Pleasure versus Happiness

Today I thought about pleasure. In fact, I’ve been giving it a fair bit of thought over the past week. I have been crystallizing my personal vision of success and have identified a number of things that bring me pleasure that I feel compelled to include. What I have learned about defining a vision of success, however, is that ‘the devil is in the details’. The more you try to fit in the ‘how’ of your vision, the less likely you are to achieve it.

The book I am currently reading, “The Art of Happiness” devotes a section to the question of whether pleasure and happiness are the same thing. The disparity is explained as pleasure being a short-term experience whilst happiness is a state of being. Your personal vision of success is all about the state of being you wish to achieve. When you begin from that higher level of consciousness, the goals that you set along your journey will always be in alignment with what you truly value.

As I mentioned, to achieve a sustainable state of happiness, I would likely be experiencing significant and frequent doses of pleasure. This leads me to believe that to have happiness, one must experience pleasure. But I do not believe the reverse is true. On occasion, I have even asked myself if the ‘pleasure’ is really a mask for the lack of happiness in one or more areas of my life.

We all know people who fill their lives with fun-filled adventure. To some, they appear to be living life large and are, perhaps, envied. To others, their sense of reckless abandon is perceived as entertainment without depth of meaning. Personally, I don’t believe such judgments serve anyone and the only truth will come from understanding one’s own motivation whether you are the thrill-seeker, admirer, or critic.

To be sure, we’ve all experienced the fleeting but intoxicating rush of adrenaline that comes with pleasure. It makes you feel invincible. It makes you feel powerful and strong. The tell-tale sign is how you feel once the rush is gone… are you able to sustain that feeling of happiness or is it lost until the next thrill comes around? As with most things, it is our gut that holds the answer. Trust it. Listen to it. Understand it and take the challenge to create a life full of happiness… there, you will find all the pleasure your heart desires. Lesson Learned.