I had gone to bed early and my feet were cold. I was reading Ross Gay’s essays on delight, wriggling around, reading some more, and thinking that I really ought to get out of bed to fetch myself some socks. But it was chilly out there! I suffered on, preferring cold feet to the effort of movement.
I burrowed my toes further down inside the bed. What was that, brushing against my skin? A soft fuzzy kiss from… my bed socks! My feet pincered one and then the other, manoeuvring them up towards my hands so I could reward each foot with a woollen coat. They were delighted. The warmth was immediate and delicious.
Sylvain Tesson, the adventurer and philosopher, wrote something beautiful about luxury in his book ‘Consolations of the Forest’. Of course I can’t find where I put the quote now, having rummaged around in my files for a while. The gist was that luxury is the exquisite movement from ordinary discomfort into ordinary comfort - and that it doesn’t originate from extravagance, convenience or opulence. Tesson’s simple cabin life in inhospitable Siberian forest showed him this. My discovery of bed socks, although in a less romantic setting, reminds me of the same thing.
Life inside my head has been a little turbulent recently. My dad’s death two months ago has been taking up bandwidth. There’s been a difficult relationship that’s pulled and scraped at my most vulnerable parts. As my ambition wears away, my future has got fuzzy and I keep asking myself whether there’s anything I really want any more.
Luckily, I still have to make falafels and tabbouleh for the temple community tonight. I still have to arrange these words into rows for you. I still have to walk Ralph, and continue his conditioned-emotional-response training sessions as we soothe his jangled nervous system, bit by tiny bit.
Life keeps reaching out to me and showing me how big it is. The clouds say, look at where we hang out - we’re so high! The birdsong says, our lives are intricate and rich! Life keeps flashing beauty at me - a new glossy leaf on my jade plant, the song of bubbles rising in the kettle, a sweet text from a friend. The thought of you, dear reader, as you join me for a little while in my world.
By the early hours, woken by a thought tumbling like coin in a washing machine, my feet were hot. After a while I slipped off the bed socks. My feet were delighted! The cool was immediate and delicious and pure luxury. I slipped gently back into sleep, happy.
Go gently,
Satya <3
Tell me: what delicious thing has happened to you lately? (If you share it you will be sharing the deliciousness and we all need more of that in our lives.)
⭐ ⭐ ⭐
I just listened to Ross Gay’s episode on Glennon Doyle’s podcast - absolutely loved it, and looking forward to reading the book! They also did a great episode right afterward talking about delights they’ve been noticing in the world.
My condolences to you and your family on the passing of your dad. Sending you waves of compassion and empathy as you deal with your loss.
Love your picture of Ralph. He is a cutie! He's got more teeth than my shih tzu Chunk...lol.