Growing through pleasure: The truth about pleasure

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just live everyday not having to worry about responsibility and doing the things that bring us pleasure all of the time. That would most certainly keep us happy right? Unfortunately it would not. Pleasures are short-lived happiness because they require little effort to achieve. They appeal to our base senses and emotions. They also lose their level of enjoyment the more frequently we do them. If chocolate gives you pleasure, it surely wouldn’t if you ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You would grow tired of it quicker than other things that you would get tired of. They are similar to drugs and alcohol (considered to be pleasures) where eventually you have to consume more of it in order to reach the same high that you got the first time or best time that you used them. This is also why people tend to gravitate towards pleasures because they are easy to obtain. The author of “Authentic Happiness”, Martin Seligman, tells us that “pleasure is a powerful source of motivation, but it does not produce change; it is a conservative force that makes us want to satisfy existing needs, achieve comfort and relaxation”. In no way am I saying that people should not indulge in pleasures, you couldn’t get me to stop watching my shows. What I am saying is to take part in them sparingly and in brief spurts. They are like eating sugar or drinking caffeine for an energy boost. The happiness that they bring will only last for a brief period of time. There are other things that I talk about in this blog that provide longer lived happiness and growth. The difference is those things require more work on our part. How do you feel about taking part in the pleasure as opposed to doing the work to grow?