The Power of Pleasure

and creating space for it

Identify with what remains in you after all superficial appearances and masks have dissolved, when you have released your attachment to everything you do and accomplish.

—The Sufi Book of Life

When life gets a little much, a little toooo busy, overwhelming, exhausting, or just unfulfilling, what is really going on?

We live in a world that often encourages us to “do more” in every sense of the term.

It can be really easy to identify “doing more” as having more usefulness and sense of purpose, more meaning in our lives.

But in reality, my sense is that all this striving just leads us to feel more tired and less truly alive, less fulfilled, less in touch with the pleasure and beauty of simply being here and the miracle of being alive.

I’ve experienced this myself MANY times — getting so caught up in all the things I think I have to do that I can hardly find space to breathe, then realizing when I finally slow down that everything is okay, fantastic really, exactly as it is.

Life continues, and in the spaciousness I find more peace, more pleasure.

Or in cooking a meal — I try to make something extremely elaborate in a short amount of time and stress myself out. And when I make a simple dish with 4 beautiful ingredients in 10 minutes, it’s the best thing anyone’s ever tasted.

No one can please everyone. Your mental peace is more important. If you are in peace, then others around you will feel peace. So your best effort should be to work on yourself.

—Baba Hari Dass

Hmmm. There’s something to this.

Something about the possibility of releasing impossibly high expectations of ourselves and giving ourselves the space to just. chill.

Magic happens in these spaces.

My co-chefs and I were joking (in a food context) the other evening that when we please ourselves, we end up pleasing everyone. When we try to please everyone, we end up pleasing no one, especially not ourselves. I think this applies beyond the kitchen as well…;)

Less is often more. It’s one of those beautiful paradoxes of life.

How can we create more of the space for life’s sweetness and pleasure by actually doing less of (or caring less about) what isn’t really necessary?

I’ll say it again — life is hard enough already. There are enough challenging, painful things, self-doubt, worry and fear to last all of our lifetimes already. We can safely focus our energy on balancing out this equation with more pleasure, gentleness, and Love.

We can gift ourselves and each other more grace and ease, with less effort and more presence. You see? It’s beautiful.

Deciding and knowing ~ remembering ~ deeply that I am enough, exactly as I am — always have been, always will be — has been life-changing. I know it will be for you too.

A simple meditation for you to try ❤️

Just after sunset, breathe in the heart. Place your forehead on the earth, and release all impressions of the day, positive or negative, that are not your soul’s concern. Allow your whole being to take a breath and feel the support from underneath as deeply as your bones. Release any thought about what you have or have not accomplished, and rest in the arms of the Beloved.

As long as we are alive, we are always doing some-thing. But as long as you think, "I am doing this," or "I have to do this," or "I must attain something special," you are actually not doing anything. When you give up, when you no longer want something, or when you do not try to do anything special, then you do something. When there is no gaining idea in what you do, then you do something.

—Zen Mind, Beginners Mind

I personally find pleasure and love in flowers, good food, and creating spaciousness in my days and life. Below I share a recipe for each with you! 😘 P.S. I’m going to start sharing some yummy, joy and glow-inducing retreat recipes with subscribers here, that have been healing for myself and those I cook for. Hope you enjoy them!

Summer Tomato Salad with tofu feta