Pleasure

Pleasure is utterly necessary and in no way a luxury. When someone comes to my psychology office for treatment of depressive symptoms, I often notice that he or she has forgotten about pleasure--how to find it, how to create it, or even how to recognize it. Yet pleasure gives us so much. It provides a break from the daily grind--a literal physiological relief from the symptoms related to stress and anxiety. Muscles relax. Tensions dissolves. Hormones that bring on rejuvenation and energy are released. Good feelings arise. Pleasure creates a sense of warmth. The saying, "take a moment to smell the roses" does have merit. I sometimes remind myself to find moments of pleasure in even the smallest of things. Do you?