that atypical-- we have impeachment hearings, and Australia on fire, and a near war with Iran, and a deadly virus spreading around the world. We thought here at our show, we would try the most radical counter-programming possible. So today, we bring you our show about delight.” He then passes narration to his co-worker Bim Adewunmi .
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“ So there's this poet that I discovered a couple of years ago.” Adewunmi says. “He's called Ross Gay, and he's written a book where he basically keeps track of the things that delight him. And that's things, that's people, that's moments, whatever… the word he used was "negligence." He said it's a negligence if people don't take the time to honor the things that they take delight in, but more importantly, that they share the things that they take delight in. And if you don't do that, there's a loss there. You have to do it to achieve humanity. You have to share delight.”

NPR calls it a “Driveway Moment”. Oprah calls it an “Ah-ha!” Even the ancient Greeks had a word for it. Epiphany.  Whatever it’s called, I had one.

Only three days earlier, I’d set up an Instagram account. I’d done it because one of my fellow wizards  suggested that it was a “good platform for creative people to share what we do”. I still wasn’t sure how it applied to me…until I heard this NPR broadcast.

During my time on this planet, I must have taken over a gazillion photographs. This is because, each and every day, I see things, which ­­­­––to me––are beautiful
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or heartwarming...

or amusing...

or poignant.

After hearing about the poet, Ross Gay, who, for an entire year, charted and wrote about the things that delighted him, I thought about all the images I’d taken that filed me with delight, yet seldom shared.

I thought I might build on Ross Gay’s work by introducing the concept of “delightenment”, which I define as  “the sharing of images, thoughts, and experiences with the sole purpose of connection rather than disaffection”.

Hello Instagram! And if you like the idea of #seekingdelightenment" , come follow me!

* Take this link to enjoy This American Life’s  “The Show of Delights” for yourself.