Keyif is a Turkish word, and the closest translation would be leisure, pleasure, fun, joy, savor, delight. It encompasses those words yet it is none of those them. It is a concept rather.
Imagine sitting by the sea in a comfortable chair, in comfortable weather, surrounded with friends, just talking away with no purpose. There, you are making keyif. There is an ease about it and the enjoyment of the moment, each other. Let me emphasize the no purpose… and the ease… In other words purposeless enjoyment… Imagine the horror!
The way the word is used, keyif is made, keyif is taken, keyif is an adjective in case of tea, a dinner, a meeting, travels (with keyif; keyifli). Yes, it is completely legitimate to declare you are making keyif when someone asks what you are doing, and you happen to hang out with friends, or just with your cat.
There is this lingering quality about it. A slowing down. You see, after dinner or lunch, in a restaurant, they always bring tea, in small glasses, in Turkey. That signals the end of the meal, the last thing you do before you leave the table, you taste their tea (scorching hot in most cases). Your body is alerted that eating is done. And it seems to me, that tea makes eating a ritual, rather than a necessity. Yes, this tea is called keyif tea. People linger for hours sometimes while drinking tea after breakfast, lunch, or dinner. This is different from coffee that we have with dessert after dinner, in that, it is offered every single time, sometimes without a charge, plus being served in small glasses one tends to have more than one.
I invite you to try it on. Tea is the easiest way. Have tea with no purpose just to linger on a dinner table. After all the hassle and purpose of eating is done. Have the tea, and converse, or just sit and observe. It is as easy as that; you are drinking keyif tea, you are making keyif.
The tea doesn’t need to be involved. For example when I wish someone that they have ‘keyifli’ travel, I imagine them enjoying, relaxing, expanding, smiling during their journey.
So I wish you, wherever you are, and whatever you are going through, a keyifli life in the best way possible, with enough space within to appreciate and enjoy whatever is in front of you…