reading

Pure joy jumps from every page of this inspiring book: “Creating Delight: Connecting Gratitude, Humor and Play for all Ages”. The vast experience of the authors, Kathy Laurenhue with Bron Roberts and Sharon Wall is evident in the rich content and abundant resources found in this gem. This is that rare kind of book that can be flipped open to any page treating the reader to ideas that are sure to delight. Colorful pictures and creative designs emerge on every single page of this captivating treasure. From crafting gratitude trees to reflections on sharing rituals, this book is a must read for all interested in finding and living life with great joy. This book has my highest recommendation.

—MARY KAY MORRISON, AUTHOR OF USING HUMOR TO MAXIMIZE LIVING, EDUCATOR, CONSULTANT, PAST-PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED AND THERAPEUTIC HUMOR

While Creating Delight certainly does that in a big way with lots of easy-to-create “gratitude trees” and other fun projects, what spoke to me most about this book was the brief chapter on “Giving and Receiving Compliments.”

It is so easy to give a compliment or praise someone. It takes nothing away from you yet provides the receiver with a joyful and uplifting moment. And, although I haven’t done any scientific research on this, I bet that the giver of the compliment is enriched too.

This book as its name implies, is delightful! Different from “gratitude” and the book is a lovely reminder to look for or create delight in our lives. After reading the book I started my own “delight” journal, making notes about the “delights” in my everyday life. There are so many creative ways to show delight, easy, inexpensive and brings us back from the negative news that seems to be what makes “headlines”, our constant check on the cell phone, and how many of us are tied to the computer. Thank you for this wonderful reminder to look for and find joy in the many delights that surround us all.

Creating Delight is an uplifting and enjoyable read that has universal appeal. The author not only connects gratitude to humor and play but provides techniques for giving and receiving compliments for those who find this social skill sometimes awkward. Chapter 3 focuses on how to visually display gratitude. The colorful photos made me want to run to the nearest craft store and begin a new project … I loved the section describing rituals and have added some of the suggestions to my own gratitude practice. The resource pages are invaluable and encourage the reader to continue their gratitude journey.

This wonderful book is chockful of fun and creative ideas. Just reading it fills me with happiness and creative energies. I especially liked all the photos showing creations. The book is really well done!

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth.

Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes.

Among the synonyms for delight are these: great pleasure, happiness, joy, bliss, enchantment, charm, elation, and amusement. We could have used several of those words in our title, and indeed debated doing so, but I (Kathy) advocated for delight because I have always been partial to words that are related to light—daylight, sunlight, moonlight, starlight, twilight, candlelight, highlights, lightheartedness, lightness of being, enlighten. They all seem to bring an uplifting clarity to life. Furthermore, the word delight has an element of unexpected surprise to it—something likely to bring laughter and joy and a sense of being connected to others. If we can be delighted daily and bring delight to others, our lives will be rich indeed.

Therefore, using all these words and synonyms:

The aim of this book is to illustrate concrete ways you can bring that delight to others you serve — students/children, older adults, your family and friends.

A great deal has been written about gratitude and mindfulness in recent years, and we are in absolute agreement with the inspiring authors who tout their importance. At the same time, we have felt a need for 1) broadening the possibilities for gratitude, 2) a more lighthearted attitude toward mindfulness, and 3) specific ideas for sharing the pleasures of being alive—in other words, bringing delight to life.

All three of us are strong believers in humor as humankind’s best coping tool. Bron and I are active in the Association of Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH—See Resources) and are both Certified Humor Professionals. Sharon has a long standing association with the Clown Doctors and Humour Foundation through a valued association with the wonderful and much loved Peter Spitzer (1946-2014). All three of us use humor as a teaching and healing tool, and particularly as a means of connecting with others, of finding common ground. My mantra on the Wiser Now website has for years been:

Better relationships and greater understanding of one another is the outcome we are aiming for when you read this book.

But whereas that’s the aim of many other authors, we are adding an emphasis on cheerfulness and play as a means to that end. We hope you enjoy the exercises and encourage you to let us know if you have ideas to add.

Contact us at info@CreatingDelight.com. Also visit our Facebook page and add your comments at https://www.facebook.com/creatingdelight/.

Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.

If there there is one word in the title of this book that is more important than all the others, it is “connecting.” The need for strong social networks — people we value and who value us in return — has been shown by research in recent years to be one of the most important elements for wellbeing at all ages, but particularly in aging. It is narrowly beaten in aging by physical exercise, which is good for both body and brain and helps with our emotional wellbeing, too. Other factors like a healthy diet, being a non-smoker, and being financially stable all have a role, but it is our connection to others that makes life worth living. Therefore, in our view, it is the single most important element of wellbeing.

Our Resources section is filled with authors we admire who make a strong case for gratitude, humor, and play, as well as for the related subjects of mindfulness, meditation, happiness and more. Our goal is not to repeat their arguments, but to connect those elements and help you create delight wherever you may work, study, or live.

This chapter briefly summarizes some of the key points of leaders in these broad fields thereby giving you reasons to try out the many practical applications for connecting to others in the chapters that follow. But what we hope sets us apart from those experts is precisely those applications. We wrote this book to help you see how you can invite your gratitude and sense of humor out to play.

Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, the current U.S. Surgeon General, is a strong proponent of the idea that happiness is open to all. In a TEDMED talk (http://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=527633) he noted, “Happiness affects us on a biological level. Happy people have lower levels of cortisol, a key stress hormone.” In addition, he noted, that happy people “have more favorable heart rates and blood pressure levels. They have strong immune systems … and lower levels of inflammatory markers … linked to coronary heart disease. It turns out that even when you control for smoking, physical activity, and other health behaviors, happy people live longer. There’s something about happiness that seems to be protective.”