How to Delight in Your Days: Poet and Gardener Ross Gay’s Yearlong Experiment in Willful Gladness

Poet and gardener Ross Gay spent a full year conducting an experiment in willful gladness, which he documented in a work called The Book of Delights. As The Marginalian tells it, Gay wrote one miniature essay every day for a year, focusing on small, daily moments of joy to build what he calls a "delight muscle." The project explores the practice of active attention as a way to find beauty and connection even amid sorrow or political despair.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton