Donn King discovered a book by poet Ross Gay entitled The Book of Delights. It has inspired him to post a daily thought sparked by noticing something (or some things) delightful, thereby fostering joy. May it inspire you to notice also.
I've noticed that when I try to remember in the morning the delights of the previous day, I have already forgotten many of them. So here's a tweak to the process, and one I would recommend to anyone reading this.
Take notes all during the day. I'm using Evernote to jot down things that catch my delight in the moment. Then I'm taking the jottings and putting them in NotePD, before expanding it into an article.
Although I aim for morning, I suspect this one will come out in the afternoon because Sunday morning is pretty busy. And because of that, the list on NotePD will be a bit sparse today (titles only) since I'll develop the article directly on King's Chronicles. But most days I can develop the list further, export it as plain text, and then use it to either develop more fully into an article or else pick just one or two items from the list to develop in that article.
Although I actually had five items on the list for yesterday, I decided to focus on just one of them for the article:
KC Davis TED Talk
I found this TEDx talk (later featured on the TED main site) to be very effective and very moving. I can’t remember how I stumbled on it, but stumble I did. I think I was looking at the TED site for something else, and the title intrigued me. In any case, I was immediately hooked. And she kept me hooked.
Keep in mind I teach effective speaking to leaders, professionals, and college students. It’s sort of hard to hook my attention as a result, but it’s really hard for me to just listen to a speaker. I can’t help but evaluate what I’m hearing, e.g., “That was a really good opening, but his vocal tone didn’t really carry the weight of the story. She would be better off standing on one place until she moves on purpose instead of that little pacing-like movement. Etc.” It wasn’t just what she said, though. It was the way she said it—an effective blend of verbal, paralanguage (which basically means voice), and nonverbal (body language).
As she gave her speech (an effective mix of research and facts in the context of truly moving stories), she continued to weave all these things together. She moved me, and I resonated with the topic. I am an adult with ADHD who deals with depression characterized by anhedonia, and though I obviously could not imagine post-partum depression, I relate to the kind of struggles she talks about. But she didn’t just move me. She gave me solid tools for managing life.
I’m hoping I can get her to be a guest on my podcast! I went straight to Amazon and bought her book.
Donn King is The Confidence Cultivator. He is a professor of communication studies (which means “a professor of standing up in front of people and saying stuff”). He’s also a pastor, a speaker, a writer, and a communication coach. He works with professionals and leaders just like you who want to speak confidently so they can increase their impact, gain influence, and build their careers. Send email to donn at donnellking dot com if you would like to see if he could help you communicate with greater confidence.