Delight in simple things.

Things I love: genuine laughter amongst friends, clean cool sheets, a perfect cup of coffee, driving through the TX hill country, silence and stillness, the sunlight filtered through the grand windows of the NY Public Library.

The motto of the boarding school I attended: Teach us delight in simple things. It's a line from a Rudyard Kipling poem and has been seared into my heart and brain for over half my life now.

Delighting hasn't always come easy. Neither has appreciating simplicity. I've often taken for granted what's right in front of me, choosing instead to rush through life without stopping to enjoy what's happening in the present moment. What's always struck me about the line above is the word "teach."

Children are incredibly teachable. Their young minds are like sponges, hungry for every morsel of information they can absorb. Through taste, touch, sight, sound and smell kids learn about the world and their place in it. Every day is full with the possibility of enjoyment and excitement and newness.

As we grow up, routines encroach on that enthusiasm. Even if we still enjoy learning, we aren't as free to explore. Our educational system doesn't leave a lot of room for experimentation. Order reigns. We get into set rhythms of waking, working, living and sleeping. We have to be taught (re-taught?) to live in the present moment, and delight in the simplicity of life. We have to learn how to have fun and enjoy where we are rather than be hyper-focused on where we are going.

This year has felt like a return to simple things for me and for many I know. Staying in rather than going out. Cooking, instead of ordering. Making things instead of buying them. Reusing and trading, rather than just tossing. It feels good and right to be excited about the little things (like those pictured above.)

What simple things do you delight in? Are you taking the time to enjoy them, really and truly?