“A Real Pleasure” Comments, Page 1

12 Comments (3 Discussion Threads) on “A Real Pleasure”

1. Hi, Evan –

   What has always given me pleasure is to be of value to others . . to help them, answer a need, be a friend, give sage advice at just the right moment. This can be through a silent conversation or it can be through my writing or it can be through an ongoing act of service. I am my happiest when I know I have made a difference for another.

   – Marie (Coming Out of the Trees)

2. Thanks Marie. You bring up an area that sometimes gets left out of this kind of discussion – that we can find pleasure with others (it’s not a competition) and that giving of ourselves can be a pleasure too. Thanks for your comment.

3. I have been thinking aout this a bit… The things that bring me satisfaction in my life are those products I create that can help other people (and are very therapeutic for me, as well).. but the creation of such products (books, courses, websites, etc.) is somewhat a real pain in the neck because it’s not something I am usually able to get it done in a straightforward manner.

   It takes a lot of hard work, many days where things seem just not to go as planned, technical issues, and/or not the desired response… so, by the time I’m really satisfied with what I have created, I might have already undergone a lot of “pain” and many headaches, so to speak.

   And there are times when I feel discouraged, but when this happens I just look back and see all I have created so far, and the road I have travelled so far, all by myself, and feel proud of it and then I have the necessary energy to get back to work and finish my tasks.

   1. Thanks for your comment. Making, or doing, stuff that benefits others can be hard work. But the result is pleasurable.

4. Hi Evan!

   Satisfaction…hmmm…going deeper! Well I love growing living things…
   Like beautiful plants and flowers and trees! I like that when I care for them they are happy and I can see and enjoy it by the way they flourish and grow. Also in having children and other relationships the same applies too when its being nourished it shows by the happiness of each person involved. Then in work also from helping grow my business that serves another business too. I also see it in working with others that provides me with satisfaction and joy of feeling you have helped someone else. It seems a constant interchanging of the same properties being energized by the impact of joy in life for me growing live things!

   Peace, Love and Joy,
   Diane

   1. Thanks Diane, I love that sense of interchange.

      Thanks to all – there seems to be a lot of the sense that contributing to others is pleasurable for us. A point well worth making I think.

   2. Me too, Evan!

   3. Growing living things,,,plants, animals,bring such a plesure and happines.:)

5. I like this view of the secret of happiness (in less than 25 words no less):

   Ask yourself every day
   (1) What’s good about my life?
   (2) What needs to be done?
   (3) How can I get this done and enjoy the process?

   It works for me.

   1. Thanks Jean, an excellent set of questions.

6. Well put! I know I couldn’t get by without a well-developed ability to re-frame things. It’s easy to get lost going over the small things and forget about the bigger picture but here you’ve made it seem quite relaxed, simple even. It can be complicated but it needn’t be. Takes practice, I suppose, like many things.

   It’s interesting to me, the pain vs pleasure debate. Often I find myself better able to disregard or put aside pain if it’s in the service of a deeply held goal. The strength of our capacity to believe is easily underestimated, I reckon.

7. Thanks CK (hope the abbreviation is OK). (From memory) Nietzsche said: if we know the why we can bear almost any how. I think this is true (and a little scary in some ways) – for me knowing the why makes an enormous difference.

   Writing articles like this can be misleading I guess. I tend to lay out what I’ve discovered and not talk about how I got there. This is because I think the how I got there is about me and isn’t of so much interest to readers as what I’ve learned can work to improve our lives is. This can lead to the impression that I’ve found it easily. In fact it takes me lots of time (sometimes years) to practice and properly learn simple things. Practice, practice and more practice – I’ve found that doing the next small and easy thing is the quickest way to get where we want to go (for me anyway).

   Thanks for your comment.

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