Ten Pleasures to Get You Started

BY ARLENE HARDER, MA, MFT

There are more than a thousand pleasures awaiting you today. They can come from a thousand opportunities in which you decide to very consciously draw every ounce of enjoyment out of a given situation.

Here is an example of how that might happen. You can go the the library, a bookstore, or maybe even your own bookcase and find a book of poetry. Next, you search for poems such as the "The Swing," by Robert Louis Stevenson, that can remind you of the pleasures childhood offered in doing simple things. Then take a moment to let the images of the poem fill you with memories, in this case, perhaps, of a swing you especially liked.

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide,

Rivers and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside —

Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown —

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

Got the idea? Now look at the following ten ideas that can bring pleasure into your life today. All you have to do is find ONE and give it a try.

1. Deliberately begin the day with a smile (even if, or especially if, you're a grumpy riser) and use that smile as a commitment that you will be on the lookout for pleasure opportunities.

2. Read a romance novel as you sit in a bubble bath made with aromatic crystals.

3. Play a silly tune on the piano.

4. Sit in the sun on a winter's day and notice the way the snow sparkles.

5. Sit in the shade on summer's day and notice the pattern of light and dark filtering through the branches.

6. No matter where you are, notice what is beautiful, be it the grain in a piece of hand-carved furniture or a painting in your doctor's office.

7. Carry a camera with you as you go for a walk and take a picture of something that catches your eye, like the sharp angles of a bridge or a single flower growing on a vine clinging to the side of an old building.

8. Write a love letter.

9. Listen to the laughter of young children.

10. Get a massage.

© Copyright 2001, Arlene Harder, MA, MFT