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Hi. I'm Cheryl Rickman - Non-fiction author and Positive Psychology Practitioner. For the past four and a half years, I've kept a list of the little things that delight me. Nothing momentous. Cold grass under barefeet. Morning coffee + birdsong. The feel of a shiny conker in my hand. The smell of freshly washed bedding. The first apple appearing on my tree. The magnificence of a full moon. Warm toasty socks from the radiator.

Tiny golden moments I might have missed then forgotten had I not noted them down.

I started jotting these 'glimmers' into my phone and sharing a monthly List of Delight. Overtime, I realised these little notes of tiny blessings were doing more than preserving nice memories. They were changing what I paid attention to. The more delight I noticed, the more delight I seemed to find.. Each delight makes me fall back in love with the underrated experience of being alive, (something day-to-day difficulties can dilute for all of us). The added bonus? Fleeting moments savoured, last longer! So I decided to give those little lists a proper home.

Notes of Delight.

Or NODs.

A few words that say:

This. Yes! This delighted me.

In a world constantly telling us what to fear, hate, fix, buy and worry about, Notes of Delight is a little invitation to look up, look around and notice what's good. To collect it. Savour it. Share it. And put a little more delight back into the world.

Notes of Delight doesn't ask us to look away from what's difficult. It's not about dismissing or ignoring the hard stuff or pretending everything is wonderful. Life is often painfully hard. Notes of Delight helps us remember that difficulty isn't all there is; that life is as beautiful as it is brutal. It reminds us to look toward what's good too.

Today our attention is constantly being competed for, and much of what wins it is frightening, enraging, divisive, or designed to keep us scrolling. Notes of Delight is a deliberate counter-practice; an antidote to doom-scrolling, a rebellion against the bombardment of negative news.

Because, alongside despair, there is delight. Alongside badness there is gladness. Alongside the noise, there are still birds singing, people loving, flowers opening, strangers helping and a ridiculous number of tiny reasons to marvel at being alive. We just need to remember to notice them amid the chaos.

Noting delight after we've noticed it helps us to savour it and to develop an eye for delight. And, because delight, like doom, is contagious, sharing what's delighted us can spread and create delight as well as amplifying our own.

So, because September always feels like a new beginning for me, I'm starting this month with an experiment:

30 DAYS OF DELIGHT.

For the next 30 days, I'm going to make one NOD every day — and I'd love for you to join me in this delight collection practice.

Here's how it works

1. Join me. Sign up to join 30 Days of Delight for free. You can join anytime. I'm starting on 1st September, but you can begin your 30 days of Delight whenever you like.

2. Notice. I'll send you a Delight Collection Sheet and a list of things that may cause delight to inspire you. There are no prompts as delight happens spontaneously in the random wildness of an ordinary day.

3. Note and Savour. Make a NOD (Note of Delight) on your printed collection sheet or wherever you like. You don't need to buy a fancy new journal (although I'm not going to stop you 😉), or write long paragraphs. Your phone's Notes app, the back of an envelope or an old receipt will do nicely. A few words noting what's delighted you is NOD enough to showcase and remind you about the tiny rewards for being alive.

4. Share. I'll be sharing my NODs over on @notesofdelight on Instagram and Threads. I'd love to hear yours (just tag @notesofdelight) because delight (like doom) is contagious, so maybe we can start a delight revolution. It's time to put a little delight back into the world with our NODs to all that's glorious about getting to live this one precious life. ♡