The Alchemy of Delight: Transforming the Blah into Beauty
Life is undeniably rich with experience. And also responsibilities. For me, both those rich experiences and responsibilites show up through many relationships—as a mother of two adult children and three stepdaughters, a devoted Nana of two very active toddlers, the eldest sister of three incredibly diverse and wonderful women, carer of my 79 yr old mother with Alzheimer's, a community member, a colleague… the list goes on. As it does with many of us. Each of these relationships requires tending, and each has its own rhythm of joys and challenges.
Then there are the responsibilities of work and home, the care of our health and wellbeing, and often the care of others’ wellbeing too—especially if we are parents or carers. There’s the weaving of social and personal time, the endless cycle of shopping, cooking, eating well (or at least trying to), and tending to household chores. All of it takes time, presence, and effort. And often we are time-poor, carrying an energy deficit that makes true presence feel out of reach.
And somewhere in the midst of it all, we can find ourselves stretched thin. Life can lose its sparkle. We can slip into taking everything just a little too seriously.
Yesterday, I noticed this very thing in myself. If I’m honest, I’d probably been carrying it for a few days. My life is full and rich in relationships and activities, and yet I’ve been feeling… blah.
This isn’t a judgement of myself—it’s simply an honest acknowledgement. It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day: the constant doing, the serving of others, the little irritations that rise—and the bigger ones, too. All of it can leave us feeling flat, lacklustre, and a little “blah.”
Right now, the Sun is moving through the 46th Gene Key. In the Gene Keys, these transits describe the Sun’s daily movement through the 64 archetypal energies, each one active for 5–6 days and creating a collective “pulse.” This pulse invites us to pause, contemplate, and realign. In Human Design, the Sun’s transit lights up the corresponding gate in the Rave Mandala, interacting with our personal charts in ways that can spark deeper awareness and transformation. Following the Pulse calendar is a simple way to tune into these shifting themes and use them as fuel for growth.
The 46th Gene Key speaks of:
Shadow: Seriousness — how constriction in the body creates a sense of heaviness and struggle.
Gift: Delight — the liberation that comes from embracing playfulness and flow.
Siddhi: Ecstasy — a state of complete surrender, joy, and divine presence.
“Seriousness” here refers to that heaviness we feel when life’s burdens pile up— and leave us feeling solemn, encumbered, overwhelmed. At the shadow frequency, we become victims of our own over-seriousness, weighed down by the gravity of it all.
The 46 is the key/gate that represents the SQ, or Sphere of Spiritual Quotient, which is a key aspect of the Gene Keys Hologenetic Profile. It represents the formative first cycle of development (from birth to age seven) and governs our core sense of identity, our innate physiological rhythms, and the structural patterns that shape how we grow.
Back to my moment of recognition…. the blah. There I was, a victim to my own seriousness.
The first step was simply to notice. I don’t enjoy the blah, but acknowledging it—allowing it—was the opening. Richard Rudd writes in The Art of Contemplation that allowing, accepting, and embracing what is present—yes, even the “blah”—is how transformation begins. Imagine embracing it the way you would a child who feels overwhelmed: not rushing to change it, but holding it close, letting it be, offering comfort.
Of course, once we recognise we’re taking life too seriously, we naturally want it to change. So how do we shift? It really can seem unattainable at times.
For me, the quickest bridge is gratitude. And even that can be ellusive. This morning, as I drove to the gym, I asked myself: How can I activate my gratitude? I began with exactly where I was and what I was doing—the act of driving.
“I’m grateful f or cars. I’m grateful for bitumen roads.. I’m grateful I can move from A to B with ease. I’m grateful for flowing traffic and considerate drivers. I’m grateful for my eyes that see the road, my feet that press the pedals. I’m grateful for speakers, for Bluetooth, for music…
And on I went. I kept finding more. And I truly felt it in my body—I am grateful for all of those things, those everyday blessings I often take for granted. With each layer of gratitude, I felt lighter. The blah began to soften. And then delight arrived. I delighted in the vast blue sky above me, in the joy of heading to the gym, in the feeling that the road—and the day—were mine to savour. Beauty was there to be found, all around me.
This is the medicine of the 46th Gene Key: Delight. When we can genuinely delight in something—no matter how small—our frequency rises. But it’s not always easy to access delight, especially when life feels heavy. That’s why gentleness matters.
We need compassion and tenderness for the part of us that has fallen into victimhood. We need to parent ourselves lovingly in those moments—validating the seriousness, not dismissing it. Because it is understandable. Life is a lot to juggle. And often, no one is standing beside us with an arm around our shoulder saying, “It’s all going to be okay.” So we must become that presence for ourselves.
Inside each of us lives a child who may not have been validated in sadness or overwhelm. That child still sneaks into the driver’s seat, layering on old filters of “it’s not fair,” “poor me,” or “nobody loves me.” The invitation is to wrap that little one in love—and to also remember that same child holds the key to delight.
I could be a serious little girl, when I was young. I look back at photos and see this little girl not given permision to be in her fullness. Yet I always found delight in nature, in writing, in playing, in books. Those delights are still there, waiting to nourish me now.
In the bigger picture, here we are—hurtling through space on this extraordinary planet, woven into a cosmos that shapes us daily. Sometimes it feels like we’re powerless to all these forces. But we’re not. Our inner landscape is ours to tend. It belongs to no one else. And it’s our choice to create an inner world that uplifts us rather than drains us.
So I’ll leave you with this question, a gentle invitation for today:
Where can you find delight in your day? 🌸