What if choosing pleasure IS the paradigm shift?

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What if choosing pleasure… IS the paradigm shift?

Our senses are starving and overwhelmed at the same time.

We’re inundated with noise, traffic, screens, pop-ups, feeds, inboxes, polyester, 7,000 varieties of everything. These choices may be convenient, but they’re not truly pleasurable.

At the same time, so many of us are starved for fresh air, feeling moss beneath our feet, the smell of earth after rain, the taste of foraged greens, simple human touch. Things that seem so simple, but which bring us satiating pleasure.

All of the simple ways to feed our senses have health benefits—being outside, eating fresh, touch—which makes me wonder…

What if pleasure is actually homeostasis?

Here’s my POV:

-Systems seek balance through action, feedback, integration, and iteration.

-Humans are systems: our bodies, relationships, communities.

-Human feedback includes pleasure, pain, sensation, emotions, intuition, and instinct.

-We’ve created A LOT of narratives that glorify pain (No pain no gain! For your own good! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! Pay your dues! Do the math!)

-We’ve created narratives that denigrate pleasure (Laziness! Overindulgence! Hedonism! No napping!)

-These stories trained our nervous systems to believe pain = good, pleasure = bad.

WTF. 

Let’s flip the script.

What if healthy pleasure is a virtuous path?

What if pleasure is homeostasis?

Not addiction, overindulgence, nonconsensual, imbalanced, unhealthy pleasure. Definitely not nincompoopery.

(BTW, these aren’t actually pleasure, they’re numbing mechanisms for pain—which is not the same thing. True pleasure satiates us. False pleasure feeds us the promise of satiation as a way to dull the pain, but we never actually get full—because it’s a numbing mechanism, not a nourishing one—which is why we overindulge, form addiction, etc.)

Healthy pleasure honors our individual and communal feedback systems and their need for balance, healthy, connected growth:

~  Sensory, sensual experiences

~  Authentic connection with ourselves, with others, with nature

~  Vibrant health in body, mind, and heart

~  Nurturing

~ Generosity

~ Creativity

~ Generativity

~ Kindness

~ Peace

~Feeling our own healthy power and life force

~ Joy

I believe healthy, well-balanced humans don’t spend much time oppressing, warring, and hoarding because they know they could be having ecstatic sex, dancing, cultivating a beautiful garden, snorkeling with amazing marine life, making art, baking tart cherry pies, having coffee with friends, playing with their dogs/kids/lovers/whoever.

When we allow ourselves healthy pleasure, we don’t really have time for nincompoopery.

AND THAT IS BY DESIGN.

The brilliant human design that comes packaged with pleasure receptors—even the nincompoop base model.

Let’s use them as they are meant to be used: to steer us towards vibrant health + happiness, for ourselves and for each other.

That’s the pleasure rebellion. No rebelling required—just prioritize pleasure.