I’m offering a five week Continuum series focusing on pleasure this July.
Part of the inspiration for this offering was my own inquiry around pleasure.
Finding and receiving moments of pleasure in our every day life is not a luxury, it is an important part of opening ourselves to Life.
Summer can be a perfect time to feel into this and experiment with this. During summer we get a break from some of the harshness of winter and flow into warmth, more movement outdoors, longer times of light, and can more easily open ourselves to witnessing the celebration of nature’s abundance.
Being able to find places, however big or small, of harmony, connection, or beauty helps us stay soft, flexible, breathable, open.
Finding places of pleasure is one way we can keep access to our life force energy.
Finding pleasure, in small moments and frequently, through what’s just right here opens us to goodness and vibrancy. It keeps us from the narrowing and concretizing that can happen if we are just pushing through until the next vacation, or retreat, or whatever it is that we are waiting for to notice experiences of enjoyment.
One of the ways we can find and know pleasure is through practicing gratitude, the art of appreciating. Gratitude is a bridge to, and helps us live into, pleasure.
Learning and embracing the art of appreciation can change your life. It has mine.
When we open to gratitude again and again, with sincerity, it helps us see beauty, Grace, enjoyment, where we are supported, and unity.
Intentionally opening to gratitude and appreciation helps us to not miss “it”, whatever the blessed “it” is.
Gratitude opens us to the goodness that is already here.
There is so much that is miraculous in the ordinary. You do not need to go to a tropical island, or some exotic destination to know this. It is right under you nose. It is here when you open your eyes to it, when you listen for it. It is here when you let it touch your skin, when you savor the taste of something delicious. It is here when you open your heart and being to it, intentionally saying, I feel you. Thank you.
This miraculous “it” is Life in all its incredible forms.
“It” is right here for us, waiting for us to notice and take it in.
We can find appreciation without going anywhere else, but feeling into the brilliance of our own bodies.
We can notice and appreciate our breath, this incredible life giving nourishment that is happening for us, through us, and as us.
We can appreciate and feel the beating our our heart, the touch of our toes through a soft carpet, the articulation of our fingers and ability to touch.
There is so much that is happening so eloquently in our bodies in order for us to just be alive.
We can say thank you to life- thank you for this opportunity to be alive through this body.
This recognition and appreciation adds pleasure into our lives.
The final essential piece of having more pleasure in our lives is the receiving of it.
In order to really know pleasure, we must be able to receive it.
We need to be able to let ourselves really have it, savor it, enjoy it.
When we pause, even for 30 seconds, to appreciate and receive pleasure from the beauty of a flower, really see it, drink it in with all our senses, take the time to smell it’s one of a kind scent that is given so freely out into the space we share, we deepen into pleasure.
When we bend down and let it’s petals kiss our cheek or forehead or lips, we know a taste of eros. Each time we let our being take this in, we open ourselves to more.
When we go out on a warm night and smell the summer air, or listen to the birds in the morning, so alive as they greet a new day, we can receive and deepen into pleasure.
Our nervous system changes. We become more able to know pleasure in more places.
When we bring our bare feet to the grass, appreciate the kiss of the morning dew, or just the softness and support of the earth beneath us, we let ourselves deepen into a pleasure-full life.
When you let your depths be touched by the majesty of a mountain, are in awe and wonder gazing at the stars, smile at the curl of your pup’s lip, touch the softness of her ear, kiss a paw pad, listen to the purr of a kitty, or notice the sunshine on someone you love’s face, you are changing yourself.
We need the medicine of pleasure in our lives.
It is life giving.
It is life honoring.
It is our birth rite.
So let’s find it. Let’s choose it.
Even just a little bit each day.
Pleasure is here, just waiting for us to know, appreciate, and receive.