I've just come back from a glorious walk down to the creek. The sky has plenty of blue in it and there is actually warmth in the sunshine for the first time in a long time! The birds are singing enthusiastically and the boats bobbing and clinking cheerfully. My sense of pleasure and delight is huge!
Which got me thinking.....one of the reasons my pleasure is so great is that what I've experienced just now is something I haven't experienced for quite a while. During the summer, such experiences, though delightful, have a less-pronounced effect on my levels of happiness. Happiness, it seems, comes along when we experience a pleasure infrequently rather than frequently. And I gues everyone has an optimal distance between experiences that they can use to influence their levels of happiness.
During term time I really look forward to, savour and enjoy my Saturday morning Americano at one of Truro's excellent coffee houses. In the holidays I often have coffee out more frequently....and though enjoyable, the enjoyment isn't quite as acute as the Saturday-morning-in-term-time coffee.
At the end of January, having not drunk any alcohol during that month, I found that I didn't want to revert to the pattern of having a glass of wine most nights with supper, because the enjoyment wasn't nearly as significant as when I have a glass of wine occasionally at the weekend.
I experience far more pleasure from one, or sometimes two, squares of 85% chocolate, than I do from eating a whole bar.
So.....I'm going to be noticing the things that give me pleasure....and - without becoming too fanatical! - notice the optimum frequency of enjoyment.
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