12 Ways to Shape the Day for Delight & Wonder

Note: Jen Louden, Susannah Conway, and Marianne Elliott requested I and others riff on what brings us each creative joy. This guide is my reply. It started as a personal riff to my self about what’s important and how Thoreau’s and Dillard’s sentiments have driven me for 20-plus years. Hence, the images are personal. And then it became this guide. Enjoy and join them at http://www.creativejoyretreat.com/. They are amazing people.

 

“To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of the arts.” – Henry David Thoreau

 “Each day is a god.” – Annie Dillard

Sense that what you create helps raise the sun.

 

Help the sun laugh the sky wide.

 

 Carry wonder in your pack. She’s light and spacious.

 

Lay out a path

of breadcrumbs for others,

step away, and become a

Delight Maker.

 

 

 

 

 

Soften your eyes, listen, and braid new patterns.

 

 

Find yourself in a clearing (or secret orchard) outdoors.

 

Run this moment wild

so the wind

can remember

how grand it is.

 

 

 

Visit the underground.

Remember:

Most of the mind is there.

And the mind can be kind of cool and cozy where it’s dark.

 

 

 

 

Embrace

your Inner Goofy

with love,

and the world

will honk back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open up

 

 more than size up.

 

 

  Unwrap the gift of solitude.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hold the space

between.

Then, let it go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And 1 Core Reminder:

There is more day

to dawn than dawn.

There is more Self

to you than you.

 

 

 

JEFFREY DAVIS works with creative innovators, scholars, teams, and social change-makers to help creativity flourish in times of challenge and change.

Delight and wonder are his super-powers.

 

T R A C K I N G W O N D E R . C O M

trackingwonder.com