A list which could almost fit under the heading of "perceivable joys"

[chanaleh]

Things of which chanalehs require an inexhaustible supply:

Novelty socks
Umbrellas
Mary Chung's egg drop soup
Cobalt blue glassware
Dichroic glass (jewelry and otherwise)
Peanuts memorabilia (in general)
Snoopy Band-Aids (in particular)
Lip balm
Mineral bath salts (anything from Epsom to Dead Sea)
Lavender or rosemary-mint salt scrub (also known as "instant manicure")
Brightly colored tights
Plain Gap stretch t-shirts, especially in black
Tortoiseshell sunglasses
Equal Exchange French roast coffee (also known at Trader Joe's as "Cafe Pajaro")
Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice not-tea
Body Shop Kistna shower gel
Silk scarves
Kosher wine by the bottle (in general)
Bartenura Moscato (in particular)
Purple rollerball pens
Colored legal pads
Theater tickets
Show tunes (including G&S)
Chocolate! (in general)
Junior Mints (in particular)
Massage (hey, chaiya, do you offer gift certificates? :-)
Cuddles
Sunshine
Lenience for tardiness :-}

... and with that, it's off to the grocery store with me.

Comments

[marmota.livejournal.com]

Interesting idea... do you see it as a goal to increase, or to decrease the number of items on the list?

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Really, I hadn't in the slightest considered it as a goal-directed exercise. :-)

On the one hand, there are many other (more boring) things I could include on such a list; this is sort of an arbitrary and whimsical subset. On the other, particular things certainly advance and recede over time in my consciousness... and I know that some things must fall off the list when they cease to be available at all. (For instance, I was tempted to include Macallan Amber, but as they've already officially discontinued it, and I have already bought up every bottle in stock in the Boston area in the past 6 months when I found it, it makes little sense to assert that my supply needs to be inexhaustible!)

There's also the insight that thinking of individual objects as one link in a chain of 'supply' makes it easier to let them ebb and flow. I love funky umbrellas, and there have been times in my life when I have invested in the One True Umbrella, but invariably I do lose it or it breaks -- but that frees me up to get *another* cool new one, so it's become easier to think of them as relatively disposable, and not be heartbroken about it. I love blue glass, but when I was moving the last few loads of things out of the old apartment, and there were a half-dozen soda bottles and whatnot among my collection of blue glass, I was able to consign them to the recycling and only keep the actual nice pieces that I cared more about.

Anyway, I think the closest I can come to answering your question is that I prefer to live in such a way as to add to my roster of regular sources of joy (tangible or otherwise), rather than make an effort to decrease my attachment to same.

[marmota.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I like how you put it.

[davidfcooper.livejournal.com]

At first glance the list looked materialistic, but I chose to interpret it as a list of comfort items in the spirit of the song Favorite Things from The Sound of Music

[goljerp]

Ah, good, I wasn't the only one who thought of Favorite Things. (My attempt to filk that in my comment below was apparently so horrible that nobody responded to it).

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I prefer to live in such a way as to add to my roster of regular sources of joy (tangible or otherwise), rather than make an effort to decrease my attachment to same.

And I imagine also to let go of things if and when they stop becoming a source of joy. Good plan!