Happy New Year!
2007 was a crazy year for me, and it ended even crazier than it began. You know how there are some years where you ask the questions and others that you receive the answers? Well, 2007 was the year of the ANSWER a very big way. Lots of changes in store for me in 2008 and to help me cope (and enjoy) I’ve decided that my main resolution for the new year is the pursuit of pleasure.
That's right. I'm going to put pasta and sourdough bread back into my diet (officially and in moderation); buy expensive, yummy chocolates without guilt or the need to share; sleep until ten on the weekends; engage in spontaneous, last-minute travel (with or without a travel companion); buy myself an important piece of jewelry just because it's a new year; clear my closet of the things that no longer fit my body or my lifestyle; softly and with love remove myself from the company of toxic people who vampire my happiness; and every moment of every day find joy where I stand.
In a nutshell, that's my pleasure principle for 2008. FIND JOY WHERE I STAND.
Sometimes we give up pleasure is because we find our choices have once again lead us into some dark, dank tunnel. Sadness, anger,fear and negativity suck all the joy from us. It's during these times that we have to fight through the pain but still notice all that's lovely around us. It's fight. I know. I'm just coming out of the damn tunnel. But no lie, continuing to live sensually, though sometimes a struggle, helped me keep my sanity. I forced myself to notice all that smelled, felt, tasted, looked and sounded good around me and as I reached the end of that bad boy, I was back in my stilettos, strutting my way out of the darkness into the light.
But even when we're not in the tunnel, it's amazing how quickly (and often) we willingly exchange pleasure for productivity. In the quest to stay on schedule, to get the job done, to have some sort of measurable outcome at the end of the day, we readily sacrifice joy in order to prove to someone (often ourselves)that our time spent on earth today COUNTED.
Why do we disbelieve that the pleasure and joy cannot be synonymous with productivity and effectiveness? What stick-in-the-mud Scrooge decided that one had to give up all the fun in life in order to be a contributing member of society? He's a dumb ass. That's all I have to say about him.
Many years ago I posted a quote on my wall that I found again when I was cleaning my office for the new year. It says, "True masters learn through joy." Words to live by, don't you think? I'm also adding the hummingbird to my signature symbols (the sun is my official icon). The hummingbird represents joy and survives on freedom and nectar, and if you cage it, it will die.
Sunshine and Joy. Free to be myself and live on the sweetness of life. Sounds like a damn plan.
What do you think?
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