Savouring Simple Pleasures

Writing by Hand

As a child, a scolding and a good licking always led me to write long letters of apology to my mother. The love of writing by hand remained throughout my life. Despite the ease and speed of the computer, I still prefer to write my to-do lists, research notes and drafts by hand. Keeping a journal of course is the ultimate practice that allows me to enjoy this simple pleasure.

Investigating Words

I read the dictionary. There, my secret’s out. I open it to check one word. Fascinated, I move from one word to another and the next thing I know, twenty, thirty minutes have gone by and I’ve forgotten the reason I opened the dictionary in the first place. Reading the dictionary is one of the ways I use to take a break from my writing routine. I have several notebooks filled with words I’ve discovered on these forays.

Reading biographies and journals.

Other people’s lives fascinate me whether they write the stories themselves or they are written by someone else. The everyday shenanigans of the idle rich don’t interest me. I have a heart for the stories about peoples’ inspiration and determination to rise above their circumstances and achieve their dreams. How writers especially, handle the joys and frustrations of life and their passion for writing make for hours of pleasurable reading.

Relaxing on the Porch

After mentioning this so many times before, you know that this is one of my favourite pastimes. Sitting with a cup of tea, my journal, a magazine or book, notebook, pen and dictionary – I can get lost in that scenario for hours.

The rush and reality of the busyness of modern-day life can blind us to the beauty that shines through the ugly, deafen us to the voices in our own hearts and weaken our ability and desire to seek and embrace life’s simple pleasures.

Simple pleasures ease your personal burdens and the anguish you might be feeling about some situation. What simple pleasure makes you pause? What places, memories and practices make you relax and smile and make your heart sing and dance?

It’s so very easy to let some of life’s basic simple pleasures slip by and out of our lives while we hustle to and fro getting this and that done. But it is just as easy to rediscover them either through the quiet contemplation of the present moment or a blissful memory from our past.

Simple pleasures surround us on our walk through life. You don’t have to readjust your whole life, disrupt anyone else’s routine or take a day off from work. A simple pleasure may be close by or just a memory away. Find yours, weave them among your commitments and savour them every chance you get, even if just for a moment.