Pleasure

I love a magazine called "Real Simple". It is full of interesting things from good recipes to decorating tips to lists of the best mascaras. Last month there was a wonderful article called "10 Ways to Find More Pleasure Every day". The article makes a clear distinction between 'happiness' and 'pleasure'.

"Happiness is a prolonged state of being that is influenced by a variety of factors, ranging from a person's relationships to her religion to her genetic predispositions. Pleasure, on the other hand, is a purely instinctive reaction with a brief life span: 30 seconds to an hour or two, tops. And while happiness can be elusive at times, sources of pleasure are fairly easy to come by."

I thought I'd share nine of these suggestions for ways to find more pleasure because I've found them to be very true in my life. One of them is to seek out the sommelier and since I don't drink wine this doesn't apply to me but I'll share the other ones.

#1 Play that song you love so much. Repeat.

Repetition nurtures pleasure. Are there any mothers out there who haven't had kids who liked to watch the same movie over and over and over again...until the whole family has it all memorized? When you experience something over and over you notice more details about it each time, thereby increasing your enjoyment. I have 1246 songs on my Ipod but I actually listen to about 25 of them over and over again. They are songs that make me happy either because they remind of something pleasurable or I just like the melody. Several of these songs are ones that I loved as a teenager when I spent a lot of time in my room listening to the same "record" over and over. I think music when you are a teen really imprints on your soul.

I also think this is true with favorite recipes. There is just something so pleasurable in the Sunday roast or the sugar cookies you always make for holidays or even "Lewis Meal" (grilled cheese, popcorn and hot chocolate) which was our family go to meal for Sunday nights.